Local News Now

ORLANDO, Fla. -- US. Sen. Marco Rubio will be in Orlando and Kissimmee on Wednesday, March 25, with times and locations as follows: 10 am to noon, Renaissance Senior Community Center at Orange County Parks & Rec., 3800 S. Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando; and from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Poinciana Community Center 395 Marigold Ave., Kissimmee.

BUNNELL, Fla. – A Palm Coast man accused of raping an 11-year-old girl was convicted after trial by a jury and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years on Sept. 17.

Shaun Everette Whitt, 32, was convicted of sexual battery on a victim under 12 years of age, a first-degree capital felony, and engaging  in sexual conduct with a minor, a first-degree felony.

Assistant State Attorney Christina Opsahl prosecuted the case, outlining the frequent and repeated sexual abuse on the 11-year-old victim by Whitt during the previous year when she was 11 years old. Physical evidence in the victim's own bedroom and a medical examination presented at trial corroborated her claims that Whitt routinely forced himself on her when she as home alone while her mother was at work.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A federal grand jury has handed up an indictment charging 54-year-old Robert Lee Craddock of Port Orange with wire fraud arising out of a scheme to defraud the compensation fund established as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

If convicted, Craddock, who also may have a residence in Daytona Beach Shores, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. The indictment also notifies Craddock that the Office of US Attorney A Lee Bentley, III, is seeking a money judgment in the amount of $135,153, the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct.

According to the indictment, following the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which was being leased by BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, Craddock submitted a claim to BP and the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, an independent facility established by BP to compensate qualified claimants, for lost earnings purportedly related to the impact of the oil spill on his businesses.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla -- NASCAR has put out a nw video featuring the re-instated Kurt Busch with the message: I just have to go out there and do my job."

What's the point? Why does he have to say it? Is it to convince himself? Convince NASCAR fans? Convince his team? Convince NASCAR? Or is this NASCAR PR? Or perhaps some combination of all of the above?

The age-old adage is yiu keep your mouth shut and you let your driving do your talking for you? He says the team has provided him with the cars. That his name is atop the door. So what?

Hasn't he always been among NASCAR's top-tier talents? He has a Sprint Cup championship to his credit. Dale Earnhrdt, Jr., is trying to garner his first campioship, though Junior has two Daytona 500 championships under his bert while Busch has none.

Busch maintains he was innocent of any wrongdoing that led to his championship. And that was re-empgasized by the [proesecutor's office in Delaware where cklaims of domestic abuse were lodged by his ex-girlfriend. And there was the injuction for protection that led to NASCAR suspending him and focing him to sit out the Daytona 500.

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OAK HILL, Fla. -- Traffic has been flowing smoothly in both direction on Interstate 95, but that wasn't the case for the better part of the day when a tractor-trailer overturned on the south-bound side in Oak Hill and causing the south-bound lanes to be closed for more than 6 hours.

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NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- A firefighter received a promotional pin from his police officer-father during a ceremony before the City Commission, showing a penchant for public safety runs in the Hazelwood family.

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NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- An alert construction worker helped police catch a homemade chemist turned burglar the day after Thanksgiving.

Just after 8 a.m., a construction worker called 9-1-1 to report smoke coming from the men’s restroom in Detwiler Park, 701 Oakwood Ave. The worker also saw a young man running from the area carrying a bag and Justin Hill, 20, of New Smyrna Beach, was apprehended a short time later and charged with trying to cook up meth in the men's bathroom at Detwiler Park.