News Archive

Lawmakers on Tuesday approved a sweeping tax cut for homestead property owners pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, sending it to the November ballot.

The measure increases the existing $50,000 exemption for homestead properties to $150,000 starting in 2027, and it increases to $250,000 in 2028. The exemption, though, doesn’t apply to school taxes, after lawmakers changed DeSantis’ plan Monday to protect districts from drastic cuts.

A water main break along Da Lisa Road has forced the Bagdad-Garcon Point Water System to issue a boil water notice for residents in the area.

Breast cancer diagnosis rates in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties exceed the state average, and a new program from Ascension Sacred Heart is working to change that one free mammogram at a time.

The Jay community takes tremendous pride in its farming roots, and those roots are well represented in the high school’s FFA program.
Not only does Jay’s FFA chapter provide students with invaluable experience in agricultural studies, but it also allows them to work hands-on to provide for people in the community.

Incumbent County Commissioner Kerry Smith didn’t qualify for the 2026 ballot based on petitions and now must pay $5,460.06 to stay in the race for Commission District 2.
Smith, along with fellow District 2 candidates Michael Rinaldi and Shawn Kay, failed to garner the required number of petitions by the May 11 deadline.

A 25-year-old Milton man died on June 1 after authorities say he lost control of his car and ran into a tree, according to a news release from Florida Highway Patrol.

An 18-year-old Crestview man died on May 31 after he was struck by lightning while kayaking on the Blackwater River and fell from his vessel, according to a news release from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Before every performance, Pamela Strecker made one final walk.
She moved through the backstage area from one side to the other, checking on every actor, calling out final cues, making sure nothing had been missed. Then, just before heading up to the booth, she would turn around, look out at the cast and raise a hand in the air.
“Be brilliant.”
It caught on. Cast members started saying it to each other.
Strecker,61, who served as stage manager and eight-year president of Stage Crafters Community Theater in Fort Walton Beach, died earlier this month after a battle with cancer. She had been part of the organization for more than two decades, arriving as a shy backstage helper in 1999 and becoming the heartbeat of one of Northwest Florida’s most beloved volunteer arts organizations.

Local base commanders and Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-FL1) made the case on May 27 that the area’s congested roadways are not just a quality-of-life problem, it is also a threat to national security.

The old hospital on Stewart Steet could become a 300-unit apartment community with a public library and technology hub. A three-acre lot off James Street could become a new home for senior housing. A 10-acre plat in the city’s northern end could become a planned community of manufactured homes where people can actually afford a home.