Santa Rosa County commissioners agreed Sept. 8 to move forward with amending the county’s land development code to require an agricultural exemption before landowners in agricultural zoning districts can clear land without a permit.

With the approval of the consent agenda at the Sept. 10 Santa Rosa County Board of County Commissioners meeting, officials will approve the final $7.6 million contract for the Milton Interchange Park Wastewater Treatment Plant, which will push total costs above $34 million.

Santa Rosa County commissioners agreed Sept. 8 to direct staff to draft an ordinance regulating animal tethering countywide.

Santa Rosa County will receive $525,000 in state grants to design an expansion of Whiting Aviation Park and to buy land near NAS Whiting Field to protect the base from encroachment, according to a news release from Santa Rosa County officials.

The man who first found Danika Troy’s body in the woods off Kimberly Road in Floridatown has been sentenced to prison.

Mitchell Eddins, 46, was sentenced to four years in state prison and 364 days in county jail after pleading guilty to felony petit theft and failing to report a death to the Medical Examiner’s Office or law enforcement.

Wendell Hall had been sheriff of Santa Rosa County for about eight months when he walked out of a hotel breakfast in Ocala and found a crowd of Florida sheriffs standing around a television.

The Santa Rosa County Library System will hold its fourth annual Kindness Food Drive Sept. 1-30.

The city of Milton has announced changes to trash pickup schedules for the upcoming Labor Day holiday.

Santa Rosa County District Schools is continuing its partnership with SmartSocial for the 2026-27 school year.

A Milton man was arrested Sept. 2 in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a pedestrian on Old Bagdad Highway last November, according to a news release from the Florida Highway Patrol.