HeadlineSurfer.com Top 100 Local Stories of 2014

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ORLANDO, Fla. -- Tragedy struck two Orange County families, each of whom suffered the death of a toddler just 12 hours apart -- a 3-year-old girl run over in a hit-and-run on Sept. 4, 2014, a Friday night, and a 1-year-old boy struck and killed the following Saturday morning by his mother's boyfriend backing out of the driveway, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

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DELAND, Fla. -- It started with a date riding on a motorcycle and culminated in marriage for radio personality Leslye Gayle and Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson as the two exchanged nuptials on Sept. 13, 2014.

"I've known Ben for a long time working in the news business and had interviewed him many times, but it wasn't until he was a guest on my show 6 1/2 years ago and I was newly divorced did we start dating," Gayle, co-host of the Magic Morning Show on Magic 107.7 FM for 14 years, and prior to that a news anchor at WKMG Local 6, told HeadlineSurfer.com. “Our first date was a motorcycle ride in and around DeLand and we’ve been together ever since!”

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WINTER GARDEN, Fla. -- A Louisiana family's visit to Walt Disney World was supposed to be magical. Instead, it turned into a nightmare:  Orange County Sheriff's deputies found a 9-month-old baby found unresponsive on Aug. 23, a Saturday, when they responded to a 9-1-1 call from a family member at the Lake Tiki Village resort six miles away from Walt Disney World. 

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EDGEWATER, Fla. -- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement a called in to investigate why Edgewater cops did not take away the belt worn by a 51-year-old man who used it to hang himself while in their custody in November.

Rickey Walls was arrested just after 1 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, after threatening family members with a knife in his Edgewater home, according to an Edgewater PD report. He was being held in a holding cell pending transport to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach when he apparently hanged himself with his own belt.

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PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- What a way for Port Orange City Councilman Don Burnette to kick off 2014.

Burnette was still celebrating his UCF Knights' big win over the Baylor Bears in the New Year's Day Fiesta Bowl hours after the game. Then again, he was two time zones away from home, knowing he'd feel the jet lag when he returned home to Port Orange.

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DELAND, Fla. -- A DeLand-area house fire in late November left a married couple out shopping at the time homeless and the smoke inside killed their four Persian cats.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- It was an unexpected shocker as reported April 24, by Orlando Sentinel TV columnist Hal Boedecker, with the headline: "Lauren Rowe leaves WKMG effective immediately."

A decade ago, she was known as Lauren Perkins, but has long since married and with two children, she had an intense on-air schedule as the featured anchor on the WKMG channel 6 newscasts.

New Smyrna Beach siblings attend Burns Sci-Tech in Oak Hill

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Daddy's little girl returned to school in August along with about 61,000 other Volusia County students.

It was the day of school for Ray Catheline's little princess, Olivia, who entered kindergarten at the Buns Sci-Tech Charter School in Oak Hill. Big brother, Nicholas entered second grade.

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NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Robert Lott was still wearing the same ratty clothes, though he went out of his way to show off his new plastic shoes when the internet newspaper showed up to take photos in August of the "Cheeseburger in Paradise" fundraiser at the Brannon Center.