Top 100 Stories

Counting 'em Down: For better or for worse, this is the Headline Surfer countdown of 2021's Top 100 biggest news stories of Central Florida along the tourism-driven stretch of Interstate 4 (Orlando Attractions and east to I-95 & the World's Most Famous Beach in Daytona).

WINTER PARK, Fla. -- U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy announced t back in December that she would not seek re-election to a fourth term representing Florida’s Seventh Congressional District.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla — For nearly three weeks, people around the world have been transfixed in horror at the images coming out of Ukraine, seeing a massive invading Russian army unleash modern weaponry upon a nation of 44 million in the largest conflagration seen in Europe since the fall of Hitler's Nazi Germany.

People in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, near the Black Sea, are braced for further Russian attacks, after airstrikes on Sunday in which nine people were killed.

Poland has taken in more than 1.8 million refugees from Ukraine - nearly all women and children - since Russian troops invaded and unleashed attacks on hospitals, schools, and residential areas.

President Joe Biden travels to Europe next week for face-to-face talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Foreign policy expert Daniel Hamilton says Biden is taking the trip to "underscore solidarity with the allies."

The International Organization for Migration says more than 3 million people have fled Ukraine to escape the Russian invasion.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- A 20-year-old Altamonte Springs man surfing in 7 feet of water was bitten on the foot by a shark over the weekend near the New Smyrna Beach Jetty, a Beach Safety spokeswoman said.

DELAND, Fla. -- An off-duty Volusia sheriff’s deputy was arrested back in March 2021 on his second charge of driving under the influence two years in a row.

PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- A young driver accused of hitting Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood while he was riding his bike in Port Orange back in March 2021, told deputies she was shopping on Amazon on her phone when the crash occurred, according to the sheriff himself in interviews with several Orlando TV news camera crews.