News Archive

Lawmakers on Tuesday approved a sweeping tax cut for homestead property owners pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, sending it to the November ballot.

The measure increases the existing $50,000 exemption for homestead properties to $150,000 starting in 2027, and it increases to $250,000 in 2028. The exemption, though, doesn’t apply to school taxes, after lawmakers changed DeSantis’ plan Monday to protect districts from drastic cuts.

Incumbent County Commissioner Kerry Smith didn’t qualify for the 2026 ballot based on petitions and now must pay $5,460.06 to stay in the race for Commission District 2.
Smith, along with fellow District 2 candidates Michael Rinaldi and Shawn Kay, failed to garner the required number of petitions by the May 11 deadline.

Hurlburt Field will be conducting explosive demolition training between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., June 3, 5, 9 and 11.

This May brought the first days of summer heat. It also brought termites.

In Florida, termites generally swarm between April and July. Florida is inside Termite Infestation Probability Zone 1, the highest-risk category for termites in the United States.

The Kiwanis Club of Navarre is launching a new program to bring American Flags to your yard.

Before every performance, Pamela Strecker made one final walk.
She moved through the backstage area from one side to the other, checking on every actor, calling out final cues, making sure nothing had been missed. Then, just before heading up to the booth, she would turn around, look out at the cast and raise a hand in the air.
“Be brilliant.”
It caught on. Cast members started saying it to each other.
Strecker,61, who served as stage manager and eight-year president of Stage Crafters Community Theater in Fort Walton Beach, died earlier this month after a battle with cancer. She had been part of the organization for more than two decades, arriving as a shy backstage helper in 1999 and becoming the heartbeat of one of Northwest Florida’s most beloved volunteer arts organizations.

Local base commanders and Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-FL1) made the case on May 27 that the area’s congested roadways are not just a quality-of-life problem, it is also a threat to national security.

A new gas station may be coming to Navarre Parkway.

Plans for a Circle K convenience store with a gas canopy were submitted to Santa Rosa County in May. The planned location is 8510 Navarre Parkway.

Over two dozen lifeguards gathered at Tower 3 on Navarre Beach Friday, May 22, for a special competition.

The group was there for the Iron Guard race, a relay event in which lifeguards test their endurance and skills on land and in the water.

In November 2025, a jury ruled in favor of plaintiffs in the Midway Water Crisis lawsuit.

The lawsuit was in response to reported damages caused by Midway Water System, Brown Construction of Northwest Florida and the City of Gulf Breeze for their roles in a 2021 incident where Brown Construction mistakenly connected a sewer line with a water line.