DAYTONA BEACH -- Why wait until our year-end Top 100 stories to find out what No. 1 is? Let's get right to it: 2013 will go down in Volusia County as the "Year of the Rat." This was the definitive year for corruption of the public officials in Volusia county and municipal governments.
ORMOND BEACH, Fla. -- Undercover narcotics agents arrested a 24-year-old man at a home near Ormond Beach after a search warrant revealed four pounds of marijuana in the kitchen, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said, adding the drugs had been delivered by an unknown person earlier that day.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Welcome to “Last Night, First Day at the Beach,” a special series of events, from sidewalk sales and dine outs to fireworks and beach yoga, with that final push through the holidays and the ringing in of the new year.
The “Last Night” portion of the events kicks off with the Countdown JAM! Friday with a free concert with multiple bands playing along Flagler Avenue. Some locations are age 21 and up.
Photo for Headline Surfer® / Cheyenne Drews with 6-year-old Sam Hillier, two of the stars in the recent play, "A Christmas Carol" under the direction of Dan Blazi at the Little Theatre of New Smyrna Beach. The kindergartner earned the role of 'Tiny Tim.'NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Many of you who are regular visitors to Headline Surfer® and its previous name, NSBNews.net know Cheyenne Drews, the New Smyrna Beach High School senior, who has been writing a community blog for the 24/7 internet newspaper since middle school.
Photo for Headline Surfer® / Rick Karl, director Dytona International Airport, tells the 24/7 internet newspaper he is uplifted by healthy passenger traffic counts.
DAYTONA -- Passenger traffic at Daytona Beach International Airport increased 3 percent in November compared to the previous November, Volusia County officials said.
Last month, 44,939 passengers arrived and departed through the county-operated airport. This compares with the 43,666 travelers recorded last November.
And for the 12 months ending Nov. 30, there were 603,419 passengers tracked through the airport, compared with 583,142 recorded for the prior 12 months, a 3 percent increase.
“We are very pleased with the latest monthly traffic increase,” Rick Karl, the airport’s director, told Headline Surfer®.
Photo for Headline Surfer® / If you know this suspected robber seen in this snapshot from surveillance video Saturday inside the Chase Bank, 3711 W. Vine St., Kissimmee police want to hear from you.KISSIMMEE -- A man wearing a ball cap and jacket walked into the Chase Bank at 12:50 p.m. today, approached the teller, removed a folded nylon bag from his pocked and ordered the her to fill it with cash.
No weapon was displayed or implied and nobody was hurt in the hold-up, Kissimmee police spokeswomamn Stacie Miller told Headline Surfer®.
Headline Surfer® photo / Gene Sheldon poses in the backyard of his New Smyrna Beach residence with his dog.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The newest member of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority explains his e-mail question to his colleagues, "Who is the rat?" in an exclusive video interview inside his New Smyrna Beach residence.
The video shoot, along with an update on the growing controversies in the tourism agency, will be published today, exclusively on Headline Surfer.com.
Sheldon makes no bones about his role and standing on the tourism board and community as a whole and his perspective on at-Large County Councilwoman Joyce Cusack who recommended his appointment, what he has to say of his predecessor, Palmer Wilson, and what he thinks of things like policies and procedures and Government in the Sunshine.
DAYTONA BEACH -- There is no song I know of that quite hits home as a college kid from the Big '80s than Band-Aid's "Do They Know it's Christmas" with its refrain, "Feed the World." As we wind down the year and look ahead to 2014, this 30-year-old song resonates as strongly today as it did then.
Photo for Headline Surfer® / Shown at left is Gov. Scott's annual family Christmas card to Florida residents.ORLANDO -- Gov. Rick Scott has a holiday message he wants to share with Floridians through media outlets like Headline Surfer®.
"Ann and I wish every family a very Merry Christmas," the governor said on behalf of his wife, in an e-mail Christmas card sent to daily media outlets throughout the Sunshine State on this Christmas Eve.
"We are most excited to spend our Christmas as the proud grandparents of three grandsons- two of which will be celebrating their very first Christmas this year. We wish you every joy this Christmas and the many blessings of family, friends, health and peace in the new year."
