Chipley — WestPoint Home will close its 340-employee Chipley textiles plant within a year.
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Crestview — Developer Steve Riggs has halted development of Heritage Plantation, estimating his loss at $6.5 million, and turned over the project to its creditor, BB&T bank. The 1,000-acre residential and golf community was planned to include 780 homes.
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Gonzalez — SK Capital Partners, a New York-based private investment firm, is acquiring Solutia’s integrated nylon business for upward of $50 million. The sale by St. Louis-based Solutia includes five manufacturing plants, among them the 55-year-old plant north of Pensacola, which has 800 employees producing a variety of nylon products.
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Okaloosa County — County commissioners have sued the city of Valparaiso, pressuring the city to abandon its second lawsuit against the Air Force. Valparaiso leaders worry about higher noise levels and overhead flights of the incoming F-35 Joint Strike Fighters at nearby Eglin Air Force Base, a mission promising massive economic gain for the county. Meanwhile, Bay County commissioners notified the Air Force that they’d welcome F-35 training at Tyndall Air Force Base.
» Gov. Charlie Crist suspended Sheriff Charlie Morris after an audit showed he paid out $1.35 million in employee bonuses since 2003 in an alleged kickback scheme in which Morris received $88,500. Morris faces criminal charges; his office manager also was arrested, and two assistants were fired by interim Sheriff Ed Spooner.
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Pensacola — The 84-year-old Saenger Theater reopened in March following a $15-million renovation.
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Pensacola Beach — A $50-million Hotel Indigo, a project by Little Sabine Inc., is scheduled to open in May 2010. Also under construction: Developer Philip Napier’s $8-million Grand Marlin Restaurant and Yacht Club.
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 Mallory Horne, 1972 |
Obituary: Mallory Horne, 84
Legendary Florida legislator Mallory Horne died April 30 in Tallahassee of lung cancer. The Democrat served as Speaker of the House in 1962-63 and Senate president in 1973-74. In 1984, Horne was charged with money laundering but was acquitted. In the 1990s, Horne became legal counsel for his longtime friend, the late Gov. Lawton Chiles, and played a key role in shaping legislation that helped Florida collect billions of dollars from tobacco companies.