Two nonprofit organizations are pursuing Jack Wetherell’s vision when he opened the Panhandle Butterfly House in 1997 in Navarre, one the nonprofit sponsor of the program, the other founded in 2021 by a former volunteer and board president of the original Panhandle Butterfly House board.

Butterflies in Motion, Inc. – formerly known as Panhandle Butterfly House and Nature Center, Inc. – uses a mobile butterfly habitat to deliver free educational programs across northern Florida between late spring and the end of the Monarch butterfly migration in October. In just its second season, it already has earned awards for environmental education from the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs and the six-state Deep South Regional Garden Club; it also has received a conservation education award from National Garden Clubs Inc.

Area residents learned how bees, birds and butterflies play a critical role in agriculture during Keep Santa Rosa Beautiful’s ‘Pollination Celebration’ Saturday at the Panhandle Butterfly House & Nature Center.

The Santa Rosa County Commission on Thursday agreed it did not support pornography in schools, but stopped short of considering a resolution that might be seen as meddling in the school district’s business.

The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday, June 20, they would not seek charges in the case involving Nikko’s Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar in Pace. The case stems from a June 9 incident when seven people fell ill after eating at Nikko’s. Sheriff’s Office deputies first became aware of the situation June 10, when they responded to a police assist call at Santa Rosa Hospital.

A man was shot and killed while driving last night in Pace. According to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, at approximately 6:30 p.m., the agency received reports of a shooting that had occurred in the area of Wallace Lake Road off Quintette Road in Pace.

The City of Milton Fire Department dedicated its newest fire engine with a traditional “push-in” ceremony Friday, June 16, at Station 23, 5321 Stewart St.

The sight of smoke along U.S. Highway 90 on Friday, June 9, wasn’t cause for alarm, according to a news release from the City of Milton; local firefighters were using the soon-to-be-demolished Shrimp Basket building for a commercial fire attack drill.