Local News Now

NSBNEWS.net file photo.

Mayor Adam Barringer, shown in this photo in the weeks leading up to his successful election in November with economic development as his cornerstone, faces a major crisis with at least two multi-million dollar projects now in jeopardy because of a breakdown in planning management and oversight.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Just hours before Mayor Adam Barringer met with his newly formed economic advisory board Tuesday night, he was facing the biggest crisis of his seven months in office, and perhaps in modern times for this seaside community: Screw-ups in planning oversight at City Hall that have put the proposed Hampton Inn on Flagler Avenue and the Super Walmart near I-95 in peril.

"It's as bad as it can get," Barringer said tersely in a brief interview. "We stand the potential to lose the hotel. We've identified some administrative issues back through this entire process and I'm working with the city manager to resolve them."

NSBNEWS.net photo by Henry Frederick.

Mayor Adam Barringer, second from right is joined, from left to right, by Jill Carlton, Jack Holcomb, and Paul Mayer, at Tuesday's inaugural meeting of the Economic Development Advisory Board. Not pictured are fellow board members Randy McHenry, Dr. Arlen Stauffer and Bill Hall.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Allen AME Church is holding a fish fry and chicken wings extravaganza 11 a.m. today to benefit its choir and chorus programs, 344 Sheldon St., crossing Mary Street. Sandwiches are $7 and fries are only a buck.

Courtesy photo / SeaWorld.

This manatee was rescued Wednesday n the waters of the Canaveral National Seashore suffering from an apparent injury resulting from contact with a boat, SeaWorld officials said.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An endangered female manatee was rescued Wednesday after she was observed floarting near bthe surface and unable to submerge, officials with SeaWorld Orlando's Animal Rescue Team said.

The animal was rescued from the waters of the National Canaveral Seashore just south of New Smyrna Beach.

NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick

At left, New Smyrna Beach native Joe Visconti gets a kiss Wednesday from daughter, Mallory Pumphrey, and mother, Tootsie McDonald, after presenting a $500 check to the S.E. Volusia Cancer Society's Relay for Life, on behalf of his employer, United Launch Alliance, the rocket manufacturing giant. Above photo, with Visconti from left to right are Sharon Atwell, team development chair for Relay For Life; Brenda Hendrickson,  RFL logistics chair; RuthAnne Yeats, RFL co-chair and Mallory Pumphrey. Sixty-five RFL teams under the direction of Yeats and co-chair Deborah Alonzo raised $136,420.08. The check from Visconti brings the total closer to RFL's goal of $153,000 for the 2010 campaign.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Six years ago today, Joe Visconti lost his mother-in-law, Jacqueline Mallory, to cancer. The date was etched in his memory as he donated a $500 check to the Southeast Volusia American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, on behalf of his employer, United Launch Alliance, the nation's rocket giant.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A Venetian Bay man armed with a handgun and threatening to kill himself was taken into custody without harm to himself or others early Sunday and transported to Bert Fish Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation under provisions of the state's Baker Act.

The following was written for NSBNEWS.net as a Father's Day blog by Reed Markham, associate professor, Daytona State College, New Smyrna Beach campus:

Do you remember the advice your father gave to you as a child?

Here are a few examples from Bruce Lansky, author of "Fatherly Wit and Wiisdom":

* So you think you're smart, do you? * I may not be a rocket scientist, but I am your father.  * Algebra doesn't have to make sense. * I couldn't  afford college so I went to the School of Hard Knocks. And I got my degree in Bumps and Bruises. * Finish school or you'll wind up digging ditches like your brother.

NSBNEWS.net videos by Sera Frederick.

Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas speaks to Orlando TV news crews WFTV and Central Florida 13, a Hometown News reporter and NSBNEWS.net on her meeting with Coast Guard officials at the Ponce Inlet station Saturday before speaking exclusively with NSBNEWS.net on this and other matters.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas, D-NSB (FL-24), spoke with the media at noon Saturday following a meeting with top brass at the U.S. Coast Guard station, reporting that plans are in place to deal with the gulf oil mess that remains a potential threat to both Florida's coastlines.

NSBNEWS.net video by Sera Frederick.

Restaurants like Clancy's Cantina and community organizations like the New Smyrna Beach Lions Club were major attractions for several thousand people Thursday night for the annual NSB Seaside Fiesta on Flagler Avenue. Our video coverage includes interviews witth Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce President Sue Williams and Clancy's Cantina co-owner Margaret Michelbrink as well as the flavor of the street festival.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Boston vacationers Chad and Beverly Siebel didn't have to go far from their beachside condo rental to find a family night-out event to share with their daughter, Taylor, 3, and son, Parker, 5 months old: The NSB Seaside Fiesta on Flagler Avenue.

NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick

At left, New Smyrna Beach resident John Mc Elroy shops at Walmart 3 a.m. Friday at the NSB Regional Shopping Center on State Road 44. The  is expected to close next year with the planned building of a Super Walmart further west near Interstate 95.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Walmart has been the shopping mecca of New Smyrna Beach for years, but complaints about limited parking, increased traffic and limited merchandise have led to the planned building of a Super Walmart further west on the 44 corridor, near Interstate 95. Groundbreaking could come as early as August.