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NEW SMYRNA BEACH – InterContinental Hotels Group, the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms, is proud to announce that Holiday Inn is ranked highest in guest satisfaction among mid-scale full service hotel chains, according to J.D. Power and Associates 2011 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study.

As one of the brand’s 808 hotels in the America the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites New Smyrna Beach contributes to the brand’s overall success by providing a consistent and welcoming experience for each and every guest.

City officials silent; county leaders saddened with 3 stores on chopping block

Janet Lutz of New Smyrna Beach pushes a cart to her car for perhaps the final time Thursday with the big announcement that the Kmart here is closing.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Lifetime resident Janet Lutz pushed her shopping cart out the front doors of Kmart Thursday night, after learning the store was closing for good. Earlier in the day, Sears holding, Inc., the corporate owner of Sears and Kmart stores, formally announced 79 of its stores under these two brands nationwide, ceasing operations.

The 60-year-old woman was heartbroken by the news that the Kmart here on State Road 44 is among them.

NSBNews.net photo at far left by Henry Frederick / Traffic is jammed just before midnight Thursday at the I-95 interchange with S.R. in New Smyrna Beach because of the shutdown of northbound lanes in Port Orange where a fiery crash involving three semis melted part of the road surface as shown in this courtesy photo.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Spillover traffic from the northbound stretch of I-95 in Port Orange closed in the wake of the fiery crash involving three semis and a passenger car made for heavy traffic here in New Smyrna Beach late Thursday night, but dissipated early this morning after emergency repairs were completed and the interstate fully reopened.

ORLANDO -- The New Jersey Nets don't have center Brook Lopez. The Orlando Magic have center Dwight Howard. Translation: Nets get blown out. And that's exactly what happened before the home crowd Thursday night as the Magic easily dispatched of the Nets, 94-78.

http://www.nba.com/video/games/magic/2011/12/29/0021100033_njn_orl_reca…

Tayon Alexander is being held on $6,000 in the Marion County Jail on animal cruelty charges.

OCALA -- A 9-1-1 hang-up call brought Marion County deputies to the Marion Oaks home of 20-year-old Tayon Alexander's girlfriend where three chihuahua puppies were found dead.

The girlfriend had said everything was all right, but a deputy saw a dead puppy on the living room floor and a second deputy spotted two more dead puppies -- one under the kitchen county and another under a couch.

The girlfriend told deputies she and Alexander were arguing Wednesday when he got mad and threw the puppies. He was not home when deputies arrived, but was taken into custody a short time later and booked into the Marion County Jail on three counts of animal cruelty. Deputies found two other puppies alive in a bathroom and the mother Chihuahua unharmed in the backyard.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The recreational and commercial harvest of tiger sharks and smooth, scalloped and great hammerhead sharks will not be allowed in Florida state waters beginning Jan. 1.

NSBNews.net graphic / Vince Carter Sports Notebook

DAYTONA BEACH -- Vince Carter's place as the starting shooting guard lasted all of one game as the Dallas Mevericks went with Delonte West in Monday's 115 to 93 drubbing by the Denver Nuggets, 115 to 93 on Monday night.

Interstate northbound near Dunlawton ramp remains closed due to asphalt damage

A DOT camera shows the I-95 crash scene that awoke Port Orange residents within a mile radius from a firy crash.

PORT ORANGE -- One person was killed and four were injured following a fiery crash on I-95 at 3:30 this morning involving three semis and a fourth car with a series of explosions that could be heard by residents within a 1-mile radius near the Dunlawton Avenue exit.

The video from youtube is far from great, but the 99-yard kick-off return for a touchdown by Raheem Mostert for the Purdue Boilermakers in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl is spectacular. The touchdown by the 2011 NSB High graduate and Cudas great was the difference maker in Purdue's 37-32 win Tuesday over the Western Michigan Broncos.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- New Smyrna Beach High School alumnus Raheem Mostert made the biggest run of his life and got featured on ESPN's SportsCenter.