Local News Now

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.

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®.

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®.

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.

Dec 27: Last Night Countdown Jam!

Dec 29: Kid's Day Pirate & Princess Party Character Brunch

Dec 30: Countdown to 2014 Sidewalk Sale

Dec 31: New Years Dine Out & Fireworks 

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.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla -- After Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority Chairman Palmer Wilson was removed an unprecedented second time with County Councilwoman Deb Denys imploring her colleagues to "finish this" and getting her way in a 4-3 split vote seen by some as politically-motivated, Wilson's successor, Tom Clapsaddle, ate on the public's dime.

Duplication of investigations by State Attorney, FBI

Headline Surfer® / The appointment of Jon Kaney as investigator of Waverly bus bench probe for the County Council is something term-limited Council member Pat Northey is looking forward to in hopes of weakening at-large incumbent Joyce Cusack, whose seat she covets in the 20134 elections.

DAYTONA BEACH -- The ugliness of Volusia County politics continues to fester in the Frank T. Bruno chambers in DeLand with today's expected coronation of attorney Jonathan Kaney Jr. as the hired gun to investigate the Waverly bus bench advertising scandal, something already well under way with ongoing investigations by the State Attorney's Office and the FBI. 

Photo for Headline Surfer® / Kandas Baker remains incarcerated at the Volusia Country Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on meth lab-related drug charges.

OAK HILL -- A 43-year-old Oak Hill woman is facing drug charges after a tip to narcotics agents led to the discovery of a meth lab in her home, an official with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.

Agents with the East Volusia Narcotics Task Force responded Monday to Kandas Baker’s home on Bills Hill Road to investigate a complaint about drug activity.

Ronald J. Bynum: May 7, 1959 - Dec. 2, 2013

Headline Surfer photo / Ron Bynum, an activist and watchdog of local and county government, died Monday, Dec. 2, 2013, at the age of 54. Among his pursuits was legally challenging funding for the News-Journal Center, a project that became a debacle that resulted in the newspaper being sold in  federal-court supervised sale and more than half its 800 employees losing their jobs. 

Exclusively for Headline Surfer®

DAYTONA BEACH -- While the country was mourning another movie star, Volusia County lost a true local hero, Ron Bynum of Daytona Beach.