Local News Now

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NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Bob Garrigues was a leading businessman in New Smyrna Beach for decades, before he passed away on July 18, 2014, at the age of 82.

Born and raised in the Baltimore, Maryland area, Bob served in the Army during the Korean Conflict then graduated from Towson State University. He started a staff leasing company in the 1990s but spent most of his career in insurance.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Realtor Tom Alcorn bought the New Smyrna Beach Observer off the scrap heap of federal bankruptcy for $2,500 and re-opened it as a monthly, publishing 18 issues, but as the year 2014 drew to a close,  the paper was dead again.

Alcorn hired Tiffany Evers, who studied journalism in college as his editor, but the Observer never really got on track in terms of substantive reporting and lacked a credible distribution network. As a result, it officially ceased operations on Dec. 31, 2014.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Between now and Dec. 18, Deputy Police Chief Donna Lavallee and her colleagues in lawn enforcement at the New Smyrna Beach cop shop are encouraging citizens to remember the holidays and the true meaning of giving -- not just among family and friends, but to those less fortunate in the community.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Buster Graham and Chase Elliott got into it early in the Lucas Oil 200 Arca race at Daytona Internatiobnal Speedway, and in the procress, collected 15 cars.

And while team members from both racing crews were involvrd in a post-race skirmish, Grant Enfinger celebrated his first win at Daytona and his his third career victory in the stock car series.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It's that time of year again when when several coastal cities in Volusia County hold Christmas Parades. And Headline Surfer® presents snapshots from its social media network of friends from these festive parades over the weekend in Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach and Port Orange.

Photo for Headline Surfer® / 

SANFORD, Fla. -- On Nov. 5, just minutes before high noon, a then-unknown gunman brazenly walked into the Harbor Community Bank, 251 West First St., and stuck a handgun in the face of a teller before fleeing with the loot in one hand and gun in the other.

"The suspect brandished a firearm and demanded money from a bank employee," Sanford cop Ronny Neal told Headline Surfer® and other Central Florida media outlets that day, "It is unknown the amount of money obtained. Furthermore, the suspect fled the scene and is considered armed and dangerous."

Social media image draws global outrage

SOUTH DAYTONA, Fla. -- Cops in the town of Cary, NC, confirmed they have issued a court summons for Katharine F. Lemansky, after she admitted that she duct-taped the mouth of her dog the day after Thanksgiving while in that municipality and posted a picture of the chocolate lab on a Facebook page under the alias "Katie Brown" of South Daytona.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Surfer and photographer Kem McNair captured a unique photo setting with an osprey and a radar buoy near the South Jetty where surfers and sharks co-exist in the curling waves.