Local News Now

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Mark I. Johnson wasn't flashy, but he was a workhorse newspaper reporter who got the job done covering the news for two print newspapers over three decades.

He also was pretty handy with a camera, often serving in both roles during a career that began in the late 1980s as a reporter for the New Smyrna Beach Observer and then for the Daytona Beach News-Journal until late last year when he became one of the casualties of continuing layoffs at the former metro.

While Johnson wasn't flashy reporter, a journalist of few words, he knew how to work the flash with his camera, often handling photo assignments for the main newspaper while working out of the the News-Journal's Canal Street bureau where he also filed stories for the regional section, the Daily Journal.

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DELTONA, Fla. -- Volusia County sheriff’s deputies tracked down and arrested eight juveniles in connection with the Wednesday afternoon robbery of a pizza delivery driver in Deltona, an agency spokesman said.

Deputies responded around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday after the driver, Colton Reisner, of a local Papa John's, said he was robbed at a house at 1037 Abagail Drive.

Reisner didn’t report any weapons used in the robbery, or any money stolen. He said some of the teens snuck up and threw a blanket or sheet over his head when he knocked on the front door, then took off with pizza, chicken wings and soda. The house was vacant.

 

DELAND, Fla. -- Asked how Volusia County's 430-plus deputies and sergeants can live on meager wage increases like the 2 percent given in 2013 with this year's election cycle in mind, Teamsters 385 Business Agent Bob Walker was frank in answering the question: "They can't."

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DELAND, Fla. -- Deputy Sheriff Mike Coffin has a grown daughter and two grandchildren among his offspring, but because they live out of state, he has devoted much of his personal time mentoring young people despite his many demands as second in command of the largest cop shop in Volusia County with 460-plus sworn personnel.

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DELTONA, Fla. -- Melody McSorley Johnson has maintained from the onset of her 2014 campaign that it's "all about the children" and not the partisan politics of aggressive GOP leader Tony Ledbetter or the criticism of liberal Dems. On Thanksgiving Day, you will meet this special lady, who along with her husband, Nathan Johnson, adopted three children.

HeadlineSurfer.com will bring you beyond the headlines of a school board candidate's first run for office and why she was so successful despite all the political rhetoric on both sides in what is supposed to be a non-partisan board. But as has been the case in Volusia County for several election cycles has become all too political.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Passenger traffic at Daytona Beach International Airport decreased 8 percent during October in comparison with the previous October, attributed to fewer seats offered by Delta, Volusia County officials said.

During October, 47,075 incoming and outgoing passengers traveled through the county-operated airport. This compares with 50,930 passengers in October 2013.

"The airport’s passenger traffic decline in October was the second monthly decline in 2014 and can be attributed to fewer seats offered by Delta Air Lines, the airport’s primary air carrier, combined with some increase in seats offered by U.S Airways," Rick Karl, airport director, told Headline Surfer®. "Passenger loads for both air carriers reached 95 percent during October, an increase of 1 percent from last October."

2014 Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Jeff Gordon & Jimmie Johnson out of running in 'The Chase' finale despite 13 victories between them

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- NASCAR CEO Brian France boasted in January that this season's revised Chase format would produce a bonafide Sprint Cup champion with the emphasis on track wins along the way. But it hasn't quite worked out that way.