Listen to an April 5, 2019 interview with Del Stone Jr., Daily News Online Editor and Columnist, about the way things used to be on Okaloosa Island.

Its almost finished. The long awaited four laning of State Road 87 is nearing completion

One of the top priorities of the Navarre Beach Chamber of Commerce as far back as the late 1960s and early 1970s was expansion the road.

Now, almost 45 years later one of the main routes for people in south Santa Rosa to get to I-10 and Milton at the north end, is almost complete.

The final stage of the road project is scheduled for completion in June 2019 after starting in October 2015. Just the 4.2-mile stretch from two miles south of the Yellow River north to Hickory Hammock Road in East Milton cost $29.7 million.  It included an additional two-lane bridge over the Yellow River.

This is an excerpt from an interview by reporter Nathan Cobb and Matteo Battaglia, the owner of a parcel of land in Basin Bayou near Nick's Seafood.

DESTIN — A pedestrian died early Tuesday morning following a crash on the corner of U.S. Highway 98 and Regatta Bay in Destin.

Richard Johnson, the attorney representing former Okaloosa County Clerk of Courts and Comptroller employee Beth McDonald, discusses problems within the legal system that have been exposed through the lawsuit she has filed against Clerk of Court J.D. Peacock.

McNabb struggled with officers before they were able to handcuff him. They believed McNabb was overdosing and called EMS. As officers spoke with McNabb, he began to calm down but was breathing heavily and sweating profusely, police reported.

As the officers waited for EMS, McNabb stopped breathing. Officers could not detect a pulse. 

Crestview firefighters arrived and began CPR before EMS took McNabb to North Okaloosa Medical Center. He was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate McNabb’s death because he died in police custody, the release said.

The responding officers have been placed on modified duty pending a debriefing.

Listen to a recent excerpt from an interview with Diane.

Franken is charged with domestic violence related murder in the stabbing death of his son inside their Rawlins Court home in Bluewater Bay.

FREEPORT — A 15-year-old was killed near the Clyde B. Wells Bridge after falling out of the bed of a truck and being struck by another vehicle. 

According to a press release from the Florida Highway Patrol, Allion Orlando Hogan, 19 of Sylacauga, Alabama, was driving a Ford F-150 north on the bridge around 5:41 a.m. While riding in the bed of the truck, Kaden Johnson, 15 of Pell City, Alabama, fell out of the truck onto the road.

Luke Wolkers, 33 of Miramar Beach, then hit Johnson with his car and pulled over on the side of the road. The F-150 continued driving north not knowing Johnson had fallen from the bed, the press release said.