FORT WALTON BEACH — The spirit of Christmas was in the air Tuesday for the special needs clients of the Arc of the Emerald Coast. That is, when First Florida Bank staff not only delivered Christmas trees to their homes, but worked side-by-side with the clients to decorate them, also. The Arc of the Emerald Coast relies on these donations and those from the community to continue providing the personal support services required for the men, women and children with autism, [...]

“I don’t ever want Dog-Harmony to be sad. When we receive a dog, that’s where their story begins. We don’t get caught up in whatever happened before.”

PACE — First responders with the Pace Fire Rescue District took steps to ensure an accident would not repeat.They finished hanging 72-year-old George Cato's residential Christmas lights Nov. 30; Cato fell off a ladder earlier doing the same.Karen Sztukowski, daughter of George and Beverly Cato, was at work with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office when she got the call about her dad’s accident."I got a phone call from mother that my father fell off a [...]

FORT WALTON BEACH — Motorcycle aficionados had the chance to win a fully decorated Christmas tree Thursday at Emerald Coast Harley-Davidson’s first Crusin' into Christmas-Festival of Trees event.The proceeds of the raffle, which was hosted by Harley-Davidson and The Blue Knights law enforcement motorcycle club, will go to Safe Connections, a nonprofit organization that provides supervised visitation for [...]

WALTON COUNTY — Paxton School was awarding a $2,000 grant for a grant application titled "Paxton STEM Club LEGO Challenge."Beginning in January, 75 students in elementary and middle school STEM clubs will receive LEGO challenge kits that are STEM instructed from the LEGO company.The kits will guide students through the engineering, research and presentation process, according to a press release from the Walton Education Foundation.The kits will guide students [...]

Most of you have never walked through the newsroom, but if you did I'm betting you would notice that we all sit very close together.As in so close that it's impossible to have a conversation that isn't overheard by at least six or seven people. So we have learned to take our most personal conversations out into the parking lot. And because we live in Florida, that's not a problem for most of the year.But this week, as the temperatures dropped steadily, rain fell and winds blew, [...]

MILTON — James Priddy is painting the second sea turtle statue to go up in Santa Rosa County. As a Santa Rosa County corrections officer, Priddy regularly works with inmates to paint and touch up murals in town and at schools.The Santa Rosa County Arts and Culture Foundation chose Priddy to paint the turtle. It will have a military theme, with an American flag on its shell as well as logos of the military branches, Priddy said.He typically paints walls [...]

The overall property would have the potential of containing more than 900 single-family homes.

A tractor-trailer driver that lost control at the scene of an accident on Interstate 10 struck and killed a construction worker Friday morning.According to a Florida Highway Patrol press release, Bobby Steed, 29, of Orlando, was approaching an accident scene at 10:23 a.m. at mile marker 46 in Okaloosa County at the time of the fatal crash.FHP noted that Steed's 2012 Freightliner semi was traveling west in the outside lane of the highway and that was where a construction crew [...]

President Donald Trump has signed a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown and keep the federal government running through Dec. 22.