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Courtesy photo / Joshua Lee Groves is being held without bond after his Tuesday warrant arrest by Holly Hill police accusing him of sexually molesting three children earlier this month.

HOLLY HILL -- A 30-year-old Magnolia Avenue man accused of sexually abusing three children in their Holly Hill home and while swimming in a neighbor's pool home, was arrested earlier today after police secured a warrant.

Although police investigators are not releasing details of Joshua Groves' association with the victims, they did say he was in a custodial position over the children -- ages 9, 11, and 12 -- during at least some of the assaults. The investigation determined that the crimes occurred at various times during the months of March, April, May and June, police said.

VCARD’s Citizen of the Year award is honoring a Mayor who is new to politics but big on achievements since being elected less than 2 years ago.
In the words of his city’s manager, the mayor presents a fresh face within the community, Volusia County, and all of the cities within Volusia. He has refocused this city’s dialogue to the “future” and what is POSSIBLE to accomplish. He believes in Big Hairy Audacious Goals for his city and is disappointed when others can’t see them.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The sea surface temperatures around the surf and the adjacent inlet waters of Volusia County have been in the 80s. Menhaden and large mullet are holding in these waters as are some tarpon but there have been no reported catches of tarpon. Catches of bluefish, pompano, and sharks provided the most action in these waters.

It occurs to me that Governor Scott must be experiencing such traumatic doubts about his masculinity that he has to prove himself virile by bullying women.

Courtesy photo / Bloodshed in a Pierson home was not a suicide as first believed, but murder with a live-in girlfriend charged with shooting her boyfriend to death.

PIERSON -- Audra Anderson She initially claimed she had just woken up and wasn't sure what had happened, insisting that her boyfriend, 38-year-old Robert Wood, must have accidentally shot himself. But with Wood succumbing to his injury, Volusia County Sheriff's investigators further questioned her about the details of the shooting that occurred shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday morning at the couple's home on Buckles Road.

"Anderson told investigators several different stories, eventually admitting that she fired the fatal shot that killed Wood," agency spokesman Gary Davidson said.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An on-duty officer behind the wheel of New Smyrna Beach Police Department's signature Dodge Charger on South Glencoe Road was issued a ticket Saturday after slamming into an eastbound State Road 44 motorist's car, wrecking both vehicles and injuring the other driver who was transported by ambulance to the hospital with minor injuries.

Likisha Slayton, 28, of Edgewater was released from Bert Fish Medical Center's emergency room later in the evening. Slayton was eastbound on S.R. 44 when she was T-boned by the cop car heading into the intersection from South Glencoe Road with the intention of turning right onto the main road from Glencoe. The Florida Highway Patrol issued police officer Mark Severance a ticket charging him with failing to yield the right of way at the stop sign on Glencoe. The FHP could not ascertain if he actually came to a complete stop and then proceeded into the intersection.

I am heartsick and outraged that another innocent child has drowned in a family swimming pool! Where were the parents?

Courtesy graphic / Rain could be the biggest weapon deployed by firefighters today in quelling the local wild fires, including the biggest -- the Maytown Road Fire that straddles Oak Hill and Osteen with 2,397 acres burned since June 13. That fire is 90 percent contained. Click on the attachment below to see the spate of wild fires across the Sunshine State.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Volusia County Council has extended the declaration of local emergency for seven days.

NSBNews.net file photo / Dr. Tom Omby, shown in this photo earlier this year in a Daytona Beach courtroom with then-Bert Fish Medical Center CEO Bob Williams, is among several members of the hospital district's board replaced by Gov. Rick Scott. Omby was chairman. 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A metamorphosis of the Southeast Volusia Hospital District governing board is on the fast track with Gov. Scott on Wednesday announcing the immediate appointments of Joseph Benedict, Patrick E. Corbett, and Harold "Derwin" Smothers as members whose terms run through March 15, 2015.