Florida-based Heritage Insurance is teaming up with the Salvation Army to provide charitable relief during the holiday season.

Heritage, located in the Tampa area, is once again joining the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program. Angel Tree provides Christmas gifts to needy children and seniors around the country, including hundreds living in Florida’s Gulf Coast region.

Once a child or senior has been registered and accepted as an “Angel” with the Salvation Army, the charity helps fulfill their wish list by enlisting donors in the community who purchase gifts such as new clothing and toys. Those gifts are then given to families to be placed under their Christmas trees.

This year, the employees of Heritage Insurance and its sister company Narragansett Bay Insurance Co. are adding some branches to the Angel Tree. The company announced their workers are supporting 320 Angels.

The employees will help deliver the gifts during the Christmas season across the companies’ national footprints, including the Gulf Coast.

For Heritage, this isn’t the first time workers have participated in the program — the charitable drive has been part of the company culture for much of the past decade.

Heritage employees have helped a total of 2,560 Angels since 2017.

“Supporting the Salvation Army and its Angel Tree Program are just one way that our team gives back to the community,” said Heritage CEO Ernie Garateix. “I’m proud of the generosity that our employees display when participating in this Christmas program over the last 10 years. Kindness and sacrificial giving are the very spirit of Christmas.”

There is a screening process by the Salvation Army to decide who Angel program eligibility. The Salvation Army provides applications that ask for various identification and financial disclosures before someone is included in the Angel Tree program.

A friendly competitive measure of sport fishing in Florida is catching on with more and more anglers and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is reporting they have registered a record number of records this year.

The were 18 records approved for the Florida Saltwater State Records program this year. FWC officials say they’ve seen a “drastic increase in participation” in both the adult and youth categories for length of catch and weight areas in 2025.

“It has been so exciting to see anglers of all ages taking advantage of these opportunities in the Fishing Capital of the World. The participation we have seen from both adults and youth setting these records and engaging in our angler recognition programs really emphasize the passion Florida has for fishing,” said Jessica McCawley, Director of the FWC Division of Marine Fisheries Management.

This year, there were six records that were set in the adult categories with a new yellow jack all-tackle record at 27.6 pounds caught while spearfishing by Nathanial Campbell. Then a length record set by Watson Eugene Wilson and Renee Knight who both set the new adult record for length for red drum at 38.75 inches and snook at 36 inches respectively. But the snook record was overcome by Carl Caradonna who caught a 40-inch snook late this year.

Red porgy and Atlantic bonito fishing also saw new records. Billy Ray Pierce set the all-tackle record for red porgy by catching a 6.74-pounder and Joel Hierholzer nailed a record by landing a 9.56-pound Atlantic bonito.

Youth anglers were even more successful in setting 12 records for fishing in Florida in 2025. Julia Bernstein set five records alone with youth length records in all-tackle benchmarks for vermillion snapper, crevalle jack, blackfin tuna and mutton snapper. The mutton snapper record was later eclipsed this year by Jeremiah Pelequine II with a 15.7-pounder.

Cash Ward set the record for an all-tackle spotted seatrout at 3.49 pounds. That was another record that was broken later this year in December when Chase Curry landed a 3.7-pound spotted seatrout.

Theo Zellers set a youth record for sheepshead, Harrison Farshid with a black sea bass, Carsin Atcheson for sheepshead and for tripletail and Brandon Canedy for Spanish mackerel.

One of the Panhandle’s more prominent and rising politicians is getting into another run to keep his post in one of the largest cities in the region.

Darcy “D.C.” Reeves made it official this month when he entered his campaign filing with the Escambia County Supervisor of Elections Office to seek reelection for Mayor of Pensacola. He joins a growing number of candidates seeking the mayoral seat in Pensacola, which is officially a nonpartisan race.

While it may be a post without party designations, Reeves is a Republican who is steeped in party politics after an initial career in journalism and then a businessman in Pensacola who owns a microbrewery in the city. Other candidates who’ve officially filed with the elections office for a run for the Mayor’s job in Pensacola include Jasmine Brown, Alicia Ann Trawick and Ann Hill.

The only candidate in the Pensacola Mayor’s race who has any campaign contributions that have been officially filed is Hill. According to the elections office, Hill has raised a total of $2,757.44 in in-kind and monetary contributions. None of the other candidates have reported any campaign contributions at all.

Reeves won the mayor’s race in 2022 without requiring a run-off. He clinched the post in the August 22, 2022 primary by nabbing just over 51% of the vote with about 7,700 ballots. That negated the necessity for another vote in the November general election.

Reeves bested three other candidates, none of which garnered more than 20% of the vote. None of those candidates who lost in 2022 have filed for candidacy yet for the 2026 race for Mayor in Pensacola.

Reeves posted on his X social media account he is enthused to seek another term as the top elected official in Pensacola.

“This office is never about me — it’s about us. I love this community and our 880 amazing city employees who make it great. We’ve hit all-time highs in progress and engagement, but our work isn’t done. I’ve filed to run again to keep Pensacola moving, Let’s ride,” Reeves said in his post issued on Saturday.

The 2026 Pensacola Mayor’s the primary election in Escambia County is set for Aug. 18 and the general election will take place Nov. 3.