Volusia News Now

DAYTONA BEACH -- Headline Surfer® has put its 5th anniversary countdowns of the Top 500 Newsmakers and Top 500 Stories on hiatus until the completion of the year-end Top 100 Stories of 2013.

Also included in the year-end features are countdowns for the Top 10 Florida, USA and World Stories as well as awards for Law Enforcer of the Year, Municipal official of the Year, County Official of the year, Business of the Year and Newsmaker of the Year.

The inaugural award for Central Florida Politician of the Year: was announced on Thanksgiving and the recipient State Rep. Dave Hood of greater Daytona Beach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Gene Sheldon, the newest member of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority, may be its most controversial and could end up as its shortest tendered with his brazen email to his colleagues with, "Who is the rat?

Photo for Headline Surfer® / Ray Lewis, shown at left, had the honor of waving the green flag to start the2013 Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway.  The previous year's honorary starter was another big man, WWE superstar John Cena as shown in the video above.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Size matters when it comes to waving the green flag to start the world-famous Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway. And what better strongman than Ray Lewis, the Baltimore Ravens All-Pro NFL linebacker.

Photo for Headline Surfer / Florida's longest serving Congressman, CW Bill Young, shown here at left, died Friday. He was 82.

ORLANDO -- Gov. Rick Scott issued a statement Friday, Oct. 18, from Orlando just hours after the passing of Congressman C.W. "Bill" Young, who at 82, was the longest-serving Republican in the House.

Young had been hospitalized for weeks at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

One such example: In the 1976 Republican primary for president, he endorsed then-President Gerald Ford over California Gov. Ronald Reagan.

Headline Surfer® graphic / The 1700 block of S.R. 44 near the roadway’s intersection with West Canal Street is where bicyclist Shariema Smith was struck by a hit-and-run driver as shown in this locator map at left.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- When Shariema Smith was hit by a motorist during the early morning hours of Sept. 9, she was riding her daughter’s bicycle, which was destroyed.

But thanks to the generosity of Tom Menzel and Green Pedal Ministries, Zaria Smith, the victim’s 12-year-old daughter, was given a brand new bicycle.

Photo for Headline Surfer® / The vehicle shown here from a surveillance video snapshot was used asa battering ram in the burglary of a DeBary convenience store.

DEBARY -- Thieves used a truck to smash the front doors and then grabbed nearly $9,000 worth of cigarettes from inside Lil Sammy's Citgo, 600 S. Charles R Beall Blvd., at 3:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 26.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Headline Surfer® is counting down the biggest stories from the year that was in the award-winning 24/7 internet newspaper's multimedia platform in words, sight and sound. So what ultimately will be the No. 1 story?

Photos for Headline Surfer® / Accused bank robber Michael N. London, 63, is shown in a police mugshot on Friday, a far cry from the Santa Claus get-up shown at far left in a surveillance video still from Monday's armed robbery of the Port Orange Sun Trust branch on Nova Road.

PORT ORANGE -- If you thought the man dressed in the Santa outfit who held up the Sun Trust Bank two days before Christmas was having a bad hair day, imagine what an eye opener he was to Port Orange cops who nabbed him outside his residence earlier today, sans the holiday get-up.

Maximum of 4,500 tickets printed

DAYTONA BEACH -- Your odds of being struck by lightning in a given year is one in 750,000. The odds of winning Powerball are one in 175,223,510. So the odds are definitely more in your favor in if you purchase a $50 ticket for a drawing in mid-March for a custom-built 2013 Harley Davidson Street Glide valued at $35,000, in the Daytona Chamber of Commerce's drawing of the "Official Bike Week Motorcycle." Oh, and as for the odds of winning the flashy Harley, it's one in 4,500.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Though neither is from Daytona Beach, that didn't stop Mayor Derrick Henry from capitalizing on the PR that comes with welcoming new-found celebrities Alex and Sierra of the X-Factor reality show with keys to the city during a performance Thursday night at the bandshell on the "world's most famous beach."