Courtesy photo.

Here is the latest installment of Gov. Charlie Crist's Notes from the Capitol:

Dear Friends,

I continue to be committed to recovery efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. Last week, I called a Special Session of the Florida Legislature from July 20, 2010 through July 23, 2010, to address a constitutional amendment banning offshore drilling in Florida waters.

Aug. 31, 1914 - July 16, 2010

Mass of Christian Burial for Marion E. Currie, age 95, of New Smyrna Beach, who died Friday at Sterling House Assisted Living in Port Orange, will be 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, New Smyrna Beach. Burial will take place in New York.

NSBNEWS.net photo by Henry Frederick.

Kerry-Anne Purkiss and Adam Barringer take a break from his SoNapa Wine Co. during a fundraiser there several weeks back for her   youth organization, K.C. Society, which provides educational and recreation outlets for teens.

Barringer, of course, is mayor of New Smyrna Beach and Purkiss is a blogger for NSBNEWS.net, featured on the opinion page. The fundraiser generated $500.

Courtesy photo

South Daytona City Manager Joseph Yarbrough says he's pleased city employees are forgoing raises in the third and final year of their contracts to help the municipality deal with its budget crunch, calling it the most challenging in his 35 year-career.

SOUTH DAYTONA ─ As City officials scramble to balance the budget, union employees agreed to forego raises for the final year of a three-year contract.

Forced by the "most challenging budget" of his 35-year career, City Manager  Joseph Yarbrough asked bargaining units if they would forego both merit and cost of living raises for next year.

Those agreeing to a wage freeze include a total of 75 police, fire and general bargaining unit employees.

Courtesy photo/VCBJ mug.

DNA blood evidence links Daniel Myles Buczek to a burglary, already jailed on an unrelated charge, according to Edgewater police.

EDGEWATER -- Like a scene in the popular TV series "Criminal Minds," an Edgewater cop used DNA to match a suspect to a burglary that had gone unsolved for four months.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 27-year-old bicyclist was transported to Halifax Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries Wednesday night after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while pedaling westbound near the crest of the South Causeway Bridge, New Smyrna Beach police said.

Brandon Munsell was transported by EVAC ambulance after police and fire paramedics responded to a 9-1-1 call from a motorist who spotted the victim just after 9:21 p.m.

"He was conscious and talking," Sgt. Valerie Joyce said. The New Smyrna Beach victim's bicycle was taken into evidence by police.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The New Smyrna Beach Regional Library has on display a joint exhibition by the Southeast Volusia Camera Club and the Poet’s Corner Poetry Workshop featuring photographs and poems of people. The Voices and Visions exhibit remains on display through July.

DAYTONA BEACH - Starting July 19, homeowners facing new foreclosure actions on their homestead residences in Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns and Volusia counties will be referred to mediation.

Late last year, the Florida Supreme Court ordered courts to implement residential mortgage foreclosure mediation programs to help deal with the state's foreclosure crisis. Officials believe mandatory mediation will help homeowners stay in their homes while also keeping caseloads at bay.

NSBNEWS.net video and photos by Sera Frederick 

City Manager Pam Brangaccio spoke frankly with NSBNEWS.net immediately after the July 7 hearing with the Florida Department of Community Affairs in Tallahassee, but unable to answer why the city's planning department under the direction of department head Mark Rakowski (above) and (at left) chief planner Chad Lingenfelter, who worked under him and then continued alone after Rakowski's job was eliminated in December, dropped the ball on final paperwork on  land-use zoning amendments, dating back five years (see attachment for example of the transmittal forms). This fiasco, dating back to when Rakowski was promoted, has grounded 72 community projects a Wal-Mart-anchored shopping center and a 112-room hotel Flagler Avenue.  Lingenfelter has continued in his role  to this day despite calls from the mayor to have him fired .

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Mayor Adam Barringer makes no bones about it: He wants the two city planners identified by the city manager as being culpable for the city's five-year backlog of projects held accountable.

"This borders on criminal," the mayor, who has been in office less than eight months, said Wednesday as he deals with perhaps the biggest crisis in this city's history.