Archive

Courtesy photo. Gov. Charlie Crist followed up his Tuesday night State of the State address with the following message in his weekly newsletter, Notes from the Capitol:

This evening, during my fourth State of the State Address, I called on the Florida Legislature to address essential issues for Floridians: jobs and prosperity for Floridians; continued improvements to PreK-12 schools, colleges, and universities; and re-instilling confidence in the integrity of government.

Courtesy photo. Grayce K.  Barck, 82, past president of the North Beach Neighborhood Association, former teacher and active for many years in NSB politics, including a run for the City Commission, has died.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Grayce K. Barck, a pillar in the community for her neighhood leadership in North Beach and a longtime political insider who once ran for a city commission seat, has died. She was 82.

Barck succumbed Monday at the Southeast Volusia Care Center of Hospice of Volusia/Flagler.

News of her death gave supporters and opponents reason to pause and pay their respects.

DAYTONA BEACH – In honor of the anniversary of African-American racing trailblazer Wendell Scott making his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start, vehicles competing this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway will have a commemorative decal baring the image of Scott.

WASHINGTON -- Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach (FL-24), testified Wednesday before the House Budget Committee about the President's Obama's proposed NASA budget and called for an additional $1.2 billion over the president's request for FY 2011 to continue flying the Space Shuttle.

Courtesy photo/Jail mug. Richard Cintron, 32, of New York, is charged with stealing a motorcycle and operating a chop shop in a house rental in New Smyrna Beach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A local law enforcement task force combating motorcycle thefts during Bike Week arrested a New York man Tuesday., A Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman said.

Richard Cintron, 32, is accused of stealing a motorcycle and dismantling it to use its parts on his own motorcycle. He was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle and operating a chop shop. The stripped down bike and a second stolen bike were found in a New Smyrna Beach house that he rented for Bike Week.

Courtesy photo. Calling hours are planned today and a funeral service tomorrow in Conneaut, Ohio, for Linda M. Lockwood, 46, who was killed Sunday in a Bike Week-related motorcycle accident in New Smyrna Beach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Calling hours are planned today in the small Ohio community of Conneaut for Linda M. Lockwood, Bike Week's first fatality last Sunday when she was thrown from the back of a friend's Harley-Davidson when two motorcycles going in the same direction touched in the 1500 block of South Atlantic Avenue near 5th Avenue on the beachside.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 28-year-old Michigan biker was arrested Wednesday night on a charge of reckless driving after he and three others on sport bikes were "clocked at a high rate of speed" on State Road 415 near S.R. 44, according to an online District 5 Sheriff's report summary.

Courtesy photo / Volusia County. A Votran bus heads west on Canal Street in New Smyrna Beach in this photo. The county is looking at possible route cuts for New Smyrna Beach and Pierson to overcome o $2.6 million shortfall in revenue.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The great thing about living in sleepy New Smyrna Beach is the escape from the sprawl of the more urban Daytona Beach. The payoff may be tougher to swallow, though for residents here like a young man named "Rich" who is is on disability and relies on the public transportation of Votran buses to get around the county.