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DELTONA -- The Volusia County Sheriff's Office is investigating a report that a man forced his way into a Deltona home early Friday morning and sexually
assaulted a 41-year-old woman, sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said.

Two children under the age of 10 also were in the home, but slept through the attack, Haught said.

The victim told investigators that she didn't know who the suspect was. No weapon was used and the victim was not injured other than being sexually battered, the spokesman said.

The victim said that she was in her Vercelli Street home when someone

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla -- Jill Biden, wife of vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, urged nearly 300 Democratic supporters at the Woman's Club of New Smyrna Beach this afternoon to take advantage of early voting before the expected Nov. 4 election-day crush.

PORT ORANGE -- A former Warner Christian Academy teacher was charged earlier today by two police departments with unlawful sexual activity with a minor for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old student over several months in local motels before she abruptly resigned earlier this month.

Cynthia Horvath, 45, was first charged by Port Orange police and booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on bail of $10,000.

The Volusia County Council is seeking public input on the implementation of a competitive process for awarding concession service contracts on Volusia County public beaches, said Michelle Coats, spokeswoman for Volusia County government.

To support this effort a web-based public input questionnaire has been developed to assist the County Council in developing beach concession contract policy, Coats said.

The public input questionnaire is available at www.volusia.org/concessions.

I wonder how many Americans realize that if George Bush had gotten his way with privatizing social security the Bush Administration would already have gambled away a large vestige of its citizens’ economic survival. The stock market would have gobbled it up in the last few weeks.

Unlike the unregulated profiteers being bailed out, the private citizen would be left to the mercy of whatever soup kitchen would keep him plodding along until he dropped dead from lack of everyday necessities.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Early voting for the presidential election as well as a host of local, state and national congressional races started with a bang today with 862 ballots cast at the New Smyrna Beach Library, according to the Volusia County Elections Office.

Overall, 4,241 voters took advantage of early voting on the first day. Early voting runs through Nov. 1, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

New Smyrna Beach ranked third among four Volusia library locations where voters cast their votes. New Smyrna Beach had 862 voters.

DELTONA -- A Deltona man was rushed to the hospital after being stabbed in the chest and abdomen early Sunday morning when a domestic argument escalated into a physical fight, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office reported.

Joshua Hinkley underwent surgery at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach for his stab wounds, which were not life threatening, Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Dan Sawyer returned home to Orlando after the extended weekend Biketoberfest motorcycle rally. He rode out of town on his 1998 Harley-Davidson Road King. And yes, he wore his helmet.

The annual four-day fall biker rally in Volusia County was smaller crowd-wise and bikers like Sawyer were conservative in their spending, even with gas being as cheap as it is.

With the sour economy and the looming recession, there were far less bikers this time around. If there was a real positive that came out of this special event that is supposed to boost the local economy, it's that there were no road fatalities.