News Archive

A Gulf Breeze man was arrested in Foley, Alabama, after authorities said he held a 71-year-old man at gunpoint and forced him to drive to a bank and withdraw money.
Grant Barrett, 42, is charged with kidnapping an adult for ransom and battery.

Four years after narrowly losing to Kerry Smith for the District 2 Santa Rosa County Commission seat, Jeff Ates IV is back. This go round, he is facing seven other candidates, including Smith.

Ates is a lifelong East Milton resident and ran a dirt pit in the area for around 25 years. The pit has supplied dirt and other earthworks for projects across Santa Rosa County. He also managed hunting land in the 1980s and 1990s and currently consults for North American IPS, LLC.

While most Santa Rosa County schools are focused on finishing the 2025-26 school year, Kasie Windfelder is already planning for the opening of Soundside High School in 2026-27.

Windfelder is the principal of Soundside High School, the new high school on the south end of Santa Rosa County. Located in Midway across from the Gulf Breeze Zoo, the school is nearing completion. Construction cost around $115 million.

On May 1, Windfelder gave Navarre Press reporter Hansen Hasenberg a tour of the new school.

Jan. 1, 2026, was anything but fun for Monica McBrien, who works for Santa Rosa County Tourism Development Office. While many were ringing in the new year with fireworks, she suffered a seizure.

After coming to, she couldn’t recognize her family’s faces. She knew something was wrong. Shortly after, an MRI unveiled a diagnosis no one wants to hear: “you have brain cancer.”

An Okaloosa County judge on May 11 denied a request from a former Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy charged in the 2024 shooting death of Senior Airman Roger Fortson to travel outside the bounds of his pretrial release, after Fortson’s mother delivered an emotional plea asking the court to keep him in the area.

Each month, a support group for caregivers meets at Navarre Gardens. The common thread among those who attend: They care for a person with Alzheimer’s disease.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, and 1 in 3 older adults die with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. The organization estimates there are more than 13 million unpaid caregivers of dementia patients in the United States.

Ed Appler, a Navarre resident, has been named state chair of the Libertarian Party of Florida.

The 26-year Air Force veteran had been filling the position following the resignation of the party’s previous chair on March 22. On April 19, he officially became chair through 2027.

The public is invited to learn the lifesaving skill of CPR at the Gulf Coast Press the Chest Community CPR Event on Sunday, May 17, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Pensacola Bay Center.

Sarah Pena, a Kindergarten teacher at West Navarre Primary School, was recently recognized as a winner of the FSU InSPIRE America 250 Challenge in AI literacy.

The challenge featured teachers who’ve completed professional development courses on AI and robotics in the eight Northwest Florida counties InSPIRE serves.

Jonathan Kanzigg, former Midway Fire District chief, was unanimously selected May 5 as interim fire chief for the Navarre Beach Fire Rescue District following the termination of Chief Danny Fureigh.