Local News Now

SOUTH DAYTONA -- The city's Parks and Recreation Department is holding registration for Fall Babe Ruth Baseball at the Piggotte Community Center, 504 Big Tree Road.

Registration is from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays. 

Here are the cost breakdowns: T-ball - $55, Pitching Machine, Minor, Major - $65, Junior - 70, add $10 for non-resident fee—(Non-Resident of City of South Daytona) Ages: T-ball (4-6), Pitching Machine (7-8), Minor (9-10), Major (11– 12), Juniors (13-15). Please bring a copy of your birth certificate.

ORMOND BEACH -- The Fourth of July celebration in this city is action packed with concerts and all kinds of family fun leading up to the 9:30 p.m. fireworks.

City officials say there’s no place better to celebrate our nation’s 234 years of freedom than beside the beautiful Halifax River in Ormond Beach. Citizens and visitors can enjoy hours of entertainment and fun-filled attractions with no admission fee.

Entertainment will stretch from City Hall Plaza across the Granada Bridge to Fortunato Park and south across Granada Boulevard into Rockefeller Gardens. Free shuttle service will be available from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. between the southwest corner of Granada Boulevard and South Beach Street and Fortunato Park on the east side of the bridge. Those visiting Fortunato Park can avoid traffic and access Rockefeller Gardens by walking beneath the bridge on a paved surface.

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES -- An Orlando hotelier group is planning to close late this month on the 200-room Surfside Hotel and Conference, 3209 S. Atlantic Ave., city officials confirmed.

Avista Properties, owner and manager of Orlando area hotels for three decades, last month paid $2.8 million for the Islander Resort at 3161 S. Atlantic Ave., in bankruptcy court. It was owned by the Bray & Gillespie group whjich declared bbankruptcy in 2008 on two dozen beachside hotels.

Avista also owns the Hampton Inn in the Shores.

The shadows dance around the flames. The Republicans walk out of the debt limit talks to dramatize their opposition to raising taxes. The president is dragged off the golf course and into the negotiations, whereupon he promptly makes a campaign speech promoting class warfare rather than seeking a debt crisis solution. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke scratches his head in puzzlement as his monetarist remedies fail to offset the damage to the economy exacerbated by the socialist policies of the Obama Administration.

And all of this is theater.

It is in the nature of these political confrontations that a solution will not be reached until the last possible second. The good of the nation be damned – there are too many political careers at stake to compromise before it is absolutely unavoidable.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Joey Logano took the checkered flag Friday in a last-lap crash-marred Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

Logano, whose No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota rolled off 40th due to an unapproved adjustment after qualifying, survived a spin in lap 27 and paired up with Jason Leffler with 30 laps to go.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- It's not unusual for teenagers to get worked up playing video games like grand theft auto. Two 17-year-olds played the real-life version, which was no game for the cops.

Jerrid Buhler and Samuel Parks Jr., wracked up a lot of charges following a police chase at 2:40 p.m. that ended with their arrests at 2:40 p.m. Friday in the 100 block of Field St.

Here is a synopsis of what happened, according to a report filed by Sgt. Christopher Roos: Officers were dispatched to a report of two suspicious vehicles in the area of the New Smyrna Beach Utilities Field Street Substation. While cops were responding, information was obtained that both vehicles, a green Ford Expedition and
a beige Plymouth Voyager, were reported as stolen and the two subjects were leaving in the green Ford Expedition."

Officer Reve arrived in the area and located the Ford Expedition. A traffic stop was attempted at which time Buhler fled with the vehicle. During the subsequent pursuit, Buhler turned down a narrow dirt road that abruptly ended at a ditch. Buhler and Parks both jumped out of the vehicle and ran off with Reve right behind them.