News Archive

If you are interested in learning about starting a business in childcare, then you may be in luck.

The Florida Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of West Florida, Wells Fargo, and the Business and Leadership Institute for Early Learning (BLI) will be presenting a series of classes to help participants learn more about the childcare industry and what it takes to start and run a business.

A Crestview man was arrested after Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies allegedly found an unlicensed firearm in his vehicle on Sunday, Jan. 1, during a traffic stop. Donte Marquis Corey, 22, is charged with carrying a concealed weapon and fleeing or eluding police.

Want to pursue a career in agriculture? There may be a scholarship opportunity for you. Farm Credit of Northwest Florida is offering one scholarship up to $24,000 to a high school senior, college freshman or sophomore with plans to go into the field of agriculture. The scholarship will cover $3,000 for eight semesters totaling $24,000 for a student’s tuition throughout their four year undergraduate degree. Additionally, Farm Credit will provide a paid internship during their junior or senior year of college.

On Saturday, Renee Hamilton should have been celebrating her eighth wedding anniversary to Corporal Ray Hamilton of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Instead, she and others honored the man who was shot and killed on Christmas Eve while responding to a domestic violence call near Fort Walton Beach. Nearly 2,000 people, many of them first responders from around the Southeast, attended the public funeral service for Corp. Hamilton Saturday morning at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Convention Center.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Dec. 15 signed Senate Bill 6A, establishing the Toll Relief Program through the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), which will provide account credits to frequent commuters using toll roads across the state. The program will give Floridians with 35 or more toll transactions per month a 50% credit to their account. The legislation, originally proposed by DeSantis in September of this year, was successfully passed during the recent Legislative Special Session. The Toll Relief Program begins on Jan. 1, 2023, and runs through Dec. 31, 2023.

The Amtrak Board of Directors hosted their first open to the public Board Meeting last month, at which a map outlining possible new service was released. Amtrak advised that “expressions of interest” have been communicated suggesting a return of service to the Florida panhandle to and from New Orleans east to locations such as Pensacola, Crestview, and Tallahassee.

A Crestview man has been arrested for murder in the shooting death of his wife. The Crestview Police Department responded to a 911 call that someone had been shot at a residence located at 178 Nun Drive just before 4 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

An Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy lost his life Saturday, Dec. 24, when a domestic violence suspect opened fire on responding deputies from inside his residence. Five-year OCSO veteran Corporal Ray Hamilton, a member of the OCSO Special Response Team, succumbed to the shooting injury shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday at Fort Walton Beach – Destin Hospital. The suspect, 43-year old Timothy Price-Williams was hit with return fire from deputies, sustaining a non-life-threatening injury to his arm.

With legislators already beginning to plan the 2023 legislative session, county and regional boards are looking to get cohesive plans together to ask for appropriations. The District One Medical Examiner’s Services (DOMES) is one of those boards.

The city of Crestview has put in a lot of work to the Blackwater Golf Club since taking over the former Foxwood Country Club. The 18-hole course has been completely renovated, a new Toptracer driving range has opened and become an attraction of its own and new tennis and pickleball courts have been added. One area of the club that hasn’t received as much attention recently is the main entrance.