News Archive

Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Linda Faye Walker-Hall, 64, and charged her with 24 felony counts of exploiting disabled clients

A 26-year-old Navarre woman was arrested earlier this month after bruises were discovered on a child whom she babysits, according to a Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.

The Navarre Beach Fire Department will be upgrading their watercraft equipment following an incident in which firefighters were put in harm’s way when doing their job near the Navarre Pier last month.

The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority is broke. The Authority doesn’t have enough money to fund an annual audit required by the Florida Auditor General, much less generate enough revenues to make multi-million dollar, semiannual bond payments. Most of the Authority’s members have quit over the past couple of years, and replacements are hard to find because of the bridge’s troubled history. At an August 14 meeting held at the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) office in Milton, the group was left with little choice but to authorize a traffic and revenue study which could lead to yet another toll hike.

Frustrated by the county’s lack of progress in submitting and receiving grants through National Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), the Navarre Beach Leaseholders and Residents Association (NBLRA) hired Sonja Negley, of Green Consulting and Solutions, to represent their interests three months ago. Negley updated the NBLRA on August 17 regarding her efforts and the current status of the NRDA grants.

Brenda Breland had just about given up hope of seeing a resolution to the standing water in the back yard of her home on Cagle Drive that has remained since the first round of flooding in the Navarre area on July 4. She had contacted the county department of public works and even had gone as far as calling a FEMA claims agent out to review the situation — but neither was helpful prior to Monday.

Santa Rosa County’s high job growth rate and low unemployment rate have earned the county a top 10 national ranking on CNN Money’s “Where the Jobs Are – Best Places To Live – America’s Best Small Towns” list.

Young adults and others looking to join the hunting community have an opportunity to learn all about hunting close by in the coming weeks.  The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will be offering a free hunter safety course in Navarre.

Not everyone can step up to the bow of a boat, lean against the railing, step on a pedal and start netting fish as they float up to the surface. Although it is illegal and dangerous for anglers to fish with electricity, biologists use electrofishing boats to temporarily stun and collect fish for scientific analyses and to help manage the fishery. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) fishery biologists have special training to operate this equipment safely.

Banners were hung, music was played and black and red balloons decorated the table around a similarly-colored cake.  The flightline around the Training Squadron THREE line shack appeared festive vice functional on August 6 as the squadron members celebrated their selection as the top aviation training squadron in the Navy.