NSBNEWS.net video by Sera Frederick. Here is a video breakout of Mayor Adam Barringer's direct plea Wednesday to the Florida Department of Community Affairs to expedite the process of approving land-use amendments that affect more than 70 community projects, including a Wal-Mart Supercenter just west of I-95 and a high-end hotel on Flagler Avenue.  The city dropped the ball on this process dating back five years. NSBNEWS.net will post the 90-minute hearing in its entirety in eight parts later today.

TALLAHASSEE  -- Mayor Adam Barringer made a passionate plea to state officials Wednesday, asking them to expedite dozens of community projects dating back five years that the city's planning department failed to send back to them for final review.

Courtesy photo for NSBNEWS.net

Charred remains are what's left of this residence in Edgewater's Seahorse Mobile Home Park that after an early Saturday fire caused by an electrical problem, fire officials said. Firefighters were able to keep the fire contained to the burning structure with the exception of minor damage to a neighboring home.

EDGEWATER -- Before dawn Saturday, Edgewater Fire Rescue personnel were dispatched to the scene of a residential structure fire at 414 North Ridgewood Ave., Lot 21, of the Seahorse Mobile Home Park that consumed a mobile home. Nobody was home at the time.

Sept. 26, 1927 - July 11, 2010

Funeral service for Joan C. Roberts, 82, of Edgewater, who passed away quietly July 11, 2010 after a lengthy illness, will be 2:00 p.m. Saturday, July 17 at Settle-Wilder's New Smyrna Beach chapel, with Chaplain Mark Spivey, Hospice of Volusia/Flagler, officiating. Burial will follow at Sea Pines Memorial Gardens, Edgewater.

NSBNEWS.net video by Sera Frederick. City officials hold informational meeting Tuesday night at the Coronado Civic Center on the proposed spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year that calls for a 6.3 percent tax increase over this year's operating budget.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- City officials held an informational session Tuesday night for residents to ask questions about the proposed budget that would raise taxes by 6.3 percent over this year.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A spaghetti dinner benefit is planned for Ray Wright to help him with
expenses after he received a new heart in March at Shands Teaching Hospital in Gainesville. The benefit dinner will have dine-in and take-out service from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, at J.C.’s Restaurant, 409 Mary Ave.

Courtesy photo / Volusia County. A Votran bus heads west on Canal Street in New Smyrna Beach in this photo. The county came up with a "flex" schedule to lessen the blow of some routes eliminated for greater New Smyrna Beach resulting from budget cuts.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Cuts in public bus transit for Southeast Volusia are not as bad as initially feared.

A couple of months into summer and all signs prove it’s exactly that. The heat shows no signs of cooling down; in fact it is breaking records! Students out of school are making the best of it and I am no exception.