Maggie Benham is involved with many things.

From volunteering at the Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center (NBSTCC) to instructing people on whitewater rafting to creating art, Benham is a sort of “jack-of-all-trades.” Or rather, a “Jill of all trades.”

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.

Kimberly McChesney, a former Gulf Breeze Elementary School assistant principal, has been placed in a new role within the district after an investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing related to events at the end of the 2024-25 school year.

McChesney, who was placed on administrative leave in August 2025 after her son, Matthew McChesney, was arrested in July on a charge of possession of child pornography, has been reassigned to the Blended Academy. She will serve as assistant principal of the school, which offers a hybrid model of online education and in-person support.

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.

Monday marked the observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday held on the third Monday of January each year.

King, a civil rights leader and pastor from Atlanta, spent much of his adult life campaigning for an end to Jim Crow laws in the American South and advocating for fair and equal treatment of minorities, particularly African Americans, in the United States.

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.

Santa Rosa County School Board chose the “orange zone” map for the boundaries of Soundside High School’s student zoning. Those students who live within the orange area will attend Soundside High School instead of Navarre High or Gulf Breeze High.

Holley-Navarre Fire District Station 44 is set to begin fire service operations Sunday, Jan. 18.

Late last month, a Milton resident posted a picture of a river otter swimming through Annie’s Basin near the Blackwater River. The woman was on her dock when a little furry head stuck out of the water.
While not an uncommon sight, river otters are not exactly the poster child for Florida animals. Despite not being as famed as alligators, manatees and Florida panthers, river otters play an important ecological role.