Volusia News Now

Parent company buys more papers including Daily Commercial in Leesburg

Headline Surfer photo / A dozen staffers have left the Daytona Beach News-Journal since the beginning of the year under the editorship of Pat Rice, as shown here, but that hasn't stopped parent company, Halifax Media Group, from acquiring more newspapers including the Daily Commercial in Leesburg.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Apparently Daytona Beach News-Journal staffers leave faster than the newspaper's editor pays his speeding tickets. Six have left in the past several weeks.

It actually took News-Journal Editor Pat Rice 101 days to pay a speeding fine issued by Ormond Beach cops.

ORLANDO -- As part of its 5th anniversary and recent move from New Smyrna Beach to Lake Mary, Headline Surfer is going to do what some naysayers would dismiss as unrealistic -- maybe even ridiculous, which is all the more reason why the 24/7 internet newspaper with one shoe-leather journalist is going to do it: Headline Surfer is going to count down the Top 500 Newsmakers in Central Florida until No. 1 is crowned, literally.

DELAND, Fla. -- The Tallahassee lawyer representing the legal interests of Trayvon Martin's parents in the George Zimmerman murder case that resulted in the Sanford gunman's acquittal, is now representing relatives of a black neighborhood barber they feel was deliberately run over and killed by a white DeLand cop who has since been fired.

Photos for Headline Surfer / Conservative Republican Jim Oddie of Wilbur-by-the-Sea, poses with Wisconsin Congressman and Romney VP Paul Ryan.

THE VILLAGES -- Volusia County conservative Republican stalwart Jim Oddie let Paul Ryan know during his campaign stop in The Villages in August 2012 that Floridians support the R & R ticket.

That's Romney and Ryan, of course.

The Wilbur-by-the-Sea resident not only interacted with Ryan Saturday, but with Mitt Romney himself, along with Gov. Scott, on Monday in St. Augustine.

Oddie's interaction with the GOP big wigs comes in at No. 484 in Headline Surfer's Top 500 countdown of the biggest stories in Volusia County as part of Headline Surfer's 5th anniversary.

Funeral bank fund set up for victim's family

Headline Surfer graphic / The intersection of Corbin Park Road and Paige Avenue in greater New Smytrna Beach is where where 11-year-old Mark Moore, a figth-grader at Reed-Patrtillo Elementary School, was struck by a motorist six days ago, leading to his death Wednesday afternoon.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An 11-year-old New Smyrna Beach boy hit by a car at the intersection of Paige Avenue and Corbin Park Road while riding his bicycle six days ago, died earlier today, a spokesman confirmed at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando.

Mark Moore, a fifth-grader at Read-Pattillo Elementary School, was pronounced dead at 2:35 p.m. at the Orlando hospital, surrounded by family.

Headline Surfer video produced by Multimedia Editor Serafina Frederick / Here is a performance at the 2012 NSB Jazz Festival at the Garlic restaurant.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Central Floridians from Kissimmee, Windemere, Lake Mary, Ocala, St. Augustine, Melbourne and those beyond the Sunshine State's borders may want to check out the New Smyrna Beach Area beach weeks that runs Sept. 27 to Nov. 30.

There are certainly plenty of local overnight accommodations for vacationers ands tourists looking to check out the sights and sounds with the ocean as a backdrop. Plus the beach weeks coincides with Biketoberfest, the four-day motorcycle rally in Volusia County on Oct. 17-20.

The Southeast Volusia Advertising has a brand new poster highlighting the myriad New Smyrna Beach Area beach weeks activities planned all the way through November, which also coincides with the Turkey Rod Run, another big countywide tourism event centered around Daytona with hot rods and classic wheels.

Headline Surfer photo by Henry Frederick / Surfers enjoy the rolling waves in New Smyrna Beach. In the inset are the local tide reports.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Swells in the surf at mid-day are 2 feet at 8.7 seconds with waves at 1 to 2 feet high and water temperatures in the mid- to upper 70s. Winds are southwest at 9 mph.

The National Weather Service in Melbourne is calling for a 40% chance of scattered thunderstorms in greater Daytona Beach with a high of 89.

Headline Surfer graphic / A man with a large knife held up the 7-Eleven, 839 DeBary Ave., in Deltona, as shown in this locator map. 

The clerk told deputies that he was in the back room washing dishes and when he turned around and saw a man with two shirts covering his face standing behind him and pointing a large kitchen knife pointed at him.

"The robber ordered the clerk to open the cash register," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson told Headline Surfer, and when the clerk complied, "the suspect grabbed money from the register and then ran out the door and headed southbound."