Local News Now

Photo for Headline Surfer® / The Christian Healing Center, 1028 North US Hwy 1 in Ormond Beach, is open 1 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

ORMOND BEACH -- The Christian Healing Center is pleased to be hosting, "How to be led by the Spirit of God" on Nov. 22, at the Christian Healing Center.

Kleyn Russell will explain how the Holy Spirit drives us closer to Jesus in the 6:30 p.m. Friday program.

Jesus promised: He (the Father) will give you another Comforter. The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world is not able to accept, because it does not see and does not know Him, you know Him, because He remains beside you and will be inside you. John 14: 15-17.

Photo for Headline Surfer / Jeffrey Cleaves, 53, is shown here in a booking mug after his arrest on child abuse charges after allegedly driving while drunk with athe youngest og his children, 4, and slapping his older daughters, 12 and 15, when he got home. He was being held without bond.

OAK HILL -- An Oak Hill man was arrested Thursday for child abuse and battery after hitting two of his children during an argument because he believed his teenage girls, 15 and 12, were talking back to him.

The children told responding deputies that before the fight, 53-year-old Jeffrey Cleaves had driven drunk with the teen and a 4-year-old in his vehicle. Volusia County Sheriff's deputies arrested Cleaves for child abuse and battery.

Scott Pruett wheels the 01 Chip Ganassi car to victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway on Jan. 20, 2011, in one of the closest races ever with four cars finishing on the lead lap.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Scott Pruett, in the 01 Daytona Prototype, outdistanced the 02 sister car of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in a mad dash to win the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.

Photo for Headline Surfer® / William Guthrie, an attorney with Foley & Lardner LLP, has been tabbed by Gov. Scott to fill one of three vacancies on a statewide board.

ORLANDO -- An Orlando attorney is among three appointees to the Community Association Living Study Council made by Gov. Rick Scott.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A Thanksgiving Food Drive Car Wash will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov 16 at Denny's restaurant on S.R. 44. Please bring your donations to help Families in Need. T's Mobile Detailing is organizing the event and will have special deals. For more information, please call Tim Hankerson at 386-405-8539.

Headline Surfer photos / New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer, shown here on the dais with then-City Commissioner Jim Hathaway in 2012, is the subject of multiple investigations by the Florida Commission on Ethics

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Embattled New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer tells everyone who will listen that coverage that doesn't favor him or his insider friends is nothing more than the work of a blogger. Headline Surfer's answer to this corrupt politician is simple. He can run his mouth all he wants, but the reporting of his municipal affairs is accurate, fair and backed up by public records, audio and video recordings.

This year's Florida Press Club awards are a testament to the quality and importance of the coverage and the journalistic integrity that comes with it.

Photo for Headline Surfer / Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to announce this morning his intention to seek the governorship again at a rally in St. Pete.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will launch his gubernatorial campaign this morning at a public rally to be held at Albert Whitted Park near his St. Petersburg home.

"I'm looking forward to Monday and making it official in every way," Crist said on Friday. "I just hope that the message that we deliver will lift Florida's spirits and let her know that there's a brighter future tomorrow. And it's coming."

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / Scenes like this bar patron drinking a beer on the public sidewalk in front of the Om Bar on Flagler Avenue during the 2011 New Smyrna Ween -- Halloween Creepy Crawl on Flagler Avenue, are no longer being tolerated by Police Chief George Markert, shown here at left, who was hired as New Smyrna Beach's top cop last Spring.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- For the past five years, patrons attending the six annual alcohol-fueled street festivals sponsored by the Merchants of Flagler Avenue Hospitality Group and paid for with tax dollars have been able to drink in public without impunity from the cops. But all that changed Halloween night.

Headline Surfer®/NSBNews video produced by Multimedia Editor Serafina Frederick / The 24/7 internet newspaper captured the 2011 Flamingo Follies as shown in this video. Below, the South Causeway Bridge carries traffic to and from the beach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Fall Beach Weeks now swings into November with lots of great activities for locals and visitors alike, including the upcoming Flamingo Follies on Flagler Avenue.

Beach Weeks is the initiative of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority, which uses collected bed tax revenues from overnight hotel and condo vaction rentals to provide tourism activities to generate out of town visitors to the area.

Headline Surfer® video / New Smyrna Beach will hold its Halloween Parade at 4 p.m. today on Canal Street. You can watch highlights of last year's parade by clicking the video. At left, Olivia and Nicholas Catheline are dressed as a cowgirl and a gingerbread man, respectively, for this Halloween. 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Olivia and Nicholas Catheline already had their costumes on this morning and Halloween doesn't even begin until dark. But that's because they have parties at school, said their proud mom, Misty Burris Catheline.