Community

“I played tennis up until college and started playing pickleball, because I had some time on my hands during COVID. I loved it. It’s a fun game.”~ Jeff Harris, Owner of Run With It and Pickleball at the Palms Back in 2016, I was...

By Barbara Palmgren There is an old saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Neighbors and friends of Bluewater Bay are working hard to save their village. In the next few months, they will make a decision to either preserve the precious...

You’re Invited to the Importance of a Community-Based Estuary Program, Sept. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at Crosspoint Church Niceville, Room 800 on the 2nd floor of the Chandler Center (NW door of 519 Helms St.). Attendees will discuss the importance of estuaries, and how connecting the birds...

By Kenneth Books The average human body contains about 60 percent water. And we die after about three days without ingesting liquids. Yet, most of us take water, the most crucial element in the world, for granted. The...

Resilience and Courage Define One Hopeful Place’s Sherry Jones By Doug Stauffer This story began four decades ago and details the extraordinary journey of a local girl who, at the tender age of 18 and fresh out of high school, found herself...

Victory Village will receive $2 million from Florida’s Framework for Freedom Budget for fiscal year 2023-24 signed by Governor Ron DeSantis on June 15, 2023. The funding will be used to purchase 80 acres of land from the U.S. Air Force which will be used to develop a military...

The Story of Ruby Elzy and Our Local Connection to Black Diva of the Thirties By Jené McCracken Part 1: Meeting Opportunity “She was a member of the family,” Ed McCracken, founding President of Okaloosa-Walton Junior College (now...

The Democratic Women's Club of Walton County abolished $1,670,497.85 of medical debt for 1,971 needy families and individuals in six counties in the Florida Panhandle. Coordinating closely with the national non-profit organization RIP Medical Debt, which buys large amounts of medical debt in bulk at drastically reduced...

By Ramsey Lawrence, Embrace Florida Kids For many of us, remembering our childhood brings back happy memories: holidays spent with family, playing outside with siblings and friends, field trips, summer camps and home-cooked meals with parents. For thousands of children in Florida, this is...

In a heartwarming turn of events, two resilient shelter dogs, Red and Gunner, have found their forever homes after enduring lengthy stays at Alaqua Animal Refuge. Red, with an astonishing 593 days of waiting, and Gunner, with 582 days, captivated the hearts of staff and volunteers during...