An ad campaign drawing tourists to Santa Rosa County has won an award from VISIT FLORIDA.

Gov. Ron DeSantis visited the Santa Rosa County Administrative Complex Wednesday morning to announce $3.4 million in grants to use to support local military missions. His press conference began at 11:35 and is ongoing. Check back for more information.

For the last six months, Navarre Beach lifeguards have been patrolling beaches along the Gulf of Mexico, advising locals and visitors on water conditions, providing them with minor medical assistance and rescuing them when they need it.

The weekly report by the Florida Department of Health shows Santa Rosa County COVID-19 cases dropping from over 2,000 the past two weeks to 1,437

Among those helping Louisiana recover from Hurricane Ida are 10 Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office deputies, who left the county Friday, Sept. 3.

The Santa Rosa County School District’s daily COVID-19 summary report shows that Navarre High School leads the district in positive cases as well as exposure absences, as the entire county trends downward in overall numbers.

Santa Rosa County staff turnover has more than doubled compared to data from 2019 and 2020. And employees resigning in 2021 include a handful of high-level county employees, including the county administrator, the assistant county administrator, the public information officer and the head of the grants department.

The Florida Department of Health has released its weekly COVID information and the number of new cases in Santa Rosa County is down slightly from 2,101 last week to 2,065 this week.

The number of new vaccinations is also down from 1,743 to 1,376.

Bed tax collections for Santa Rosa County neared the $1 million mark for the first time in July, totaling $951.059, according to information released this week.