Local News

All eyes are on the city of Apalachicola, as voters get ready to flock to the National Guard Armory this Tuesday to decide on the lone city commission race. Incumbent Anita Grove, 61, of 174 Avenue C., will face challenger Amy Hersey, 40, of 451 25th Street, in the Sept. 7 balloting. With only two…

Chapman gets a puppy for his birthday Something unusual happened to Patty Matuszewski’s party of four while they were vacationing on St. George Island about a month ago. It had not been the easiest of two years since a nightmarish day, July 6, 2019, when her 42-year-old son Jereme Ryan Anselm was driving his girlfriend…

A Franklin Correctional Institution inmate has been charged in the death of another. On Feb. 6, 2020, James Knudsen was sentenced in Okaloosa County for one year, seven months and 18 days in the state penitentiary for possession of a controlled substance, and battery. About five months short of when he expected to go home,…

A “skinny dipping” incident on St. George Island two summers ago figures into a multi-state, multi-jurisdictional case being made against a former FBI supervisory special agent on charges of indecent exposure in front of juveniles. In an Aug. 22 news release, Sheriff AJ Smith said a warrant for the arrest of David Lee Harris, 51,…

Kudzu, Old World climbing fern, and tropical soda apple are all widely known as invaders which were introduced into the region from faraway and exotic locations. Each has its own story of how it arrived here and escaped into a welcoming environment. Once established, these and other alien plant interlopers have aggressively pushed out native…

It was a case that began two years ago, in Sept. 2019, when Ashley Grieg and her Bacon Me Crazy food truck went to court to allege that the city had wronged her as to how it processed her application to be permitted to operate. It ended up being settled in February by the city’s…

FRANKLIN COUNTY – In Franklin County the school system is abiding by Governor Ron DeSantis’ no mask mandate for students. Superintendent Steve Lanier said they leave it up to the parents and students whether they want to wear one. Out of 850 students in K-12, there are 169 students and staff quarantined due to the…

The size of Franklin County’s labor force shrank, even as the unemployment picture improved slightly in July. According to preliminary numbers released Friday by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in July was at 4.4 percent, two-tenths of 1 percentage point below the June rate of 4.6 percent. This…

With a handful of new teachers, maximum enrollment and standardized test results that stayed largely steady during what was a down year throughout the state, the Apalachicola Bay Charter School opened the school year with the wind at its back. Now if it can just keep COVID-19 from wafting into nostrils. Quarantine requirements have sidelined…

Hi Y’all, With the troubles brought up at the county commission meeting on August 3 concerning the St. James-Lanark Volunteer Fire Department, it was decided to invite the community to attend the monthly meeting on August 12 at the St. James-Lanark Firehouse. The attendance was good, considering the threat of COVID again rearing its ugly…