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Hersey to face Grove in Apalach elections

Brenda Ash as mayor, Donna Duncan as commissioner, both unopposed Apalachicola City Commissioner Anita Grove will face Amy Hersey in the Sept. 7 Apalachicola municipal elections, while interim Mayor Brenda Ash and newcomer Donna Duncan will be unopposed. Supervisor of Elections Heather Riley said no opponents had filed by the noon deadline Friday to oppose…

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‘Freedom Week’ to offer Sales Tax Breaks

TALLAHASSEE — Florida is about to find out how much a week of sales-tax “freedom” translates into capitalism.
Starting Thursday, in what lawmakers dubbed “Freedom Week,” people will receive sales-tax breaks when they make a wide range of purchases that could help spur them to be more active after being limited by the coronavirus pandemic.
Shoppers from Thursday through July 7 will be able to avoid paying all or part of sales taxes on purchases such as grills; bicycles; fishing and camping gear; kayaks and canoes; tickets for concerts, movies and ball games; gym memberships; boxes of softballs and sleeves of tennis balls; and even sunscreen.

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Apalach favorite son Humphries, FAMU champion, dies

Frederick S. Humphries, Sr., Ph.D., under whose leadership Florida A&M University was named College of the Year, and who was a lifelong cheerleader and advocate for his alma mater, died Thursday, June 24 in Orlando. He was 85. The Apalachicola-born Humphries, a renowned scholar, charismatic, visionary, and innovative administrator and admired public servant, left a…

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Jobless rate improves, labor force grows

Franklin County’s unemployment numbers improved slightly in May, even as the size of the labor force grew According to preliminary numbers released Friday by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in May was at 3.8 percent, two-tenths of 1 percentage point better than the April rate of 4.0 percent….

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Paving the old school

The Panhandle Players, the Forgotten Coast’s community theatre group, made a request to the county earlier this year to repair the lot at Apalachicola’s Chapman Auditorium, which it oversees. The county has come through. Commissioner Noah Lockley used $27,310 funds from his road paving budget to pave the lot with asphalt in front of the…

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Alligator Point firefighters get training, equipment boost

The Alligator Point Saint Teresa Volunteer Fire Department has been named a 2021 grant recipient by Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, receiving $32,030 funding to be used to purchase Hurst Extrication Tools. “We’re so thankful for the support from Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation and our local Firehouse Subs restaurant, in Tallahassee,” said Robert Gates,…

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Apalachicola mourns passing of Mayor Begos

Apalachicola Mayor Kevin Begos died early Saturday morning in Tallahassee. Members of the family confirmed Kevin Paul Begos, Jr. passed away at Capital Regional Medical Center at 1:40 a.m., at the age of 63. He had been rushed there early Thursday morning via medavac after experiencing cardiac arrest. His mother, Jane Richardson, of Apalachicola, was…

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New voter registrations turn county red

For the first time probably ever, but certainly since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1940’s attracted a strong following in the rural South, Franklin County is now more red than blue. As of Tuesday, among the county’s 8,150 registered voters, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 3,418 to 3,408, with 1,324 voters preferring to remain without…