It was March 6, 2024, when Joy Zuraff returned home from the park with her 5-year-old daughter, Kenlee. The afternoon had been ordinary — swings, sunshine, a brief escape from the medical stress that had shadowed their lives. Then Zuraff’s phone rang. A friend told her the Department of Children and Families planned to stop by, take a quick look at Kenlee and close the case. What happened next would upend her family’s life.

Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson delivered a forceful rebuttal Thursday after county commissioners invited him to address allegations raised at their Dec. 11 meeting. “After hearing Rickie Cotton come up here and spew lies, it really got to me,” Johnson said from the podium. “Rickie Cotton is a liar.”

After receiving no state funding last year through the legislature, the City of Milton is well on its way to solidifying its requests for the next session. Tim Parson, the vice president of Tallahassee-based Liberty Partners, met with the council during their workshop meeting last week to go over the preliminary list. That list included:

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection handed out hefty fines July 2 to Avalon Beach developers Kip Walker (Damon Drive) and Thomas Cornelison (Furlong Drive) of $197,250 and $67,500, respectively, for their role in allowing red clay sediment into Mulat Bayou over the past year or more.

Two of the three public hearing votes for additional taxing units failed by a 2-3 vote, with Commissioners Ray Eddington, Rhett Rowell and Bobby Burkett casting ‘no’ votes.

First on the hearing agenda was the Public Safety Municipal Services Taxing Unit, followed by Roads and Transportation MSTU, which is an additional millage on a homeowner’s property tax bill.

An important meeting is being held tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. at the regular commissioners meeting at 6495 Caroline Street in the commissioners’ chambers. If you haven’t heard about it, please listen up. These public hearings were advertised by our county in Escambia County (Pensacola News Journal) – not Santa Rosa County. Under Florida Statute […]

There is a road being built at the end of Ibis Road in Milton’s Avalon Park as part of Maikaira Ridge subdivision that will lead to, well, nowhere. There is a decadeslong history of the property and the road beginning in 1994 that residents of Ibis Road hope the commissioners will uphold.

The repeated clay intrusions into Mulat Bayou in the past seven months have significantly damaged the bayou and it will take tens of years for it to recover, says a local expert. Some residents have counted 11 such intrusions involving red clay from nearby developments washing into the bayou.

“At the very beginning of the destruction of Avalon Beach – that’s when they knew,” Arthur Hauck said. “In my opinion they are liable for negligence.”

The overnight and morning rain March 8-9 has funneled more red clay into Mulat Bayou.