Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday defended declaring professional wrestling an essential service and raised the possibility of holding other televised sporting events in empty venues as people shelter at home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A proposal to add an amphitheater, shops, food trucks, playgrounds and other amenities to Navarre Beach was greeted with enthusiasm March 4 by members of the Tourist Development Council.
Director Julie White had rolled out her vision to the Santa Rosa County Commissioners at their Feb. 23 strategic planning workshop.
The Pensacola Bay Bridge will not reopen as scheduled and announced.
The need for additional repair work was discovered, and completing it takes the March 22 reopening date off the schedule. Instead, local officials were told by Florida Department of Transportation Thursday that the Memorial Day reopening date is still viable.
Navarre head coach Jay Walls said earlier this week he’d like to see a smaller, more localized district for this area if reclassification does take place for football for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.
Reclassification takes place every two years, and the last time it happened in 2019, Navarre was bumped up to 7A and placed in a district that included three Tallahassee schools.
With 1,400 children in foster care in the area and more than 600 of them needing food and shelter, GFWC Santa Rosa Woman’s Club has launched a “Help Feed the Children” drive as part of a statewide women’s club initiative to encourage “Love, Respect and Kindness” for all.
From March 1 to April 30, club members will ask retail businesses, offices, neighborhood homeowners’ associations organizations, civic and church groups, realtors, gyms, clubs and corporate offices to serve as collection sites for the drive.
The subdued browns, greens and grays of the forest are beginning to return to the brilliant pallet familiar to residents who venture beyond their front door. In the last days of February, the slow progression of woodland colors is shifting as spring approaches.
Many plants, trees and fungi are not reflecting the awareness of the coming warm days.
The Santa Rosa County Commission voted 5-to-0 at its recent special rezoning meeting to withdraw a controversial amendment to the Comprehensive Plan that would have opened the East Milton Wellfield Protection Area to more open-pit mining.
“This should put everybody’s mind at ease,” said District 2 Commissioner Bob Cole, shortly before the vote that came at the end of public input about the doomed amendment. “It’s done. It’s over.”
Pointing to a need for flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, school superintendents on Wednesday urged Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran to ask the federal government for waivers related to student assessments and accountability.
Gov. Ron DeSantis believes Florida’s economic recovery from COVID-19 could be better if the federal government would let cruise ship passengers decide if they want to take their chances on the open seas.
After giving his State of the State address on Tuesday, DeSantis predicted Florida’s unemployment rate will dip below 6 percent when January numbers are released on March 15.
