The S.A.F.E. Program has been growing since its inception in 2022. Recently, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson, Santa Rosa County Emergency Management and Col. Allison Black, 1st SOW Commander of Hurlburt Field, were presented with new S.A.F.E. Program Packs at Samurai Steakhouse and Sushi Bar in Navarre.

The past is the future at Hobbs Middle School. Several students from the school are heading to Washington, D.C. in June for the 2023 National History Day competition. Abraham Jordan, Brooklyn Bentley and Brenna Delezen will be competing June 12-15 with research projects they put together over the past year.

Northwest Florida is home to quite a few veterans. In many places, veterans can enjoy designated parking spots but at Santa Rosa County-owned facilities, the only veterans parking spots were for Purple Heart recipients. Other veterans did not have designated parking. At least not until now.

On 640 acres off County Road 182 near Allentown, you’ll find the Jay Research Facility, which is a part of the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center. UF/IFAS, which stands for the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing the quality of human life by making that information accessible. The college has a dozen research facilities across the state.

The school year is coming to a close. With that in mind, Santa Rosa Press Gazette sat down with Santa Rosa District Schools’ superintendent Dr. Karen Barber to talk about the school year’s biggest successes, challenges and the new things coming to county schools in fall 2023.

There are 13,600 children who face food insecurity in the county, according to Santa Rosa County District Schools. That doesn’t include those whose families struggle to afford necessities like clothing. Rather than sitting by and saying too bad, school board member Linda Sanborn has started a new program to address the needs of those students who may not have what they need to be successful in the classroom and in life.

For nearly an hour of the more than three and half-hour school board meeting earlier this month, concerned citizens, most of which were with Moms For Liberty members, spoke on the appropriateness of certain books in Santa Rosa District Schools and questioned the process by which parents can make decisions about the reading material available to their children. Moms for Liberty claims that there at least 28 books found on the Santa Rosa District Schools website that had sexually explicit or culturally indoctrinating language in them. The group provided three examples including “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas and “Triangles” by Ellen Hopkins, both of which have been targeted by other Moms for Liberty chapters.

For those of you looking for another dollar store to shop at in Santa Rosa County, you’re in luck. There are currently two Dollar Generals in development in the north end of Santa Rosa County, one on Woodbine Road in Pace and another in East Milton at the corner of Hickory Hammock Road and Ward Basin Road. They have both been approved by the county.

Santa Rosa County is no stranger to the military. It is home to NAS Whiting Field and part of Eglin Air Force Base, with Hurlburt Field and NAS Pensacola in adjacent counties. With many bases in the area, there are many families in Santa Rosa County with ties to the military.

The teenage son of Rebekah Jones, a data analyst and former Democratic Party candidate for U.S. House, has been charged with intimidation, a second-degree felony. Jackson Jones, 13, was arrested for allegedly threatening to conduct a mass shooting at Holley Navarre Middle School, where he was previously a student. The threats first came to the attention of Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office March 20, when an East Bay K8 student told school officials about a school shooting threat she saw on social media.