The sudden escalation offers what could be a harbinger of what lies ahead as the Syrian fighting winds down and an emboldened Iran establishes a military presence that Israel vows it will never accept.

Last general meeting for the season is February 21There is a change of venue for the final general meeting of the season: it will be at Village Baptist Church, 101 Matthew Blvd, Destin at 10 a.m. Entertainment will be provided by our own Walton County Snowbird Singers, a delightful finale! As is traditional, the performance will begin with their longtime theme song, "The Snowbird Song," written by Bill Addington.These talented and dedicated singers are also performing a concert, [...]

So many snowbirds have taken up this sport since it was invented in 1965.Pickleball players take their game seriously.A lot of T-shirts read "Real Athletes Play Pickleball!""Happy People Play Pickleball.""Some Grandmas Knit Scarfs, Real Grandmas Play Pickleball.""Stay Out of the Kitchen! Play Pickelball.""Life Necessities — Food, Sleep & Pickleball.""Pickleball Players Suffer OPD! Obsessive Pickleball Disorder!"Pickleball is [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]