The Orlando Sentinel reported on its Web site at 9:26 p.m. that George Anthony, grandfather of murdered toddler Caylee Anthony, was released from Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach where he has been treated since he was brought there Jan. 23 by Daytona Beach police.
Anthony was "released a little after 6 p.m., a hospital spokeswoman said," according to the news alert at orlandosentinel.com.
Well, here we go again. You would have thought the Daytona Beach News-Journal would have learned its lesson Jan. 23 when it was dead last among the Central Florida daily news providers to report that George Anthony, grandfather of slain toddler Caylee Anthony, had been committed to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach for psychiatric care.
Well, guess what? George Anthony was released from Halifax 6:30 tonight. It was reported on the Orlando Tv stations and the Orlando Sentinel, but as of 11:45 p.m., the Mighty Metro had not posted anything on its Web site. Once again, the News-Journal missed out on a story in its own city. Halifax is less than three miles from the News-Journal's lone office on Sixth Street.
The National Weather Service has issued an overnight wind-chill warning with dangerously cold temperatures that could be harmful to both plants and animals.
DELTONA -- A 26-year-old Deltona man was killed Tuesday night on Interstate 4, just south of State Road 44 and west of New Smyrna Beach when he was rear-ended, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.
Bradley Romanyk, who wasn't wearing his seat-belt was thrown from his pick-up truck, which overturned in the 10 p.m,. crash and pronounced dead a the scene, troopers said.
The other motorist, 68-year-old Palm Coast resident Robert Pickard, suffered minor injuries. The crash is under investigation.
MIMS -- A 35-year-old DeLand man was arrested Tuesday on drug and motor vehicle charges after causing two accidents on Interstate 95 in Brevard County, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.
Gabriel Butler sped away from a trooper who tried to pull him over while northbound on the interstate about 3:30 p.m., before he switched lanes abruptly and sideswiped a car and sending it spinning into the median, the highway patrol said.
Butler then made a U-turn on the median and headed southbound, turning off on the State Road 46 off-ramp, before striking another car.
EDGEWATER -- A 53-year-old Oak Hill man was charged with theft after spending three hours Friday at Dustin's Bar B-Q restaurant on U.S. 1, where he ate beans, two hamburgers and drank a dozen cups of coffee, before walking outside to light up a cigarette and explaining to the pursuing manager that he had no money, Edgewater police reported.
Gary James Benben emptied his pockets after lighting up in front of Dustin's Manager Valerie Dunford at 4:45 p.m., explaining he didn't have his wallet on him, according to the police report.
I’m sure that longtime successful and hardworking businesswoman Suzanne Kosmas of New Smyrna Beach must be having second thoughts about her new role as “Santa Claus” for her congressional district.
On Monday, more than two dozen elected officials in the greater Daytona Beach area lined up to greet her at Daytona Beach International Airport to give her a laundry list of $2.4 billion in pet projects they hope to receive from the proposed $819 billion stimulus package President Obama is trying to get Congress to approve to jump-start the economy.
HOLLY HILL -- Police are asking the public's help in locating a car involved in the fatal hit-and-run of a 51-year-old man walking home early Sunday from the Eagles Club on Nova Road.
Timothy John Ward, of London Road, was struck and killed 2 a.m. in the northbound lane of Nova Road near Fourth Street, police said, adding that paint chips left behind by the fleeing car have led them to believe it is a 2000 or 2001 metallic gold Honda CRV.
Anyone with information on the fatal accident is asked to call Holly Hill police Cpl. Mike Coomans at (386) 248-9475.
When I was a cops and courts reporter at the Daytona Beach News-Journal from 1996 to 2004, I covered many breaking stories that required me to stay on top of the news. I did this primarily by making and maintaining daily contact with sources and monitoring the competition, such as reading the Orlando Sentinel, checking out news updates on WNDB radio and the Orlando TV stations and in the latter years, checking out the competing media Web sites for updates. I never got beat. The editor said I had fire in the belly. I call it journalistic instinct.
