A 56-year-old Navarre man was killed Friday morning in a head-on collision on State Road 87 on the Yellow River Bridge.

The man, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was driving a dark-colored Honda sedan north in the southbound lanes, according to the Florida Highway Patrol media release.

The legal firm that has been representing Santa Rosa County for the last nine months submitted notice Tuesday that it will no longer do so after Aug. 31, 2021.

On Saturdays, you will usually find me in the pool, swimming, hanging out or teaching someone else’s child to swim. It’s become a passion of mine, and not just because I have written too many stories about children drowning.

Four days after giving Santa Rosa County staff guidance on changing the meeting format, the Board of County Commissioners walked it back Tuesday morning.

The Santa Rosa County School District has announced its COVID-19 guidelines for the 2021-22 school year and they include masks being optional in school and on buses.

A motion to establish a policy on personal electronic device use by board members during public meetings died for lack of a second at a long, contentious Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning.

The motion by Commissioner Colten Wright led to an outburst by Commissioner James Calkins. After refusing to stay on topic – which had been the focus of the first five hours of the meeting – Calkins was silenced by the gavel. Chairman Dave Piech put the meeting in recess until Calkins could control himself.

COVID-19 positivity rates are rising in Santa Rosa County, a trend that is also being seen statewide.

Last week saw 938 people vaccinated in Santa Rosa, up from 624 the week before.  But the number of new cases more than doubled in one week, rising from 219 to 441. The positivity rate jumped from 15% to 23.2% in the same time frame.

An animal suspected of being in the whale family was reported off Pensacola Beach Tuesday.

COVID-19 positivity rates are rising in Santa Rosa County, a trend that is also being seen statewide. As of July 9, 43% of county residents had been vaccinated, which ranks it 39th out of the state’s 67 counties.

Crews from the Florida Department of Transportation spent two days cleaning excess vegetation out of the ditch running along the north side of U.S. Highway 98 in an area that has been flooding recently.