The Junior Leadership Santa Rosa program visited Naval Air Station Whiting Field earlier this month to learn about military aviation and other elements of the station’s operations.
Junior Leadership Santa Rosa, a program for high school juniors, is designed to help students gain insights into their communities’ industries and government. The goal is to forge leaders who are knowledgeable and invested in their communities.
It was March 6, 2024, when Joy Zuraff returned home from the park with her 5-year-old daughter, Kenlee. The afternoon had been ordinary — swings, sunshine, a brief escape from the medical stress that had shadowed their lives. Then Zuraff’s phone rang. A friend told her the Department of Children and Families planned to stop by, take a quick look at Kenlee and close the case.
What happened next would upend her family’s life.
Santa Rosa County is in preliminary talks with the U.S. Navy to acquire a 694-acre airfield adjacent to the Northwest Florida Industrial Park at I-10.
The airfield, known as Santa Rosa Outlying Field, is still in use by the Navy. If you’ve driven on Highway 87 South near Interstate 10 exit 31, then you’ve likely seen orange and white helicopters flying.
In addition to Monday, Jan. 26, and Tuesday, Jan. 27, the cold weather shelter for the homeless and/or heatless will be open on the nights of Wednesday, Jan. 28, Thursday, Jan. 29, and Friday, Jan. 30 at Ferris Hill Baptist Church, 6848 Chaffin St. in Milton.
Temperatures may be sitting in the upper 60s along the Florida Panhandle today (Jan. 23, 2026), but the National Weather Service in Mobile has issued an Extreme Cold Watch for Alabama, Mississippi and Northwest Florida.
Close to a hundred people gathered in East Milton’s I-10 industrial park Wednesday, Jan. 21, to celebrate the recent opening of Buffalo Rock’s 352,800 square-foot Santa Rosa campus.
The facility, which includes 312,800 square feet of distribution space and 40,000 square feet of office space, is designed to handle logistics and product shipping along the Gulf Coast region, including much of the Panhandle. Construction on the facility began in September 2023. It has been open for about a month.
Three new directors took their seats on the Holley Navarre Water System board of directors Tuesday night, Jan. 20. The new board members are Ken Ingram, Stephanie Lindsay and Don Linnell.
The Emerald Coast Lifesaving Association will host the second edition of its Lifeguard Development Course on Navarre Beach on Feb. 16. The course will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is designed for second- and third-year lifeguards, with an emphasis on advanced skills, teamwork and leadership preparation. The program is not intended for current supervisors.
Holley Navarre Water System will hold its annual meeting and election Tuesday, Jan. 20, at its offices at 8574 Turkey Bluff Road in Navarre.
The meeting and election will give members of the water system the opportunity to vote on three seats on the board of directors. The current board will also vote on the 2026 budget, which has been developed over the past several months.
An alleged burglary Friday, Jan. 16, led to the arrest of four people in Milton.
The incident was reported after a neighbor noticed suspicious activity and alerted the homeowner. Deputies with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office responded, and the suspects attempted to flee before being apprehended.
