Top 100 Local Stories of 2014

29. Main Street draw bridge in Daytona closed for 1 1/2 weeks in 2014 for repairs

Top 100 Local Stories of 2014 in Central Florida / Headline Surfer®
Main Street Bridge in Daytona leads to Bike Week ground zero / Headline Surfer®

Problems with Main Street drawbridgew in Daytona in 2014 / Headline Surfer®DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The 50-year-old Main Street drawbridge in Daytona, was finally opened reopened mid-afternoon Nov. 5 after being closed for 1 1/2 weeks due to repairs.

Thankfully, it didn't have to be closed earlier in October when the four-day fall motortycle rally, Biketoberfest, was in full swing.

31. Regan Smith wins 2014 Nationwide race at Daytona; Dale Earnhardt Jr owns up to crash at end of race

Top 100 Local Stories of 2014 in Central Florida / Headline Surfer®

Regan Smith wins Feb 2014 Nationwide Race at Daytona / Headline Surfer®

Video by David Perticarari / Downloaded from YouTube / Headline Surfer® /
Published on Feb 26, 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series - 2014 Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway. Last 2 laps -- green-white-checkered. 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Regan Smith got the bump-drafting help he needed from Trevor Bayne and beat Brad Keselowski to the finish line by .013 seconds to win February's season-opening NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

32. Orlando Magic's Victor Oladipo suffers facial fracture early in 2014 season

Top 100 Local Stories of 2014 in Central Florida / Headline Surfer®
Orlando Magic's Victor Oladipo wearing facial mask in 2014 NBA season / HeadlinebSurfer®Orlndo Magic star Victor Oladipo out with injury / Headline Surfer®Photos for Headline Surfer® / Victor Oladipo underwent corrective surgery for a facial fracture. in October 2014, forcing him to wear a protective mask upon his return to the court.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando Magic guard Victor Oladipo was ruled out "indefinitely" after suffering a facial fracture during practice Oct. 23, 2014, General Manager Rob Hennigan announced.

Oladipo, 22, who was evaluated that afternoon after taking an inadvertent elbow to the face during a practice drill, underwent a corrective surgical procedure.

Oladipo made his return from injury on Nov. 14, wearing a facial protection mask as he made his season debut against the Milwaukee Bucks. In 25 minutes off the bench, he recorded 13 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in a 101–85 win.

33. NSB businessman Bob Garrigues dies at age 88; drew controversy by trying to help Steve Dennis

Top 100 Local Stories of 2014 in Central Florida / Headline Surfer®
Bob Garrigues on Canal Strreet during the 2013 Halloween Parade with his wife, Peggy / Headline Surfer®Headline Surfer® photo /
New Smyrna Beach businessman Bob Garrigues was a fixture at street festivals on Flagler Avenue and Canal Street, even in advanced age with his wife, Peggy, by his side, as shown in this image from the 2012 NSB Halloween Parade on Canal. 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Bob Garrigues was a leading businessman in New Smyrna Beach for decades, before he passed away on July 18, 2014, at the age of 82.

Born and raised in the Baltimore, Maryland area, Bob served in the Army during the Korean Conflict then graduated from Towson State University. He started a staff leasing company in the 1990s but spent most of his career in insurance.

36. Easy Rider replica chopper part of Biketoberfest

Top 100 Local Stories of 2014 in Central Florida / Headline Surfer®
Easy Rider replica chopper a big hit in Daytona Beach, FL at Biketoberfest / Headline Surfer®

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Bikers have come to Daytona Beach for decades hoping to see someone riding in on that one-of-a-kind motorcycle truly stands out in the crowd. The head turner.

And there's no better representation than that of the red, white & blue: The Captain America chopper from the 1969 counter-culture hippie biker movie, "Easy Rider," starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson.

37. Kyle Busch edges Timothy Peters at the line to win 2014 Speedweeks truck race at Daytona

Top 100 Local Stories of 2014 in Central Florida / Headline Surfer®
Kyle Busch win 2014 truck race at Daytona / Headline Surfer®

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Kyle Busch edged Timothy Peters at the line by a race-record .016 seconds to win the 2014 NextEra Energy Resources 250 truck race at Daytona International Speedway during February's Speedweeks, leading up to the Daytona 500.

38. FDLE: 400-pound Bunnell cop arrested on charges of posing as teen girl on Facebook to hook up with boys

Top 100 Local Stories of 2014 in Central Florida / Headline Surfer®

Bunnell cop charged with computer porno / HeadlineSurfer®BUNNELL, Fla. -- Michael Gerard Stavris II, a sergeant with the Bunnell police force who stands 6 foot 3 and weighs in excess of 400 pounds, was arrested on child solicitation charges March 25, 2014, allegedly passing himself of as a provacative under-age teen gal on Facebook to try and hook up with teen boys.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement charged the 30-year-old Palm Coast resident with two counts of computer pornography and child exploitation and one count of criminal use of personal identification information.

Acting on a tip, in December of 2013,  FDLE agents began investigating allegations in December 2013, and soon thereafter gathered evidence they claim showed Stavris created a fraudulent Facebook account posing as a teenage girl.

39. Weekend in August not fun for 400 beach goers stung by jellyfish in Daytona, New Smyrna, Ponce Inlet

Top 100 Local Stories of 2014 in Central Florida / Headline Surfer®

Jellyfish abound in Daytona / Headline Surfer®DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Some 400 swimmers were stung by jellyfish over the weekend of Aug 23-24 at the World's Most Famous Beach in Daytona and extending south to Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna Beach.

Fortunately, lifeguards had plenty of vinegar on hand to treat the stings. The stings occurred both Saturday and Sunday according to the Volusia County Lifeguard Corps, which flew purple and yellow "pest" flags to warn swimmers about the presence of jellyfish in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Jellyfish deliver an uncomfortable sting through tiny venomous barbs on their tentacles. The sting often causes burning, itching and swelling around the site of the injury, according to the Mayo Clinic medical website.

40. Daytona cops: Woman stabs friend to death in her North Street home

Top 100 Local Stories of 2014 in Central Florida / Headline Surfer®
Brenda Reynolds, charged with 2nd degree murder in Daytona stabbing / Headline Surfer®
Photo and graphic for Headline Surfer® / Brenda Reynolds, shown here at left in a booking mug, was being held without bail at the Volusia County Branch Jail on a second-degree murder charge in connection with the stabbing death of a woman in her residence at 847 North St.

DAYTONA BEACH -- The continuing violence that has gripped this city for the better part of a decade now continued on a hot Friday night in July with a woman plunging a large steak knife into the upper chest of a friend in her bedroom.

Cops who responded to a 9-1-1 call at a residence at 847 North St in the heart of this tourism city that is home to Daytona International Speedway and the "World's Most Famous Beach®" found the deceased 60-year-old woman with the mortal wound clearly visible. She apparently pulled the knife out of her own chest and then died, homicide detectives said of the July 11 killing.

42. New era in space: Orion lifts off from Cape Canaveral

Top 100 Local Stories of 2014 in Central Florida / Headline Surfer®
Orion blasts ofrf from Cape Canaveral, Fla / Headliune Surfer®

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- It's a new era in space flight with the Dec. 5 launch of the Orion spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft launched successfully atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket at 7:05 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here in Central Florida.