Here's what you missed: Patronis wins Gaetz' seat, hurricane season predictions

Here's a roundup of our top stories from the past week.

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Jimmy Patronis wins election to Congress in Florida's 1st Congressional District

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis will be Northwest Florida's next Congress representative.

Patronis garnered 56.91% of the vote (97,335 votes) in Tuesday's special election to fill the seat left vacant with the resignation of former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Gay Valimont had 72,304 votes, 42.28%. Non-party affiliated candidate Stephen Broden took just under 1% of the total with 1,382 votes.

Nathan Boyles wins Florida House District 3 primary

Holt resident and three-term Okaloosa County Commissioner Nathan Boyles beat Jay Mayor Shon Owens and a field of six other Republicans to secure the GOP nomination for the District 3 seat in the Florida House of Representatives.

Owens finished 949 votes behind to finish second.

The big difference lay in the number of voters each of the front runners were able to pull in from the other's home county. Boyles secured 1,399 votes more in Okaloosa County than the Jay mayor, unofficial results indicated. Owens beat Boyles in Santa Rosa County by only 441 votes.

Why AccuWeather says 2025 Atlantic hurricane season could be 'volatile'

AccuWeather is the latest forecaster to toss its hat in the ring of 2025 hurricane season predictions, and it says it could be a bumpy one.

Other earlier hurricane season predictions gave indications that the 2025 season could be near-normal in terms of the frequency of storms, but AccuWeather's forecast underlines the trends in recent years: The threat isn't necessarily about the number of potential hurricanes but the intensity.

AccuWeather predicts that the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season will see between 13 to 18 named storms, but seven to 10 of those will strengthen into hurricanes. Of those, three to five could intensify into major hurricanes.

This former New Yorker spent years perfecting his pizza. Now he's bringing it to Pensacola

Crafting a nearly perfect New York-style pizza is a worthy legacy to leave behind. Restaurateur Jacob Calloway doesn’t get intimidated by the long list of legendary pizza shops out there – he honors them with a photo hung in the dining room of his new Pensacola pizzeria, Lou’s Pizza.

Joe’s Pizza, a New York City staple since 1975, earned a place on his wall neighbored by Ray’s Pizza, which first opened in New York City’s Little Italy in 1959.

“Hopefully, mine can be in the conversation one day,” Calloway said.

Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves taps retired Rear Admiral Lance Scott as new port director

Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves is naming retired Rear Admiral Lance Scott to be the city's next port director.

The city has been searching for a new port director since January, when Port Director Clark Merritt resigned.

Scott retired from the Navy after a 31-year career, where he was commander of the Navy's Patrol and Reconnaissance Group. Before that, he was the global operations center chief for the U.S. Transportation Command. Scott was commissioned in the Navy after graduating in 1991 from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and became a Naval Flight Officer.

Reeves announced his selection of Scott on Tuesday, and the Pensacola City Council must confirm his selection.