A random act of kindness reaches Emerald Coast Center (GALLERY)
FORT WALTON BEACH — Sitting on her new leopard-print blanket, Mavis Gilmore looked around her redecorated room at the Emerald Coast Center on Friday afternoon. On the once bare walls hung paintings of...
View ArticleTechnology takes hold at Laurel Hill School (DOCUMENT)
LAUREL HILL — The new normal already is well established at Laurel Hill School. For a year and a half, all high school students and eighth-graders have used iPads as part of a school district pilot...
View ArticleSchool district learning lessons on digital education (DOCUMENT)
The Okaloosa County School District has 1,962 iPads in the hands of its students and staff. Of those, only about 20 have come back broken in the last year and a half. Only five of them were assigned...
View ArticleMan arrested for sexual battery on child (DOCUMENT)
CRESTVIEW - A man was arrested Wednesday for sexually battering a child for five years, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office. Joseph Maurice Cruz, 23, of Crestview, sexually battered the...
View ArticleFive hurt in two wrecks on Beal, Eglin
FORT WALTON BEACH - Emergency crews were called to two “high-impact” accidents Friday morning, according to Fort Walton Beach firefighters. In a 7:20 a.m. crash at Walter Martin Road and Beal Parkway,...
View ArticlePHOTO GALLERY: Corvette fire in Destin
DESTIN — A 1976 Corvette caught fire on Saturday morning near the corner of Tequesta Drive and U.S. Highway 98. There were no injuries. The cause of the fire is not currently known. Firefighters from...
View ArticleImproving water quality with oysters (GALLERY, VIDEO)
POINT WASHINGTON — Bags of oyster shells jutted out of Tucker Bayou on Saturday after more than 20 volunteers placed them in the water off Eden Gardens State Park. PHOTOS: View a photo gallery from...
View ArticleDriver killed in single-vehicle crash
DEFUNIAK SPRINGS - A driver died Saturday morning in a single-vehicle accident on County Road 1883 near Drake Road, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Urszula Biniek, 57, of DeFuniak Springs,...
View ArticleAnti-bullying video banned in schools premieres Tuesday
CRESTVIEW — A video depicting the ultimate result of severe bullying premieres Tuesday night during Anti-Bullying Week, which runs through Friday. Producers Amber Ellis and Trevor Dennis, who also...
View ArticleAdult, two children killed in I-10 crash
Three DeFuniak Springs residents, including two children, were killed Saturday morning when a van they were riding in lost control when a tire blew out on Interstate 10 south of Chipley, according to...
View ArticleA black and white past (GALLERY, DOCUMENT)
Northwest Florida Daily News court reporter Tom McLaughlin was covering a trial in Crestview this summer when he heard that the building, built in 1955, was designed to accommodate segregation. Black...
View ArticleCommunity Kudos: Roadside help, random acts of kindness, and honest work
Gift of Hope Four Northwest Florida State College students became heroes for a Niceville woman after she got a flat tire in the parking lot of a local store. Patricia Bender, who is raising her two...
View ArticlePHOTO GALLERY: Hundreds ride for children
FORT WALTON BEACH — About 500 motorcyles roared up State Road 85 from Fort Walton Beach to the Mullet Festival site in Niceville. The sponsor was Heritage Cycles Harley Davidson. Proceeds benefited...
View ArticleMan dies in early morning wreck on SR-20
BRUCE — A 30-year-old Freeport man died after wrecking his car on early Sunday morning. Jerad McCormick, who grew up in the area and attended Freeport High School, was driving west about a mile past...
View ArticleTeen's dream to be a doctor started at age 9
MARY ESTHER —When Kathryn Brennan was about 9 years old, her dad had a minor bicycle accident and returned home covered in scrapes. “I patched him up,” recalls Kathryn, a junior at Collegiate High...
View ArticleOkaloosa seeks to expand sheriff’s headquarters
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office will not be among the county offices to move into the new three-story building that will replace the Courthouse Annex in Shalimar. Instead, county commissioners...
View ArticleFatal church van crash rocks small community
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS— The Gospel of the Kingdom Church was uncharacteristically quiet at service time Sunday morning. The small building, only about 2,500 square feet, was empty. The parking lot was a...
View ArticleOfficials looking for hockey masked robbers
PACE — Officials are investigating a Sunday burglary on Jernigan Road, according to a Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office press release. A resident of the home told deputies that there was a scream and...
View ArticleWoman beaten with stick; couple charged
BAKER — A 25-year-old woman who told deputies she left her house to avoid her abusive boyfriend was taken to the hospital Monday morning after being attacked. The victim told Okaloosa County sheriff’s...
View ArticleElementary school getting new classrooms
FREEPORT — In the late spring, construction will begin again at another Walton County school. Freeport Elementary School will see at least six additional classrooms with two more possible to...
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