Local News Now

DAYTONA BEACH -- Carl Persis wants to become the face of Volusia County as its next elected chair. But standing in the way is surprise second-place finisher in the primary, Jason Davis.

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES -- Barack Obama has been running for re-election (or perhaps coronation) and the Republicans have been running against him ever since Obama was elected president in 2008. But this week the 2012 election campaign really and truly got started.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Republicans worried that former Gov. Mitt Romney might not be up to the task of presenting himself favorably to the convention attendees and viewing audience on Thursday night went to bed believing that they’d heard the words of the next president of the United States.

Headline Surfer videos produced by Multimedia Editor Sera Frederick / The Roundtable polical discussion is shown above, wrapped around the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.

Judge Kenneth LesterJr., is out and Judge Debra Nelson is in as the presiding judge in the State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman, shown below between his attorneys, Mark O'Mara and Don West. 

DAYTONA BEACH -- The presiding judge in the state's case against accused killer George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin has recused himself following a ruling by the 5th District Court of Appeal in the defendant's favor.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester, Jr. executed an order to "disqualify" himself from further proceedings in the State of Florida v. George Zimmerman.

DAYTONA BEACH -- The Volusia County Sheriff's Office has arrested a former child specialist following accusations that he molested a teenage client at the residential addiction treatment program where the man worked.

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES -- The Syrian civil war has raged on for several months now with the conflict shifting from its beginning in regional towns to the large city of Aleppo and the capital of Damascus.

The level of violence increases as outside powers like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United States provide arms to the rebels and Iran gives weapons and fighting men to the Syrian army, which brings ever greater amounts of Russian-provided armament to bear.

Floridian View Magazine, launched in 2011, is no longer being run by Manuel Bornia, architect of the American Music Festival fiasco.

HOLLY HILL -- The closing of the 2nd Street Public Market in Holly Hill as reported in today's Daytona Beach News-Journal, isn't the only news on failed producer Manuel Bornia. Headline Surfer has learned that Bornia is out as publisher of the sleek Floridian View Magazine.

The 24/7 Internet newspaper was told by two credible sources that Bornia is no longer running the magazine.

"He's been a disaster," one of the sources said, referring to recent monthly print issues either being late or not distributed at all. 

NSB Mayor Adam Barringer: Astronaut's death sad, but his legacy endures

State Rep. Dorothy Hukill, Volusia County Chair Frank Bruno and New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer appreciate the legacy Neil Armstrong leaves for the world with his passing at the age of 82, as demonstrated in Hukill's revised Facebook page cover image.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- When State Rep. Dorothy Hukill learned of astronaut Neil Armstrong's passing, she immediately changed her Facebook page to pay homage to the first human being to step foot on the moon.

For Hukill, former mayor Armstrong's 1969 historic footprint on to the lunar surface encouraged her as a young woman to seek out a career in public service. New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer was a mere toddler then.