Over the last two years freshwater fisheries researchers and managers with the FWC have successfully released more than 11,000 shoal bass.

It’s part of an ongoing recovery effort for the shoal bass population after Hurricane Michael devastated the Panama City area in 2018 and depleted more than 90% of it.

The Northwest Florida Health Network told church and faith-based nonprofit leaders last week that it can fund their community-based social services without interfering in how those services are provided.

“Governor DeSantis has had his people do all the legal work,” the Rev. Rick Hazelip of First City Church said Thursday, Oct. 19, at a “Faith Summit” at Brownsville Church. “All we have to do is open up our services to anybody, regardless of their beliefs. And then we do what we do.”

Ken Knight, who grew up in Crestview from 1948 to 1958, fondly recalls swimming in a clear, chilly creek just south of the city limits and west of State Road 85. “Whenever I talk with someone from that area, I always call it ‘God’s country,'” Knight, who is now 77 and lives in Alachua in the Gainesville metro area, said on Oct. 13. “I would love to live there again. When I was a kid, I used to swim in Turkey Hen Creek. The water was freezing! My fingers would shrivel up.”

A suspension bridge, an historic gristmill and abundant serene scenes of nature thrill hikers on a 6.5-mile roundtrip trek by Krul and Bear lakes within the Blackwater River State Forest in northeast Santa Rosa County.

Troy University environmental science faculty recently developed an oyster habitat suitability model for the Choctawhatchee Bay as part of a $114,843 grant from the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance and Northwest Florida State College.

Gary Ellis, owner of Crestview Plumbing and Hardware at 297 N. Main St., plans to close the iconic downtown store for good on Oct. 31, Halloween, after working there for almost half a century.

Ellis, 65, of Baker, said on Aug. 3 that he plans to lease his overall commercial property to 3rd Planet Brewing Co., which plans to open a craft brewery like the one it has in Niceville sometime next year.

There’s more than one way to swing on a front porch, and a new porch swing is just one of them. Another is to jitterbug to the irresistible music of a lively big band. On Aug. 12, Crestview’s historic Bush House’s front porch has both.

As the popularity of pickleball grows, so does the need for training in the sport. The basics are that of a simple paddle/racquet sport, making contact with the ball and getting it over a net. But to really develop skills you have to know proper techniques.

Though it stands less than half a mile from busy U.S. Highway 90, the 2.5-acre site of the John McMahon Environmental Education Center in Crestview serves as a peaceful and shaded respite from the sun where visitors can hear bird songs and rustling leaves.

Twin Hills Park will host a decorated-bicycle parade, a slew of games, food and drink vendors, and DJ-provided music that will continue through a half-hour-long fireworks show on the Fourth of July.

“It’s more than just fireworks: It’s a ‘Party in the Park,’” Crestview Public Information Manager Chance Leavins said.