30A Breaking News

Democrats introduced the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act in the House and Senate last week

OKALOOSA ISLAND — A baby raccoon the size of an apple lay curled up in a clear box on a Thursday morning at the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge, cuddling a stuffed animal beside it.Gena Medley, a vet tech student and an intern at the refuge, picked up the critter with her hands and laid it on the scale.The numbers on the scale read 165 grams — less than half a pound.“He hasn’t even opened his little eyes yet,” she said, picking him up [...]

William Howard Hughes Jr. was apprehended at his home after a fraud investigation, is charged with desertion

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A New York man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for trying to join the Islamic State group, despite telling the judge he only wanted to provide humanitarian aid to Syrians.The U.S. District Court judge told Arafat Nagi (NAH'-gee) on Monday he found his humanitarian claims hard to believe in light of graphic social media posts of Islamic State violence and a photo of Nagi posing with an assault rifle.The 47-year-old Lackawanna (lak-ah-WAH'- [...]

FORT WALTON BEACH — Surrounded by family and friends, former Assistant State Attorney Angela Mason placed her hand on a pair of family Bibles Monday morning at the Okaloosa County Courthouse and achieved her lifelong dream of becoming a judge. With her husband, David, [...]

MILTON —Santa Rosa County Commissioners are looking to increase annual rates for fire district services in unincorporated areas in the county.In February, Navarre Beach Fire Rescue went to the board to approve rate increases for fire services. But officials said that there would first need a study to assess department needs before a rate increase could be implemented. And instead of looking at just one department, they had the study cover nine other fire departments in [...]

Judges cannot consider domestic, gang violence as grounds for protection by U.S., attorney general says