Local News Now

By Deb Denys

EDGEWATER -- After tragedy strikes, assessing the damage and rebuilding to once again return to ‘normal’ can be frustrating at best. Such is the case at Terra Mar Village in Edgewater after an F1 tornado struck on December 10, 2012.

Headline Surfer videos by Multimedia Editor Serafina Frederick / Students perform skits and dress in ethnic costumes during a foreign language festival at New Smyrna Beach High School back in January.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Spanish teacher Rosa Galliano sees speaking a second language as one of the most important assets for high school students to have as they grow up in a 21st century world.

Ida Wright, shown  at far left,  wins the primary for the open dist. 2 seat on the Volusia County School Board,  before going on to win a Jan. 15 runoff with second place finisher Kathy Williams, shown in the inset. Her husband, Al Williams, was chairman of the school board before his passing in October.

DAYTONA BEACH -- With a mere 6 percent of the 66,166 registered voters taking part in the electoral process, a special primary in mid-December for the dist. 2 school board seat had one of the worst turnouts locally in modern times with only 3,390 bothering to vote.

Still, every vote cast matters and that's what put Daytona Beach resident and Bethune-Cookman University educator Ida Duncan Wright on top with 1,538 of those votes or 38.84 percent. Kathy Williams finished second with 1,023 votes or 25.83 percent to force a runoff election because Wright didn't quite reach the 50 percent-plus 1 threshold to win it outright.

A search is under way at daybreak for 48-year-old Bernardo Enrique Rubio Hernandez, shown here in a jacket, with his son, Moises Hernandez, of Apopka, reportedly missing along with his fishing boat in the waters off the North Causeway.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Police here have issue a public alert for a 48-year-old Apopka man who reportedly left his home Wednesday to go fishing in the North Causeway and has not been seen since.

The missing man is Bernardo Enrique Rubio Hernandez.

Here is a synopsis of the situation as described by New Smyrna Beach Police Sgt. Valerie Joyce: Mr. Hernandez was believed to have launched his 1989 14 foot white in color boat at 170 N. Causeway.

Deputy Cody Cochran, shown here at left with Sheriff Ben Johnson, during a medal presentation Aug. 7 in Daytona Beach, is being lauded for heroism in reviving a baby boy.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Back in May, just halfway through his rookie year, Volusia County Sheriff's Deputy Cody Cochran responded to a 9-1-1 call radioed from dispatch for an unconscious baby boy that had fallen into a family pool in Deltona.

The child had been removed from the pool, but was limp and unresponsive and had no pulse, when the 22-year-old deputy arrived on scene. The 1-year-old toddler's life was now in Cochran's hands. 

"Without a moment to spare, Cochran quickly took charged of the chaotic scene and began administering CPR to the child as he had been taught in his first aid instruction," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.

SAMSULA -- A 55-acre fire that raged in the woods of Pioneer Trail left the unmistakable stench of smoke for days in March. That fire was extinguished but with dry conditions and a lack of rain, county officials continued an outdoor burn ban for the small communities of Oak Hill, Pierson, Lake Helen and all areas in unincorporated Volusia County until mid-June when four days of rain brought needed relief.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Headline Surfer, Central Florida's 24/7 award-winning Internet newspaper, has signed an exclusive 18-month advertising and marketing agreement with the Daytona Beach Kennel Club & Poke Room that begins today.

Lack of public information continuing pattern of Police Chief Michael Chitwood

DAYTONA BEACH -- A 9-year-old boy brought 23 rounds of ammo Tuesday to Ortona Elementary School at 1265 N. Grandview Ave., but the Daytona Beach Police Department did not post any information about the incident on its "press release" website.

Some area media outlets are being provided information on a regular basis while a news blackout continues against Headline Surfer on orders of Police Chief Michael Chitwood in retaliation for the 24/7 Internet newspaper's awards from the Florida Press Club for its story on Chitwood's promotion of a patrol supervisor last spring despite allegations of mistreatment of women cops under his command.