News Archive

Nine current and former northwest Florida residents have been sentenced in federal court the past two months for filing false claims with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) related to the 2010 BP oil spill.

William Painter took the oath of office July 28 at the monthly meeting of the Holley Navarre Board of Fire Commissioners. Painter filled the seat left vacant when Lauretta Aiken resigned from the board in April. He will remain the Seat 4 Fire Commissioner for the next term as he was the only candidate to qualify for the position.

Two Santa Rosa County teens are back in custody after they escaped July 23 from the Okaloosa Youth Academy in Crestview. According to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, 14-year-old Kurtis Lee Canning and 15-year-old Joseph Timothy Enfinger, both from Milton, are now charged with escape from a residential commitment facility, resisting an officer without violence and criminal mischief of over $1,000.

A local man faces three charges in connection to a July 23 early morning break-in at a Navarre restaurant.

Gulf Breeze residents pay the lowest operating millage rate in area, and city staff is recommending that the current rate of 1.9723 remain in place for the next budget. Based on current projections, the budget showed a $532,500 surplus, which would be earmarked for capital spending.

“Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop” is a fairly familiar quote, and if it is true, then too many people with idle hands are visiting Navarre Beach under the cover of darkness.

Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) arrested two Jacksonville-area teenagers July 25 on charges of torturing a gopher tortoise.

Less than a month after Midway Fire District put a new boat in service, firefighters used it to rescue three teenage girls who were stranded in East Bay for more than two hours July 25. Chief Jonathan Kanzigg said that on duty battalion chief Lou Jones responded to a report of an abandoned personal watercraft near the Garcon Point Bridge.

The trial of a Mary Esther man charged with DUI manslaughter in connection with a fatal one-car crash on Highway 98 has been delayed until Sept. 2.

Gulf Breeze Police Chief Robert Randle said crime in the city is not what it used to be.