News Archive

As more and more products are created, the more people purchase from stores. Whether they are for long or short-term use, these purchases can often find their way on a street, on the grass in a park, or floating down the river.


Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners sought to counteract the amount of litter in Okaloosa County with Keep Okaloosa Beautful. Their most recent venture was a river cleanup at Milligan/Yellow River Park in Baker last Tuesday.

The Baker Area Recreational Association hosted their 35th Old Spanish Trail Pro Rodeo last weekend.


Night one began on Saturday with a major crowd in the arena. Day two of the rodeo had an earlier start for “Kids Day”.

The second annual “Touch-A-Truck” event hosted by the Crestview Public Library was a success this past Saturday.


Children from the area showed up to experience the ins-and-outs of community vehicles and showed off their speed in the Power Wheels races hosted by the Crestview Police Department.

The Jan. 21 death of L’Twan Mitchell while in custody at Okaloosa Correctional Institution has drawn the attention of the NAACP Okaloosa County branch. Several members of Mitchell’s family have questioned the death.

The NAACP said in a statement that it has initiated a legal redress review to assist the family in understanding the events surrounding Mitchell’s death. Mitchell was reportedly found unresponsive in the prison infirmary.

State Rep. Nathan Boyles, R-Baker, is wrapping up what he calls his first full legislative session in Tallahassee, and the freshman Republican said the biggest adjustment has been learning how to move policy in a chamber with far more colleagues — and competing interests — than the Okaloosa County Commission he came from.

Ryan Gore, program director of transportation for the Okaloosa County School District, told the school board last Monday during a workshop meeting about a new technology system being introduced on Okaloosa County school buses to make travel safer for drivers and students.

The Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners voted March 24 to ban red-light cameras and speed enforcement cameras from county-owned rights of way and county-maintained roads, citing due process concerns raised by a recent Florida court ruling.

A masked student armed with a sharp weapon attacked two classmates and a paraprofessional at Walton Middle School early Tuesday morning before being taken into custody within minutes, authorities said at a press conference in DeFuniak Springs on March 24.

A Baker man was arrested after allegedly firing a shotgun at a teen near Skeeter Lane Monday, March 23.

James Knight, 54, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Doug Chico didn’t plan to run for Congress. The 35-year-old Navy veteran and sixth-generation Northwest Florida native said he’d rather spend more time with his family. But a local surveillance camera rollout last fall set him on a path to challenge incumbent Rep. Jimmy Patronis in the August Republican primary for Florida’s 1st Congressional District.