As mothers go, possums probably wouldn’t win any awards.

Baby possums ride on their mothers, but if one falls off, mom just keeps going.

That’s likely what happened to a young possum found in a basket of dirty laundry in a Fort Walton Beach garage last week.

Memorial Day weekend has started out on a tragic note for a 22-year-old man who jumped off the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier into shallow water to impress his friends, according to Navarre Rescue Fire Chief Danny Fureigh.

Emergency operations officials in Santa Rosa County are gearing up for the hurricane season, though perhaps not as aggressively as in years past.

At 5:45 a.m. Friday, May 28 Santa Rosa Commission Chair Dave Piech got a call with the news everyone has been waiting to hear for more than eight months.

“Chairman, I just wanted to let you know that we are 15 minutes from flowing traffic on the bridge,” Carter Johnson, government affairs liaison with the Florida Department of Transportation.

The Pensacola Bay Bridge quietly reopened early Friday morning with no ribbon-cutting, fanfare or official advance announcement. It has been closed since it was damaged by a barge Sept. 16 that broke loose during Hurricane Sally.

Construction on the bridge continues, but two lanes are open from end to end.

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Multiple people were injured during a May 15 brawl at Stripes Pub and Grill, according to two of the individuals’ Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office arrest reports.

Officials are expecting this Memorial Day weekend to bring record crowds to Navarre Beach and have adjusted staffing in preparation.

From the Gulf Breeze Area Chamber and the Pensacola Beach Chamber:

Chamber officials realize the completion of the first phase of the Pensacola Bay Bridge project is not dated. “Our chamber simply wants to utilize the opportunity to promote our City, the beach, and their businesses alongside such a momentous milestone as the bridge reopening to traffic,” the statement said.

A 24-year-old Milton woman triggered a four-vehicle accident on Interstate 10 that caused traffic to be diverted to the shoulder for an hour. The accident happened about 8 a.m. near mile marker 7 in Escambia County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol media release. The woman failed to notice that traffic had slowed in front of her. She was seriously injured, while the other drivers either had minor or no injuries, the release said.