The Okaloosa County School District, in partnership with the Crestview, Destin, Fort Walton Beach, and Niceville-Valparaiso Chambers of Commerce, announces the launch of “Support to Soar,” a community-powered initiative designed to help students thrive by providing essential classroom resources and healthy snacks.

Perseverance paid off for historian and author Ronald W. Collins while researching his book “Mystery at Green Pond: The Murder of Bud and Nancy Davis by the Blackwell Brothers.”

Starting on Friday, the following disaster prep items will be permanently tax-free in the Sunshine State:

The Okaloosa County School District Transportation Department has released school bus routes for the 2025–2026 school year, which starts on Monday, Aug. 11.

A 19-year-old man from Fort Walton Beach and a 50-year-old woman from Fort Worth, Texas died in a traffic accident at 9:25 p.m. Friday on Okaloosa Island.

Sunshine Hot Chicken N’ More District Manager Shannon Pelham handled the big scissors during Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the company’s new eatery at 2493 S. Ferdon Blvd. in Crestview.

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.

Timothy Paul Price-Williams entered a plea of guilty to first degree murder on Thursday in the December 2022 death of Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Ray Hamilton.

A 25-year-old woman from Crestview suffered minor injuries and a 44-year-old woman from Crestview was seriously injured in a two-vehicle accident in Destin on Wednesday.