Volusia News Now

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — A woman wanted in Florida for a fatal DUI was arrested in Indiana on Sept. 24, local authorities said.

Kimberly Ann Yurchison was allegedly under the influence of cocaine and prescription narcotics back on March 17 when she struck and killed 82-year-old John Curtin in the 4000 block of South Atlantic Avenue in New Smyrna Beach, police said. Curtin was crossing the street when when he was struck and killed, but was not in a designated crosswalk.

The apprehension of Yurchison comes in at No. 86 in the HeadlineSurfer.com countdown of the top 100 stories of 2014.

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DELTONA, Fla. -- The Deltona man shot in the face by a Volusia County Sheriff's deputy while serving a drug warrant at a residence in Deltona this morning has died, an agency spokesman said. Derek Cruice, 26, was pronounced dead on arrival at Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City where he was transported after he was shot by a SWAT deputy just after 6:30 a.m.

"(The victim) was one of six adults who were at the house this morning -- four men and two women," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson told Headline Surfer. "Deputies were there to serve a narcotics search warrant."

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 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Say it ain't so! Volusia County Councilman Joshua J. Wagner and power attorney Ted Doran have gotten a divorce of sorts. Wagner left Doran's larger law firm earlier this month to partner up with veteran personal injury attorney Steven Vasilaros.

ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- There was only one contested race in Orange City in the November elections and even it wasn't much of a contest as incumbent O. William "Bill" Crippen romped over Vernon Stafford to retain his at-large seat with nearly 67 percent of the votes cast.

Election night totals showed Crippen with 1,890 votes or 66.93 percent to Stafford's 934 or 33.07 percent of the total.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR suspended Kurt Busch indefinitely Friday in the wake of a Delaware family court's findings that "by a preponderance of the evidence" that the 36-year-old driver "committed an act of domestic violence" against former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll on Sept. 24 of last year.

Vice Mayor: 'Something stinks here' with Daytona players Kent Sharples and Glenn Storch telling us to change zoning for something big and not telling us what it's for'

OAK HILL, Fla. -- Volusia County government leaders and influential Daytona insiders like Kent Sharples and Glenn Storch have apparently gotten Oak Hill Mayor Douglas Gibson to sign a "confidentiality agreement" that bars him from publicly discussing what type of manufacturing development is being sought on a 415-acre site that includes two historic African-American cemeteteries just south of City Hall.

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Central Florida’s Daytona Beach International Airport will become a new destination for New York City's JFK Airport-based a year from now, the air carrier announced Friday.

The carrier will operate daily service from Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA code JFK) to Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), using Airbus A320 jets configured with 150 or 165 seats.

And nobody in Volusia County government is happier with the news than first-term County Chair Jason Davis, who put a premium on economic development and tourism as major points in his 2012 election campaign. 

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Like a used-car salesman, Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood, III, has been talking about the new wider plastic seats installed as part of the $400 million Daytona Rising. And he's turned to Facebook to put fannies in those seats, even though a sellout is iffy.

So DIS has turned to Facebook. Yes, Facebook. Imagine the ridicule the NFL would face for pushing Superbowl tickets on the the social media site. After all, the Daytona 500 is billed as the Superbowl of NASCAR.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- HeadlineSurfer.com was denied media credentials for Speedweeks 2015 because of its exclusive coverage of the billionaire France Family's (and proxies ) of a quarter million bucks in the campaign coffers of politicians in hopes of obtaining $250 million in taxpayer subsidies. So the internet newspaper turned to YouTube to provide coverage of what drivers like 2014 Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to say.