No injuries reported in school bus collision
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No injuries reported in school bus collision

A busload of 24 students at the Franklin County Schools escaped injury Friday morning, when it was struck by a pair of vehicles drying to pass it just west of Carrabelle. According to a report from the Florida Highway Patrol, the schoolbus, driven by a 74-year-old Eastpoint man, was traveling west on U.S. 98 near…

Sun shines down, festival attendance up
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Sun shines down, festival attendance up

Sunshine rained down on this year’s 61st annual Florida Seafood Festival, and amusement park rides twirled once again, making for what was by most accounts a successful event. “We were up from last year,” said John Solomon, president of the all-volunteer board of directors. “I think it was a great festival. Everybody was happy and…

Festival royalty brings seafood pedigree
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Festival royalty brings seafood pedigree

You don’t get more of a deep lineage in Franklin County’s seafood industry than the royal family that will reign over the 61st annual Florida Seafood Festival this weekend in Apalachicola. The newly crowned Miss Florida Seafood, Franklin County High School senior Olivia Poloronis, has roots in the industry that extend back more than a…

Moreno and Viator redeem themselves with Redfish Cup win
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Moreno and Viator redeem themselves with Redfish Cup win

The letters R-E-D begin both the target species and the term of motivation that drove Gary Moreno and Tony Viator to victory at the Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter at Apalachicola Bay last weekend. After finishing last in the 2023 event at South Carolina’s Winyah Bay, the Texas anglers came to town…

Patience, persistence move Frenette and Robinson into lead at Redfish Cup 
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Patience, persistence move Frenette and Robinson into lead at Redfish Cup 

The mental calculation of when to stay/when to go required a different formula than it did on Day 1, but Michael Frenette and Mark Robinson made the numbers work.  In so doing, they tallied a two-day total of 23 pounds, 6 ounces and took over the Day 2 lead at the Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup…

Bait change puts Rickard and Marsonek atop Redfish Cup field
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Bait change puts Rickard and Marsonek atop Redfish Cup field

Ryan Rickard knew that a second title would not be spoon-fed to him, so he and partner Patrick Marsonek played a savvy game and positioned themselves well with a two-fish limit of 11 pounds, 4 ounces that leads Day 1 of the Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter at Apalachicola Bay. Qualifying through…

ABC students get their glow on
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ABC students get their glow on

Students at the Apalachicola Bay Charter School are glowing eerily in the dark, but it’s not from the drinking water or from getting too close to radioactive plutonium. It’s actually being infused by their teachers, as part of a schoolwide effort that stems from ideas that about two dozen members of the faculty gleaned from…

Music swings on Apalachicola porches
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Music swings on Apalachicola porches

Saturday had the perfect weather for a puttering around town and stopping to listen to music at the parks and from porches, as Apalachicola’s Porch Fest Apalach marked its fifth year. This year brought 29 musical acts, 16 porches, and three stages for the grassroots roaming music festival — where porches are stages and yards…

‘48 Hours’ to feature local case Saturday
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‘48 Hours’ to feature local case Saturday

For six years, readers in Franklin and Gulf counties could follow, if so inclined, the tragic tale of a young woman bludgeoned to death in 2018 in an Eastpoint motel, and the lengthy court proceedings that were ultimately resolved earlier this year. On Saturday night, about two million television viewers, in the United States and…

Cat drama sheds light on rescue policies
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Cat drama sheds light on rescue policies

A pre-hurricane drama over a motel-visiting cat in Carrabelle has brought into sharper focus the role played by officials responsible for compassion over, and control of, the Forgotten Coast’s feline population. It all started in the days before Hurricane Helene was set to pounce on Gulf and Franklin counties, when Amelia Steenmeyer, an information technology…