Volusia News Now

Headline Surfer videos / Michele & Robert Lott, former owners of the Observer filed bankruptcy to stave off creditors. Realtor Tom Alcorn is bringing the paper back in print as a monthly, having languished with an online version for 9 months.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A year after Tom Alcorn bought the defunct weekly Observer newspaper off the scrap heat of federal bankruptcy for $2,500 after then-owners Michele and Robert Lott sought protection from creditors owed half a million, the real estate broker has opted to bring it back as a free monthly print publication.

Whereabouts unknown since Monday

Photos for Headline Surfer / Be on the lookout: If you see this Deltona woman, Tonia Schurman, or her three young children, an 8-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl, all shown here, or her youngest, a 4-month-old baby girl, then please call Volusia County Sheriff's deputies at 386-736-5999. If you can't remember the number, then dial 9-1-1. The mother is believed to be traveling in a black, 2003 Isuzu Ascender SUV, with Florida tag BKM195. 

DELTONA -- A 27-year-old Deltona mother who was court-ordered to relinquish parental rights to her three small children -- ages 8, 6 and 4 months -- and hand them over to DCF, instead has fled and Volusia County Sheriff's deputies are asking for the public's help in finding her and her kids, an agency official said this afternoon.

Just after 7:15 a.m. today, Headline Surfer, by far smallest of the 400-plus media outlets with a lone staffer, was atop Google News Directories' national coverage of the coverage of the George Zimmerman trial with the Los Angeles Times second and CBS News third. 

SANFORD -- Between 6 and 7 o'clock this morning, more than 400 media outlets had filed stories on the George Zimmerman murder trial with the focus squarely on jury selection expected to get under way today at the Seminole County Courthouse.

This snapshot graphic shows Headline Surfer's advance coverage of the start of the George Zimmerman trial at the top of the Google News Directories for Sanford, FL., just after 6 a.m. this morning. It also topped the Google search engine using keywords 'Zimmernan' 'jury' and 'selection.'

SANFORD -- Headline Surfer's advance story on today's expected start of jury selection for the George Zimmerman murder trial didn't take long to climb to the top of the Google news directories and search engines before dawn.

Headline Surfer, greater Daytona Beach's 24/7 internet newspaper, among 3 dozen media outlets with seating for high profile case

Pool photo by Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel / for Headline Surfer /

SANFORD -- Security will be extremely tight when jury selection gets under way this morning at the Seminole County Courthouse for George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin -- the high profile case that galvanized the nation with gun rights advocates on one side and claims of racism on the other side since the victim was a 17-year-old black youth and an arrest wasn't immediately forthcoming leading to nationwide protests.

Photo for Headline Surfer / Ormond Beach Mayor Ed Kelley, shown here at left, holds his "Walking with the Manager" asessions monthly near City Hall.

ORMOND BEACH -- City Engineer John Noble will be the City Manager Ed Kelley's “guest walker” 8 a.m. Friday, June 28, and he will speak about the current utility, stormwater and roadway improvements underway in the Hand Avenue area along with the added park benefits that will result from the project.

“Walking with the Manager" will begin at the public parking area for Central Park located on the north side of Hand Avenue and east of Oak Brook Drive. The walk will be approximately 2 miles.

Headline Surfer locator / Brian A. McLane, 34, shown at left in VCBJ mug shot, was arrested Friday in the suffocation murder of his 70-year-old roommate, Richard F. Carton, four days earlier in their residence at 1709 S. Ridgewood Ave., lot No. 8, Edgewater police said.

EDGEWATER -- A 34-year-old man was arrested Friday on a charge of first-degree murder in the suffocation of his 70-year-old roommate four days earlier, Edgewater cops said.

On Friday, Edgewater police arrested 34 year old Brian A. McLane, Carton’s roommate, and charged him with first-degree murder after cops said he confessed to killing the older man by suffocating him until he was dead.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Headline Surfer has the top stories in three Volusia County cities this morning in the Google news directories, a testament to the power of new media.

Heading the Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach directories is the 24/7 internet newspaper's story headlined "Volusia League of Cities calls cops on internet newspaper to protect embattled mayor from glare of media spotlight."

OAK HILL -- This little city, famous for Mosquito Lagoon and more recently the demise of its police force, has a connection to Super Bowl lore. It's the winter home of Miami Dolphins great Larry Csonka and his name was bandied about quite a bit before the 2012 Super Bowl between the NY Giants and NE Patriots.