Volusia News Now

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. 

ORLANDO -- No sooner had suspected killer James Holmes gunned down a dozen innocent lives in a Colorado movie theater at the midnight showing of a "The Dark Knight Rises," than a pernicious media turned it’s stale, rebarbative eye toward the issue of guns and cinema. Bodies were still warm.

ORMOND BEACH -- Okay, we’re back to guns again. A horrible scene in New York City on Friday left two dead, including the gunman, and nine others wounded. A man, distraught because he had been laid off, brought a gun to work and shot the vice president of the company in the head right outside the Empire State Building.

EDGEWATER -- Looking at the results of the recent primary election just confirmed what I had originally thought. The population keeps moaning about how things aren’t right, then they vote the same people into one office or another and expect change.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- City Commissioner Jim Hathaway has two reasons to celebrate: First, he won the Aug. 14 primary for the dist. 3 seat on the Volusia County Council. Second, his son Spencer Stratton Hathaway, celebrated his birthday.