Local News Now

Edith Shelley, the zone 1 Daytona Beach City Commissioner, won Tuesday's primary in the race for Daytona Beach mayor with Derrick Henry, finishing second. This sets the stage for the Nov. 6 general election showdown.

DAYTONA BEACH -- In thanking his supporters for his second-place showing in the primary for Daytona Beach mayor, Derrick Henry is counting on party identification for the vote in the Nov. 6 general elections, even though that race is non-partisan.

Henry, a Democrat, finished second in Tuesday's primary to City Commissioner Edith Shelley among four contestants. The primary vote was just a warm up for the big prize for the 2012 candidates for elective office. And Henry wasted little time in establishing party identification through President Obama, though he didn't mention him by name.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The outcomes of Tuesday’s primary races settled out just about where I‘d anticipated. Once again, name recognition appears to be a decisive factor with Volusia and area voters.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Carl Persis is on top in the race for Volusia county chair with Jason Davis a distant second and power attorney Ted Doran on the outside looking in with half the precincts reporting.

Deb Denys is leading in the district 3 county council race with Jim Hathaway a close second and Justin Kennedy a distant third. In the race for state attorney, Stasia Warren is well ahead of incumbent RJ Larizza in Volusia County, but these preliminary results don't include Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns counties.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A motorist and his passenger were critically injured early this morning when he lost control of his small pick-up truck while southbound on US 1 near Creekside Circle, just south of the three bridges area, crossed into the northbound lanes and smashed head on into a tree, police said. 

Here is a synopsis of the 2:11 a.m. Tuesday crash as described by Sgt. Shane Riggle in his report: "The driver lost control of the vehicle and crossed the median into the northbound lanes. The vehicle continued across the roadway until it struck several signs and a large tree head on. The male driver and a male passenger were seriously injured in the crash."

This message alert from the Utilities  Commission of New Smyrna Beach's website during Saturday night's power outage has not been updated.

New Smyrna Beach -- An official with the Utilities Commission of New Smyrna Beach this afternoon was unable to provide information on how many customers lost power with Saturday night's lightning strikes that impacted a transmission line or even when it was fully restored.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Just how many people were without power or for how long resulting from Saturday night's thunderstorm is anybody's guess because media inquiries went unanswered.

As Headline Surfer reported exclusively, lightning from a fast-moving thunderstorm rolling through the city, struck a substation transmission line and knocked out power for customers in parts of the city.