Drivers on U.S. 98 between Ferry Road and Pier Road will face intermittent nightly lane closures this week as part of the ongoing Brooks Bridge Replacement Project. The Florida Department of Transportation announced the closures will occur from 21:00 to 05:30 Sunday through Thursday.
FREEPORT — City council members grappled with rising costs and revenue projections during a budget workshop held Tuesday, August 18, 2026, ultimately approving a 3% flat salary increase for employees and allocating additional funds for highway resurfacing and turn lane projects.
On August 22, 2026, Walton County Engineer Chance Powell shared an update on the construction project along US 98 and CR 395 via the Walton County Board of County Commissioners’ Facebook page, noting ongoing work through 2026.
Walton County Fire Rescue and Eglin Air Force Base Fire & Emergency Services responded to a shed fire in the 4100 block of State Highway 20 in Freeport shortly after 2 a.m. on August 20.
The Walton County Department of Health has issued a mosquito-borne illness advisory after a human case of locally acquired West Nile virus disease was confirmed in the county.
In the summer of 1861, the Civil War reached the Emerald Coast and upended the life of Captain Leonard Destin, the Connecticut-born fisherman who gave Destin its name. Branded a suspected Union collaborator by the Walton Guards, Destin and his family were forced from their home at East Pass and relocated to Freeport, then known as Four Mile Landing, under armed guard.
Walton County voters delivered two decisive upsets in the August 18 primary, unseating incumbent Commissioners Donna Johns and Danny Glidewell from their seats on the Board of County Commissioners.
A section of Hatcher Cemetery Road in Freeport is temporarily closed beginning Tuesday, August 18, as Walton County Public Works replaces three drainage pipes along the route.
A tow truck driver’s roadside stop on Highway 20 West turned into a lifesaving 911 call Monday night when a man ran up to the truck reporting a nearby home was engulfed in flames.
Murder suspect Isabelle Johnson made her first appearance in a Walton County courtroom Saturday morning, where a judge ordered her held without bond following her extradition from Jackson County.
