Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Dec. 15 signed Senate Bill 6A, establishing the Toll Relief Program through the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), which will provide account credits to frequent commuters using toll roads across the state. The program will give Floridians with 35 or more toll transactions per month a 50% credit to their account.
The legislation, originally proposed by DeSantis in September of this year, was successfully passed during the recent Legislative Special Session. The Toll Relief Program begins on Jan. 1, 2023, and runs through Dec. 31, 2023.

Beginning Monday, Jan. 9, the Santa Rosa County Commission will limit public forum to an hour before each meeting.
“We felt like this was a reasonable compromise,” Chairman Colten Wright said at the commission’s regular meeting Dec. 8. “Once again, there was never any effort to squash anyone’s First Amendment rights or anything like that.”

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office recently received recognition as one of Florida’s best law enforcement agencies.
The Sheriff’s Office received the Excelsior Award from the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation and the Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission.

A case that had all of Northwest Florida, and certainly Navarre, polarized began on Monday, March 28, 2022, when Andrew Carli notified the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office (SRSO) that his daughter, Cassie, 37 of Navarre, was missing.

On Monday, Dec. 26, people in Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties lined up alongside U.S. Highway 98 to pay their respects and catch a glimpse of the motorcade carrying fallen officer Corporal Ray Hamilton from Pensacola to Fort Walton Beach.

Hamilton, an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy, was killed on Saturday, Dec. 24, while responding to a call concerning domestic violence at a residence on North Park Boulevard in Fort Walton Beach. According to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, Hamilton was shot in the head while he and other members of the OCSO Special Response Team were establishing a perimeter around the residence.

With legislators already beginning to plan the 2023 legislative session, county and regional boards are looking to get cohesive plans together to ask for appropriations.

The District One Medical Examiner’s Services (DOMES) is one of those boards.