News Archive

The Holley-Navarre Fire District Board of Commissioners voted March 24 to make an offer on 3.5 acres of land in Holley at the intersection of Highway 87 and Bob Tolbert Road. The district has been researching property in Holley as potential sites for a fire station.

The Florida Supreme Court voted unanimously March 20 that Santa Rosa County Property Appraiser Greg Brown was correct in assessing property taxes on leased land and structures on Navarre Beach. Brown began assessing property taxes on Navarre Beach leaseholders shortly after taking office in 2001 – a move he says has generated $81 million in revenue. Roughly $3.65 million more is now expected for interest fees on a portion of that revenue which remained unpaid.

An 83-year-old Fort Walton Beach man was ordered Friday to pay $750 in fines and fees and complete a hunter’s safety course for fatally shooting two Florida black bears Oct. 18, 2013.

A third party is purchasing the proposed future courthouse site in Pea Ridge and could possibly make more than $107,000 by flipping the property back to the county, also potentially benefiting from infrastructure improvements and other property value increases. Commissioners discussed the issue, along with other potential judicial facility sites, Monday and are expected to vote today on the matter.

The number of active duty military or their dependents registered to vote in Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Escambia counties exceeds 50,000, which is more than 12 percent of all registered voters in the three counties.

A man convicted in 1989 of sexual battery, robbery with a weapon and attempted murder of a UWF student has been sentenced to life in prison for violation of probation.

The Florida Highway Patrol reported March 25 that 27-year-old Duloris Marie Gonzalez, a passenger in a vehicle driven by 28-year-old Sean Ryan Gallagher, died from injuries she sustained in an early morning crash on Highway 98 just east of the Santa-Rosa Okaloosa County line.

Only three communities have incorporated in Florida since 2005 and the largest one based on population is Cutler Bay. The city of approximately 42,000 people is located in Miami-Dade County.

After a two-day trial that included testimony from victims and three psychologists, a Santa Rosa County jury determined 43-year-old Mark Preston Bohner to be a sexually violent predator under Florida’s Jimmy Ryce Law.

Family members anxiously watched the skies and listened March 24 and in an instant the Navy’s Blue Angels made a pass over the runway at NAS Pensacola. The team had spent the last eight weeks training at Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif. and was now back home.