The Panhandle Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Okaloosa County’s primary animal control and shelter provider, is facing a dire financial crisis. With a projected $750,000 shortfall in 2025, the nonprofit has warned that without immediate support, it may be forced to shut its doors in early 2026. This is not just a budget issue—it’s a looming public safety and animal welfare emergency.
On my recent visit with family in Canada, I was not surprised when one of my brothers called me “Pasquale.” He has called me Pasquale as long as I can remember but I don’t remember why. He has nicknames for other family members, their origins more easily recognized, yet, I am Pasquale, and we are not Italian.
In classrooms across Florida, an unsettling trend continues to raise red flags: children as young as 6 years old are being removed from school under Florida’s Baker Act, a law originally designed to protect individuals in mental health crises. Intended as a last resort, it’s become a first response far too often. The result? Frightened kids, heartbroken parents, and communities questioning whether we’ve lost our way in addressing student mental health.
Most of the time my job here involves telling stories about athletic achievement and beyond, and taking photos that capture some of the best moments from a game.
But having this platform as a writer, and having a strong social media presence, sometimes my job responsibilities go beyond what shows up in the newspaper.
Labels can get you into trouble if you don’t know fully what it is to which they refer. A case in point: I was born and raised in a part of Canada where all Americans, northerners and southerners alike, are called “Yankees.” You can imagine the firestorm that ignited when, after I moved to South Florida, in ignorance, I called a native Floridian a Yankee. His eyes blazed, his body went rigid, his face blossomed red, and his nostrils flared to accommodate the building steam. I was grateful that all I received that day was a short, very intense lesson in American history with extra emphasis on what my friend called, “the war of northern aggression.” The label “Yankee” no longer resides in my vocabulary.
$118 million. That staggering figure echoed through the Crestview City Council chamber like a whistle at the end of a game—signaling not victory, but reconsideration. After years of envisioning a sprawling sports complex to serve as a hub for athletic pride and community unity, city leaders were faced with a sobering truth: the dream carries a price tag that could weigh down Crestview taxpayers for decades.
The following was originally published July 12, 2025, at editorandpublisher.com and is a transcript of a vodcast series hosted by Mike Blinder. This perfectly encompasses how our newspapers and reporters feel about the role of newspapers.
Have you ever had to write letters of recommendation for someone? They are often needed for academic purposes like scholarships or entering levels of higher education. They are often needed for seeking employment.
Like most bills that go through the legislature in Florida, Senate Bill 180 is a mixed bag of good intentions and concerning consequences. Signed into law last month, this sweeping legislation is designed to improve hurricane recovery and emergency preparedness across the state. But while its goals appear laudable on the surface, the law raises serious red flags about local autonomy, land-use regulation and long-term community resilience.
