News Archive

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.

A 59-year-old Pace man is behind bars after a May 24 incident where deputies say he shoved a Pace Fire Rescue firefighter who was responding to a trash fire at his home, according to an arrest report from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.

State Sen. Don Gaetz has asked the agriculture commissioner to open a formal investigation into aerial herbicide spraying by a Florida Power & Light contractor that farmers and beekeepers in north Santa Rosa County say drifted onto their property and killed livestock and bees.