Local News Now

DAYTONA BEACH -- Frank Hechman, the elder statesman of the Beachside Neighborhood Watch was more jovial than acerbic in giving his reaction to the New Year's Eve beach ball drop and the huge crowd.

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / Canal Street in New Smyrna Beach, is shown here on New Year's Eve just after 10 p.m.

 NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- With the bars on Flagler Avenue playing host to the New Year's Eve festivities, the city's other heavily invested CRA street was as dead as a door knob, a far cry from the hustle and bustle during traditional business hours.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Jennifer Collier got an eyeful when she took 6-year-old daughter, Ella, to the New Year's Eve fireworks celebration on Flagler Avenue where countless people among the crowd of 2,000 were drinking right out in the open.

Victim is Volusia County's first reported homicide of 2013

Volusia County's first homicide of the New Year was reported in the 900 block of South Parsons Avenue outside DeLand as shown here.

DELAND -- Sheriff's investigators have are investigating what appears to be Volusia County's first reported murder of 2013, after a shotgun victim was dropped off late Tuesday at Florida Hospital Hospital-DeLand where he died less than an 40 minutes later, an agency spokesman said.

The victim was described only as an adult male, and though authorities know his identity, they're not releasing any further information until his family is first notified.

Preliminary investigation: Speeding may have been a factor in fatality

The map shows the location of the 12:30 p.m. Tuesday Deltona fatality.

DELTONA -- A 20-year-old DeBary man became Volusia County's first highway fatality of the new year when he lost control of his motorcyle on DeBary Avenue near the intersection of Providence Boulevard and struck a stop sign before crashing the bike, a Sheriff's spokesman said.