Local News Now

Gretchen E. Johnson, 68, New Smyrna Beach, a former teacher, died Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009.

Sylvia Jean Harless, 53, of Oak Hill, a cook, died Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009.

George Marion Beckert, 77, of New Smyrna Beach, a retired math teacher and computer specialist at the University of Maryland, where he received a masters degree in economics, died Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009.

Robert C. Scheskie 54, New Smyrna Beach, a motorcycle safety instructor, died Monday, Feb. 23, 2009.

Photos by Sandi Carroll. "Red, Hot, & Cole" opens at the Little Theatre of NSB Feb. 27, with performances through March 13. Pictured are cast members Mike Funaro and Patti Earl as George Kaufman and Hedda Hopper, and Laurie Lawrence and Brian Fitzgibbons as Linda and Cole Porter. "Red, Hot, & Cole" is a musical a celebration of the life of Cole Porter.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The New Smyrna Beach Regional Library offers a variety of free computer classes that can help beginners learn the basics.

Discover everything you always wanted to know about e-mail at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 1. Participants will learn how to get a free e-mail address, compose e-mails, and add pictures and documents to their e-mails.

An Internet Searching class will start at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 8. The instructor will explain the web browser Microsoft Internet Explorer and features such as favorites, homepage, font size and Internet options.

NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera King. Lois Tipton, one of the oldest residents of West Canal Street in New Smyrna Beach, told city commissioners Tuesday she's concerned labeling her neighborhood as historic could limit her ability to sell her property if she so desires.

I’m sad to read about the young man killed at the Medicine Shoppe. Mostly, I am sad for his family. They lost a son, a brother, an uncle. While the news media and townspeople vilify him for having an illness, what some people fail to take into account is that most addicts don’t chose to be addicts but once hooked on something, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and even food which most of us have battled at one time or another, the habits are almost impossible to break.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An 18-year-old Edgewater woman was arrested early this morning on charges of possession of marijuana under 20 grams and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Kaila Blohm was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on the misdemeanor charges following a 1:10 a.m. motor-vehicle stop at Faulkner and Murray streets.
In an earlier unrelated arrest, a 25-year-old New Smyrna Beach man was arrested on an outstanding warrant following the report of a disturbance Friday afternoon in the 700 block of Downing Street.

Fans of Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” are invited to a fan party at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 24, at the Edgewater Public Library. “Twilight,” published in 2005, is the first in series vampire-romance novels.

The library staff will offer games, crafts, prizes and snacks. Fans can have their pictures taken with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of character Edward Cullen. Participants must be at least 14. Pre-registration is required and may be made by calling the library at (386) 424-2916.

For adults who have enjoyed this book, a book discussion club will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 31.

NSBNEWS.net photo by Henry Frederick. This Mustang collided with a Buick LeSabre on North Dixie Freeway at Eleanor Avenue at 10:30 tonight. No one was seriously injured, but southbound Dixie Freeway traffic had to be re-routed by police west onto Eleanor Avenue while firefighters tended to the occupants of both vehicles.

NSBNEWS.net video by Sera King. Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas returned from Washington to New Smyrna Beach where she presented information on President Obama's stimulus package to jumpstart the economy. She told about 60 local small business owners at a breakfast meeting Thursday at the Smyrna Yacht Club that Florida would receive $12 billion in funding.