NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A man armed with a handgun -- possibly a revolver -- robbed the Kangaroo Express, 2600 N. Dixie Freeway, at 9 p.m. Sunday and fled with an undetermined amount of cash, New Smyrna Beach police said. There were no injuries reported but the clerk "was pretty shaken up," police Sgt. Valerie Joyce said.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Embattled Chief Planner Chad Lingenfelter learned his fate just before 5 p.m. Wednesday when he met briefly with Personnel Director Carol Hargy: His job, which paid a base salary of $69,160 annually, was eliminated due to a budget cut.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- So what did the city's top administrators know and when did they know it?

The line above is a reincarnation of sorts of the famous line uttered by Republican Senator Howard Baker that led to President Nixon's exit from the White House following Watergate: "What did the President know and when did he know it?"

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- There's an adage in motorcycle riding that "it's not if, but when" you're going to crash. Well, the same came be said of surfers who challenge the sharks off the south for the primo waves.

Just ask 55-year-old Jimmy Johnston of New Smyrna Beach who has been surfing here since he was 10.

NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera Frederick.

NSBNEWS.net Investigative Reporting
Previous coverage click below:
NSB's Planning Debacle

Courtesy photos for NSBNEWS.net.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers cordon off the area where a 4-year-old boy was struck and killed on the beach Sunday after darting in front of a Dodge Ram.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 4-year-old boy was struck and killed on the beach just after 3 this afternoon by a Dodge Ram pick-up truck fitted with large tires after darting in front of the driver who told authorities he never saw the child as the large front right tire ran over him in front of horrified beach-goers.

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.

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.