News Archive

Long before coaching basketball at Milton High School or organizing food drives in Santa Rosa County, Jeremy Ruffin was a baby in the foster care system.

While he only spent a few months in the system before being adopted by a preacher and a teacher, Ruffin said where he comes from has shaped his outlook and outreach over the years.

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —  Air Force Reservists in space-related career fields interested in volunteering for the U.S. Space Force in a fulltime capacity can expect the application window to open June 1–Nov. 30, 2024.

This transfer option is part of the Space Force Personnel Management Act (PMA), approved by Congress and signed into law as part of the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.

In November, voters will decide whether school board races should be partisan.

Currently, Santa Rosa School Board seats are all non-partisan, meaning board members are not tied to a political party. If Amendment 1 passes, then board members can campaign as part of a political party.

If you were at Bear Lake, the popular recreation area in Blackwater State Forest, on Sunday, June 2, you might have noticed multiple Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office K9s and large groups of people carrying out individuals on makeshift stretchers. While this might have looked like a pretty serious situation, there was no need for alarm. The Sheriff’s Office K9 unit wasn’t searching for someone lost and those people carrying others on stretchers weren’t carrying anyone that was hurt. It was all a simulation.

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson announced the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ (FDACS) Division of Aquaculture is now accepting applications from Florida educators for aquaculture classroom systems and supplementary materials.

The 1st Special Operations Wing will be conducting a hurricane readiness exercise June 3 – 6, 2024 to maintain contingency preparedness. There will be an increase in emergency response activity and flight operations throughout the exercise.

Santa Rosa County has a new county administrator in Brad Baker, who previously served as assistant county administrator. To fill Baker’s previous role, the county appointed Jared Lowe, an administrative services director who has been with the county on and off again since 2019.

Two local write-in candidates who appear to have little interest in campaigning will ensure that over 50,000 Santa Rosa County registered voters will not have a say in important local races.

Plans have been submitted, and are moving forward, for a new Walmart Neighborhood Market in Pace.

If you arrived late to last week’s Jay High graduation, you had to find somewhere to squeeze in.

Every seat was taken inside the school’s gymnasium as the community gathered to celebrate the class of 2024.