Volusia News Now

We need to make the best of it with tyranny in the world

For 200 years, American forces have fought in many wars: Valley Forge, Gettysburg, world War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, all for the cause of freedom. What is it about the United States of America, are we the only country that will fight for freedom for other countries so that their people can be free?

Hurricane Irene skirts outer Florida coastline

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Surf swollen in New Smyrna Beach & other Volusia coastal cities

Hurricane Irene swells New Smyrna Beach surfHurricane Irene continues to churn closer to the Florida coastline on this early Friday. With wind gusts of 45 mph, the surf is swollen as shown in  5:45 p.m. Thursday in New Smyrna Beach by Roxanne Reynolds Hicks.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Volusia County's coastal cities -- from Ormond Beach to Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores, Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna Beach -- were bracing for the remote possibility of Hurricane Irene turning in here, but the National Weather Service has it striking the Carolinas and Virginia with a trajectory to New York City.

Danica switches from Indy Racing to NASCAR, but what about Daytona 500?

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Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images / Danica Patrick poses with the No. 7 NASCAR Nationwide Series GoDaddy.com Chevrolet at a press conference to announce her full transition to NASCAR at the GoDaddy.com Headquarters on Thursday in Scottsdale, Ariz.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Danica Patrick is bolting Indy Racing for NASCAR with a full-time ride in the Nationwide junior circuit and a limited schedule in the Sprint Cup series. Whether that Sprint Cup schedule includes the Daytona 500 is another story.

Throwing America under the bus

By Stan Escudero
Chief Political blogger for NSBNews.net

Our President has been traveling the byroads on his Throw America Under the Bus Tour, in hot pursuit of anti-Republican class warfare all the while denying that he is campaigning so that he can rip off the public by forcing the taxpayers to pick up the cost of the trip.

New Smyrna Beach weeps for murdered mother

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Jennifer Rado, 41, was shown on the National Center for Missing Persons website after she was first reported missing July 13 in New Smyrna Beach and then four days later when she was at a party in Edgewater thrown by her accused killer, Frances Gibson, according to police there. 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Despite her apparent addiction to prescription pills, murder victim Jennifer Rado was loved by her husband and their two children, say friends who knew her.

"She was a great person and a friend to all," said Renee Tyner-McGraw, both former employees of the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Edgewater woman charged with murder of Jennifer Rado; led Edgewater cops to skeletal remains

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VCSO jail mug / Frances R. Gibson of Edgewater, shown at left in the larger photo, has been charged with murder in the slaying of Jennifer Rado, a wife and mother of two from New Smyrna Beach.  

EDGEWATER -- Jennifer Rado was murdered and her alleged killer led investigators to her skeletal remains off Maytown Road, Edgewater Police Chief Dave Arcieri told NSBNews.net at 6:30 a.m., adding she "confessed" to the slaying in which the victim was beaten so badly with fists that they caused lacerations to her head and face.

"Frances R. Gibson confessed to the murder of Jennifer Rado and led us to the body," Arcieri said, adding she was charged with first-degree murder Monday night.

Charging affidavits released by police show that the victim, Jennifer Rado, was tied up with electrical tape and wiring before her body was disposed of in woods off Maytown Road in Oak Hill.

Skeletal remains in Oak Hill those of New Smyrna Beach mom; 2 other bodies found in Edgewater

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Jennifer RadoCourtesy photo NSBPD / Jennifer Rado was reported missing July 11 to New Smyrna Beach police. There are unconfirmed reports a "person of interest" led Edgewater police to the New Smyrna Beach woman's skeletal remains Monday off Maytown Road in Oak Hill. In what police are saying is unrelated, two bodies were found in a wooded area of Edgewater near I-95.

EDGEWATER -- Two bodies were found in woods off Opossum Camp Road just west of Interstate 95 and skeletal remains in the area of Maytown Road in Oak Hill, a dispatcher for Edgewater police confirmed early this morning.

Other than the locations, no other details were released. There are unconfirmed reports police were led to the skeletal remains by a "person of interest in the disappearance of Jennifer Rado, but Edgewater police did not respond to NSBNews.net's inquiries through the police department's overnight dispatch service. An Edgewater patrol sergeant flat out refused to respond to media inquiries.