Local News Now

Headline Surfer® graphic / Debra Annette Smith's badly decomposing body was found in an open field off of South Leisure World Drive near Barwick Road, as shown in this locator map. 

DEBARY -- A decomposed body found  in an open field in DeBary was identified as that of 48-year-old Debra Annette Smith, last seen alive eight days earlier in Nov. 8, when she left her home after getting into a minor verbal dispute with her partner, a Volusia County Sheriff's official said.

DAYTONA BEACH -- With so many major media outlets covering the Rolex 24 at Daytona, especially with the horrific crash less than three hours into the race that sent two drivers to the hospital, it's Headline Surfer® right there in the thick of things as demonstrated in the online news directories.

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DAYTONA BEACH -- Scott Dixon No. 02 Target/Telcel Ford EcoBoost/Riley has dominated the second hour of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway with Joao Barbosa briefly taking the point in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP following’s Dixon’s routine pit stop.

Photo for Headline Surfer® / Donald Murray is out on bond on child porn charges lodged against him in November.

APOPKA, Fla. -- The Seminole County Sheriff's Office Crimes Against Children Unit arrested an Apopka man on nearly a dozen child porn charges. on Nov. 26.

Donald Murray, 49, was arrested on a warrant, alleging 10 counts of possession of obscene material/child pornography and one count of distribution of obscene material/child pornography.

The kiddie porn arrest comes in at No. 73 in the Headline Surfer® countdown of the top 100 stories of 2013.

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DAYTONA BEACH -- Alex Gurney was on the pole for the Rolex 24 in his No. 99 DP Corvette as the 24-hour endurance race got under with rhe dropping of the green flag at this adfternoon at Daytona International Speedway.

Photo for Headline Surfer® / Skipper Norman Church had history on his side and perhaps a little faith Sunday as he repeated as champion in the 2013 Lipton Cup Regatta.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Norman Church was obsessed with winning the Lipton Cup Regatta off the Atlantic waters of New Smyrna Beach. So much so that he skippered "Obsession" into victory April 14 in the Spinnaker Class.

The regatta was held during that weekend with the first day much rougher going in the choppy waters.

Church's Lipton Cup victory comes in at No. 75 in the Headline Surfer® countdown of the top 100 stories of 2013.

DAYTONA BEACH --Alex Gurney drove the No. 99 Corvette DP to the pole position for Saturday's start of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the season-opening event for the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

New facility opening here in January 2016

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DAYTONA BEACH -- The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is moving its operations and memorabilia in two years from Detroit to Daytona International Speedway.

The move coincides with the scheduled January 2016 completion of Daytona Rising, the Speedway's $400 million front stretch renovation project currently underway.

NEWSMAKER Q&A: Dr. L. Ronald Durham

Headline Surfer® interviewed  Dr. L. Ronald Durham (shown here), the senior pastor of the Greater Friendship Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, on the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday and the non-violence espoused by the civil rights leader back then with the message carried forward today in a 21st-century world.

DAYTONA BEACH -- And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.