Volusia News Now

Ormond Beach cops: Bank of America branch on Granada robbed

Bank robber at Bank of America, Ormond BeachCourtesy photo / If you know this man shown in a surveillance video from the Bank of America branch bank at 1454 W. Granada Blvd., please call Ormond Beach Police at 386-677-0731 or Crimestoppers at 277-TIPS or 1-888-277-TIPS.

ORMOND BEACH -- A robber claiming to be armed, fled the Bank of America, 1454 Granada Blvd. on Tuesday with an undisclosed amount of cash, Ormond Beach police said.

The man, approached the teller at 3:20 p.m. and showed her a note demanding money and implying he was armed.

"The teller complied and the suspect then walked out of the bank," Ormond Beach Police Lt. Kenny Hayes said.

Water-main break in New Smyrna Beach repaired; water pressure should be back to normal soon

Newspaper Section

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A water-main break on U.S. 1 near Douglas Street that forced the Utilities Commission of New Smyrna Beach to lower water pressure for 24,000 customers has now been repaired, a spokeswoman said.

"Everyone should be back up to full water pressure within the next 15 minutes," Utilities Commission spokeswoman Ellen Fisher reported in an e-mail sent to NSBNews.net at 5:36 p.m. in an e-mail. "No precautionary boil water notice is expected to be issued at this time."

Early this afternoon, a state Department of Transportation contractor working in the right of way near the intersection of U.S. 1 and Douglas Street hit a 12-inch potable water main and split the pipe lengthwise.

Fisher said crews had been working all afternoon to isolate the break and repair it. Water Resources crews lowered pressure to be able to access the break. As a result, many customers throughout the city experienced either low water pressure or none at all, especially on higher floors of multi-unit buildings, such as condominiums.

Customer service staff will be staying after hours until 7 pm to answer calls at 386-427-1361. Please check the Utilities Commission website for updates at www.ucnsb.org.

Oak Hill cops on Florida Department of Law Enforcement's radar

Diane YoungNSBNews.net file photo of Oak Hill Police Chief Diane Young

OAK HILL -- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement acknowledged for the first time that it has the Oak Hill Police Department on its investigative radar.

"We've received some information as it relates to the police department and we're looking into it," FDLE spokeswoman Heather Smith told NSBNews.net.

Smith declined to get into specifics except to say things are in the preliminary stages that "may or may not be criminal" in the small police force led by embattled Police Chief Diane Young, whose reinstatement of Sgt. Manuel Perez a week ago today after has been met with skepticism from some city officials and residents alike.

Mayor Mary Lee Cook denies ownership of pot plants found on her land: 'I'm tired of this'

 NSBNews.net file photo of Oak Hill Mayor Mary Lee Cook

OAK HILL -- Mayor Mary Lee Cook wasted no time at tonight's meeting acknowledging Volusia County Sheriff's deputies confiscated marijuana plants on her property, but denied ownership and added she was set up by someone out to embarrass her.

"There would be criminal charges and I'd have to resign," the Oak Hill mayor said, declining to identify who her nemesis might be.

"They knew thay had an ace in the hole to force me to resign," she said, reading from a prepared statement at the beginning of the Monday commission meeting. "I'm fed up with this."

Cook claimed there were half dozen or so sickly-looking marijuana plants on her property and that the deputies destroyed them and told her they received an anonymous tip that the mayor was growing pot.

Tia McDonald of Edgewater finishes 8th in Miss Teen United States pageant in Las Vegas

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EDGEWATER, Fla. -- They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but not when it comes to the pageantry career of Tia Winn McDonald, the 18-year-old Miss Teen Florida pageant winner, who competed for the national crown in Las Vegas.

Flawless landing and end of an era for space shuttle

Atlantis touched down flawlessly at 5:56 Thursday morning after three decades of space shuttle missions to the International Space Station and the Russian station Mir and the Hubble Telescope. I heard the sonic booms of re-entry for the final time outside my Edgewater home.

Cold water upwelling now here in full bloom well off-shore in Volusia County

Newspaper Section

As I have been advising you the cold water upwelling is now here in full bloom. It extends well offshore all the way to turtle mound. This upwelling will make some fish will lie virtually motionless like in a hypnotic state while other fish will move to warmer waters.

The deficit: America needs selflessness and wisdom from its leaders

The deficit: America needs selflessness and wisdom from its leaders

Stan Escudero By Stanley Escudero of Daytona Beach Shores
NSBNews.net chief political blogger

Congress is congenitally incapable of agreeing on politically controversial issues like the debt ceiling until the last possible moment. Even then they can be counted on to seek the safest common denominator which usually means a partial agreement. That in turn kicks the hardest part of the problem into future congresses or leaves loopholes which future congresses can use to avoid making these same hard decisions.