Many senior citizens would have hunkered down with a good book or a movie when the forecast called for thunderstorms, but not the Destin Snowbirds. Well over 100 boarded two buses in the rain at 5 a.m. last Sunday morning for an excursion to New Orleans to view the Mardi Gras parades and enjoy a little gaming fun in Biloxi on the way home. The trip was such a huge success that another 100 plus snowbirds will board two buses this Sunday to enjoy a repeat expedition. Both trips were completely [...]

Walmart is expanding the roll out of cutting-edge technology to select stores across Florida, bringing its new Scan & Go program to its Santa Rosa Beach store.The new program allows customers to scan items as they shop in-store and skip the checkout line entirely.“Walmart continues to look for innovative ways to help customers save not only money but time,” said Santa Rosa Beach Store Manager Tyson Hall. “Our customers will find this new service will [...]

CHELCO has announced that they are preparing to install solar panels on the roof of their Operations Center in DeFuniak Springs in what will be the first cooperative solar project in the Florida Panhandle or Southern Alabama.CHELCO is a member-owned electric cooperative with 50,000 members. Every year it surveys its members and in the past 10 years a shift was seen in the willingness to pay more for renewable energy.In 2008, 39 percent of the members surveyed were willing to [...]

When Okaloosa County Commissioner Trey Goodwin campaigned for his current term four years ago, he began to reach out to local residents on Facebook to find out their thoughts on local area Sunday alcohol sale rules."A sizeable majority of the citizen input that I received indicated that yes, maybe some of those Sunday laws were outdated, but in Okaloosa County, it seems to work," Goodwin said Thursday.He said [...]

SOUTH WALTON — Ten years ago Celine Lannoye was an intern at Chan’s Wine World in Destin. Now her very own wine – Celene Bordeaux – will grace the shelves of the same establishment.“Ten years ago I was working in Destin, and I think when you’re a producer in wine it’s very important to talk to the consumer because you do not do wine [...]

CRESTVIEW — The Okaloosa County Commission on Wednesday approved financing for phase three of the PJ Adams Parkway project.The project will add two lanes along the road from Highway 85 to Wild Horse Drive, turning about a mile into a four-lane road.Construction was broken into [...]

OKALOOSA ISLAND — In recent weeks, the sky above the ponds, dunes, fields and trails at Veterans Park has resembled a busy airport for small pterodactyls.That’s because the nesting season has taken flight for one of the roughly 17-acre park’s most common bird species, the great blue heron.Male herons have been diligently gathering sticks and other materials on the ground and then [...]

Car went airborne and slammed into tree in the 6:30 a.m. crash.

Fortunately, no residents were home at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported on scene.

NICEVILLE — The Okaloosa County School District will review and revise the job description for the assistant superintendent of human resources after the former position holder — arrested for failing to report child abuse — resigned last week.At a School Board workshop Thursday, Chairman Lamar White asked the staff to review and possibly add or delete some of the roles and responsibilities of the assistant superintendent.Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson [...]