Solomon to serve second term on state chamber board
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Solomon to serve second term on state chamber board

The Florida Association of Chamber Professionals installed its 2024-25 board of directors during the board meeting at their annual conference Sept. 24-25 at the Marriott Boca Raton at the Boca Center, Boca Raton. John Solomon of the Apalachicola Bay Chamber of Commerce was selected to serve his second term on the board, which is the…

Clean-up plucks two tons of trash from landscape
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Clean-up plucks two tons of trash from landscape

Volunteers across Franklin County removed over two tons of trash and debris from the shorelines and landscape on Saturday, Sept. 21.  The 220 volunteers of the annual International Coastal Clean Up, fanned out across 14 sites from Bald Point State Park to Apalachicola’s Seafood Landing Park, removed litter and debris, including cigarette butts, cans, vape…

About 15 percent of county residents without power
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About 15 percent of county residents without power

As of 11:30 p.m. ET, about 3,500 customers in Franklin County are without power. According to FindEnergy.com, an independent organization with no utility or consumer advocacy influence, 3,516 out of 22,756 tracked meters, or roughly 15.4%, were without power in Franklin County. The outages were for customers of Duke Energy, which serves 11,403 customers in…

FWC charges three for multiple fishing net violations
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FWC charges three for multiple fishing net violations

Three veteran Franklin County fishermen, two of whom have been cited in the past for violating Florida’s so-called net ban, have once again run afoul of the law. On Aug. 25, in a boat under 20-feet long, captain William D. Sorenson, 82, of Eastpoint, and passengers Johnny D. Johnson, 59, of Carrabelle, and Donnie G….

Living shorelines to the rescue
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Living shorelines to the rescue

As Tropical Storm Debby blew itself into a Cat 1 hurricane on its way toward the Florida Panhandle Aug. 5, Franklin and Gulf county residents braced for the worst.  Fears of waking up to see a main transportation artery, U.S. Highway 98, chopped to pieces in precisely the same places where such storms as Kate…

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Apalachicola likely to keep millage unchanged

They still could go up to 9.0 mills, but from all indications, Apalachicola city commissioners are planning to keep the millage unchanged. By keeping the millage steady at 8.3457 mills, the city will yield about $2.19 million in property taxes, roughly $270,000 more than the $1.92 million the millage raised this year. The city of…

The Cubans: People of a paused land
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The Cubans: People of a paused land

Apalachicola’s Richard Bickel, an Emmy Award-winning photojournalist, recently returned from Cuba with a wealth of new works. The trip was his 14th trip to the island. “The economic crisis was as bad as I have seen,” he said. “The country was out of gasoline, and there were nightly power blackouts. To get around, I had…

Prospect Bluff Historic Site ordered closed
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Prospect Bluff Historic Site ordered closed

The U.S. Forest Service earlier this month issued a Forest Order that will close for the next year the Prospect Bluff Historic Site in its entirety.  The site, commonly known as Fort Gadsden or the colloquial “Negro Fort,” will be closed until Aug. 12, 2025 “unless terminated earlier by an authorized Forest Service official.” The…

Sandbag locations announced
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Sandbag locations announced

Due to the predicted rainfall from potential tropical cyclone four, which is expected no earlier than Sunday evening, Franklin County Emergency Management will be opening sandbag locations from 1 to 5 p.m. today. They are no longer providing filled sandbags; they will have empty bags and sand available at each location. They will have a…

Island marina project could face new PUD rules
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Island marina project could face new PUD rules

At last week’s meeting of the Franklin County commission, they didn’t discuss the details of a revised proposal by the developers of the most high-profile project on St. George Island in many years. Instead, they debated what rules should apply. The Landing at SGI, LLC, a multi-faceted project first introduced last year, has revised the…