Santa Rosa County School Board recognized two people for their efforts to bring Career and Technical Education into the classroom and to enhance learning opportunities for students.

A political dispute over funding for immigration enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security has led to a partial government shutdown that is affecting federal employees, including those who work for the Transportation Security Administration.

With TSA employees not being paid during the shutdown, several airports are experiencing staffing shortages that have led to longer security lines. At airports in Atlanta, Houston and New Orleans, wait times have stretched several hours.

Navarre United Methodist Church’s Kids Choir hosted an event called “Rising Praise” on Sunday, March 8.

The worship concert featured 12 songs performed by 14 choir members, all between the ages of 3 and 11.

Sandra Williams, a 71-year-old woman died after striking the back of a school bus in the eastbound left lane of Highway 98 Wednesday, March 11. The incident occurred near Sunrise Drive in Navarre.

Holley-Navarre Fire District was dispatched to the scene at 1:50 p.m. and found the woman’s vehicle, a Chevrolet, partially underneath the school bus.

Around 2:05 p.m., a paramedic with HNFD declared the driver deceased.

The Navarre Beach Lifeguards returned to a foggy Navarre Beach Saturday, March 7.

The lifeguards will be looking to follow up a successful 2025, which saw over 1.9 million visitors, 1.5 million preventative actions, 6,337 assists and zero drownings.

Rachel Clearman has had music in her heart since she was 7 years old. That’s when she began playing piano.

Fast forward 14 years and Clearman is now in Nashville, pursuing her dream of becoming a recording artist.

The University of West Florida is known for its trails as well as its academics.

Much of the trails traverse through longleaf pine forests. The plant, which once spread over 90 million acres across America, is famously fire-resistant and relies on fires to clear out dead underbrush to make room for its seedlings.

Fourteen students from Holley Navarre Middle School and one student from Navarre High School are advancing to the State Science and Engineering Fair.

The 15 students competed in the 71st West Florida Regional Science Fair at the University of West Florida. According to Santa Rosa County District Schools, this year’s fair featured 56 projects, 60 student participants, six schools across two counties and more than $3,500 in awards.

Over the past several years, Oriole Beach Elementary School has hosted an event named ‘White Cane Day’ to recognize a blind student enrolled at the school and bring awareness of blindness and other conditions to fellow students.

The annual event has been a big success, with students and teachers participating in a variety of activities to show what life would be like without the use of vision.

Holley Navarre Water System board of directors met Feb. 17 to discuss, among other things, strategic planning options.

Earlier this year, the board told HNWS staff of its desire to create a five-year strategic plan. The plan would lay out a series of goals for the system and how the board could reach them with respect to budget constraints.