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Pro-beach driving advocate Greg Gimbert running for Volusia Council chair

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The race for the face of Volusia County government has gotten ramped up with the driving force behind keeping cars on the beach seeking the chairmanship of the County Council in the 2016 elections.

Greg Gimbert, leader of the political action committee, Let Volusia Vote, joins an already-crowded field for the lead post on the seven-member elected body that sits on the dais of the Frank T. Bruno Jr. County Council chambers in DeLand.

Gov. Rick Scott removes 'acting' from surgeon general title for Celeste Philip, ex-Volusia County deputy health exec

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Dr. Celeste Philip / Headline Surfer®
Zika virus in Florida / Headline Surfer®Photos for Headline Surfer® /
The permanent appointment of Dr. Celeste Philip as Florida surgeon general comes at a critical time with the zika virus concern in Florida. The video is a public service mesaage from the State of Florida on how to deal with the virus.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Gov. Rick Scott today removed the word "acting" from the job description for Dr. Celeste Philip, the state surgeon general and secretary of the Florida Department of Health.

Philip has served as Florida's acting surgeon general since March. She's also a one-time assistant director of the Volusia County Health Department.

Jim Hathaway, New Smyrna Beach's native son, seeking 2nd term as mayor of seaside tourism city known for the charm

Party Lines Political Notebook / Headline Surfer®

Jim Hathaway seekking 2nd term as mayor of New Smyrna Beach / Headline Surfer®NEW SMYRNA BEACH – This seaside tourist city's native son, Jim Hathaway, is seeking a second two-year term as New Smyrna Beach's mayor.

Hathaway was initially elected mayor in the 2014 general elections, easily defeating then-City Commissioner Jack Grasty in the non-partisan race.

“Serving as the mayor of New Smyrna Beach is a tremendous honor,” Hathaway said of his announcement in an email this morning to Headline Surfer®, “but it also requires tremendous dedication to tackle some very serious issues facing this city. There is a lot more work to be done, and I am asking the citizens for another term to continue working towards a better community.”

New Smyrna Beach Mayor Jim Hathaway on Memorial Day: 'We will always be in debt to the fallen soldier'

Memorial Day 2016 recognized on the hard sands of New Smyrna Beach, Florida / Headline Surfer®New Smyrna Beach Mayor Jim Hathaway spaks on Memorial Day / Headline SurferEditor's Note: New Smyrna Beach Mayor Jim Hathaway, shown here in the inset, was asked for a copy of his 2016 Memorial Day speech, which he delivered on the sacred holiday on Monday in Riverside Park for publication in Headline Surfer®. Hathaway, a New Smyrna Beach native, who served as a city commissioner for 18 years until 2012, was elected mayor two years later. He is seeking re-election for another two years in the 2016 elections. Hathaway served in the United States Army Reserves, earning the rank of captain in the Quartermaster Corps, before he was honorably discharged. The main display picture in recognition of Memorial Day, was shot on the hard sands of New Smyrna Beach, among the most popular tourist destinations for the eclectic shops on Flagler Avenue, leading to the curling waves where it's a badge of honor for surfers nipped by a shark near the South Jetty, and home to the US Coast Guard station. 
Here is the text of what Hathaway said in his Memorial Day message:

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- On this day of remembrance, we honor the bravest amongst us – those who stood up, carried the American Standard, and then came home embraced in that flag. What do you say to a young wife whose husband won’t return from a foreign battlefield? How do you console a grieving child whose parent paid the ultimate sacrifice for his or her nation?

VCSO: Edgewater man arrested in Georgia on multiple counts of possessing kiddie porn back home

Downloaded images allegedly include a girl performing a sex act on a dog

Edgewater man, Daniekl Cravener, arrested in Georgia on warrant alleging possessiion of child pornography / Headline Surfer®EDGEWATER, Fla. -- A local man is in custody in Georgia, facing 30 counts of child pornography, after the Volusia County Sheriff's Office received a tip earlier this year the 53-year-old Edgewater man had been downloading images of young children engaged in sexual situations, including a girl performing a sex act on a dog, an agency spokesman said.

Ordinarily a third-degree felony, the charges against Daniel Cravener were elevated to second-degree felonies because some of the downloaded images found in his possession included victims believed to be as young as 5 years old, Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson stated in a press release earlier on this Saturday,  which was emailed to Headline Surfer® and other Central Florida media outlets that provide daily breaking news coverage.

TS Colin 360 miles w-sw of Orlando; Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach & other coastal cities vulnerable

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Tropical Storm Colin heading to Florida / Headline Surfer®DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect for inland and coastal areas of Volusia County, Orange, Seminole,Brevard and Lake counties, according to the NationalWeather Service in Melbourne, which is tracking TS Colin located about 360 miles west-southwest of Orlando with 50 mph winds and moving north-northeast at 16 mph.

Latest on the storm's path

Colin continues to move northward over the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to approach the Big Bend coastline this evening before passing to the north of the area overnight tonight and emerging into the Atlantic Ocean early Tuesday morning.

New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner Judy Reiker's husband loses battle with cancer

Headline Surfer® inset photo /
New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner Judy Reiker is shown with her late husband, Guy Mariande, four years ago at a community fundraiser in the former Brannon Center. Mariande, a boating enthusiast as shown in the larger contributed display image, had battled cancer.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Guy Mariande, husband of New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner Judy Reiker, often a fixture at her municipal meetings and an avid boater, died from cancer on Monday, June 6, 2016. He was 75.

Internet news boycotts court hearing for woman who previously drove SUV with kids inside into Daytona surf

Headline Surfer® barred from shooting video inside courtroom because Chief Judge Terence Perkins is allowing only 1 still camera & 1 TV video camera, per Florida DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The only media outlet that won a journalism award for its coverage of Ebony Wilerson's prior episode of intentionally driving her SUV into the Daytona surf last year in an attempty to drowmn her kids is purpodely skipping an 11 a.m. competency hearing for the South Carolina woman on an unrelated incident.

Big 3 of Hope Place: Volusia County Manager Jim Dinneen

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Daytona homeless family shelter / Jim Dinneen, Forough Hosseini, Mark Geallis / Headline Surfer®
Third of three sidebars included in second of 10-part investigative reporting series that takes the public into the plight of homeless families with children and of teens living on their own (ages 18-21 & in school living either apart from parents or with none at all) in greater Daytona Beach and throughout Volusia County); and the big three leaders who did something about it by Pushing for Hope Place -- Mark Geallis, executive director of Halifax Urban Ministries; Forough Hosseini, vice president of ICI Homes & a community entrepreneur; and Jim Dinneen, Volusia County manager. These are their stories...
 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Perhaps it was destined that a municipal city manager in Ohio would have an impact on a Central Florida metro area whose key city has one more letter at the end of its name than the one he left a decade ago in Ohio.