Unlike in the past many years, Okaloosa County general fund dollars will not be used to help support nonprofit organizations in fiscal year 2026.

An Eglin firefighter recently earned a Defense Department honor for Fire and Emergency Services.

Joseph Suddarth, Jr. claimed the 2024 Fire Service Instructor of the Year award for efforts in safeguarding and advancing vital national interests and assures military readiness and resilience.

On Aug. 11, which is the first day of the 2025-2026 school year for Okaloosa County School District students, Crestview officials plan to start a monthlong educational campaign on traffic safety cameras that will be installed in the school zones of four schools.

A recently published archaeological study is shedding new light on the role of domesticated cats in the early days of Colonial America. The remains of the cats at the heart of the article were found on a 1559 shipwreck in Pensacola Bay, dubbed Emmanuel Point II.

The Okaloosa Arts Alliance thanks all the Okaloosa County School students who participated in the 16th Annual OAA Okaloosa County School Poster Contest.

This year the theme was “Arts in Outer Space.” On May 4, all 138 entries were on display at the Emerald Coast Science Center in Fort Walton Beach. 

A handgun that was discharged inside a classroom in a Charles County, Maryland, elementary school, has been tracked back to a Crestview man who was visiting relatives in the area.

The city of Crestview’s Memorial Day Ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Monday, May 26 at the Okaloosa County Veterans Memorial on North Main Street.

On April 8, 2025, at approximately 2:55 a.m., Crestview Police Department units were dispatched in response to a report of a two-year-old boy possibly experiencing cardiac arrest and seizures. Officer Jessika Axelson was the first to arrive, finding the boy unresponsive and with no heartbeat. She immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Congressman Jimmy Patronis on May 5 warned consumers about a surge in real estate deed scams.

Fraudsters target vacant or unmonitored homes and use forged documents to sell those properties to unsuspecting buyers, according to a news release from Patronis. It states that according to the FBI, nationwide, from 2019 through 2023, 58,000 victims reported $1.3 billion in losses relating to real estate fraud.

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month this May, the Okaloosa County School District will engage students, staff, and families in activities designed to foster mental wellness, promote conversation, and provide mental health resources.