Local News Now

Photo for Headline Surfer® /

ORMOND BEACH -- State Rep. Charles Dave Hood, Jr., former mayor of Ormond Beach, will be sworn in Friday as a circuit judge at the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center, l399 N. U.S. 1.

His "investiture" will begin at 3:30 p.m. with his colleagues on the bench sitting as a group as he takes the oath of office for the judgeship in the 7th Judicial Circuit.

ORMOND BEACH -- Bob Patterson will share the folklore and songs of Florida during a free performance from 2 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, at the Ormond Beach Regional Public Library, 30 S. Beach St.

Patterson is a professional singer, songwriter and storyteller with more than 40 years of experience performing at clubs and festivals across the nation.

He co-founded the Gamble Rogers Folk Festival and received the 2011 Mother Earth and Fellow Man Award in recognition for his gifts to folk culture.

Photos for Headline Surfer® /

DAYTONA BEACH -- Headline Surfer® will announce its endorsement Sunday for either Rich Gailey or Fred Lowry, Jr. for the Volusia County Council district 5 seat in the Nov. 4 elections.

The internet newspaper endorsed Gailey in the Aug. 26 primary, which he won, and gave a secondary endorsement to the third candidate in the race, Phil Giorno, a former County Council member and chair.

But that was then and this is now. Will Headline Surfer® switch gears and go with Lowry or stay with Gailey? An even bigger question is what will the Volusia County Republican Party do?

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla -- City Clerk Johnny Bledsoe, CMC, loves serving the public in a job that at times can be a pressure cooker with the demands of elected politicians, demanding reporters and citizens wanting public records requests addressed.

DELAND -- A community activist is leading a grassroots "goodwill job connection" seminar on Friday for those who have had brushes with the law and are having trouble finding employment.

DAYTONA BEACH -- For Karen Foxman, being married into a family of judges has been like a double-edged sword.

This interpreted Constitution allows runaway spending, undeclared wars, government agencies spying on the citizens, massive debt, rule by executive order, coercive medical insurance, and the rise of a dominating bureaucracy. All of these things are constitutional according to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court admitted they disregarded the Framers' intents in the court's opinion in New York vs USA, in 1992, Congress will never amend the Constitution to restore the Framers intents--its not in their interest.

Ex-Flagler Avenue kingpin Robert Lott serves as bouncer with new shoes

Headline Surfer® photos / Booze was the big draw at a Rotary function at the Brannon Center in New Smyrna Beach on Aug. 23. Public drinking is illegal in the city, but that didn't stop people from doing so at the event as shown in this inset image. Robert Lott, former Flagler Avenue financial planner, served as bouncer.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Robert Lott was still wearing the same ratty clothes, though he made sure to show off his new plastic shoes when the internet newspaper showed up to take photos of the recent "Cheeseburger in Paradise" fundraiser at the Brannon Center held by the Rotary clubs of New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater.

Armed holdup of pizzeria now almost a week old with no arrest

DAYTONA BEACH -- A lone gunman held up Papa John's Pizza at 1506 S. Nova Road on Wednesday night, but Daytona Beach police don't have any leads on who the robber lading to an arrest six days later, with one key exception: He had a noticeable scar on his lower right jaw.

With a silver revolver in his right hand, the gunman walked up to the counter 10:36 p.m. and demanded money from the cash drawer. An employee behind the counter handed over an undetermined amount of money and then the the gunman ran out of the store and took off, possibly in a white Ford Escape. There was no video surveillance on the premises of the robbery.

Deltona teen still at large three days later; considered armed & dangerous

Photo for Headline Surfer® / Dontavious Williams, described as 5 feet 11 and 180 pounds, of Deltona, is wanted by Daytona cops on two active warrants. He's considered armed and dangerous.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Dontavius Williams was spotted by Daytona Beach cops just before 3 a.m. Sunday in the 800 block of S. Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard while on routine patrol, but he didn't stick around, even after being handcuffed at the scene. And three days later he's still missing. And so are the handcuffs.

Cops said they approached Williams, who gave them a fake name, but they hd an idea who he was and that he was wanted. And while searching on an in-car laptop, confirmed his identity and that there was an outstanding warrant charging him with aggravated assault with a firearm.

But Williams was able to disappear into the crowd while police were trying to keep everyone back, police spokesman Jimmy Flynt said. While police were handling the crowd, Williams simply ran off, his hands cuffed from behind.