Local News Now

Sheriff Ben Johnson's annual Battle of the Badges charity fishing tournament returns to New Smyrna Beach today.

As usual, there will be plenty of activities, both on the water and on land, between 10 a.m.-3 p.m., when the fishing tournament weigh-in will take place at Riverside Park.

Among those scheduled to fish in the tournament are Sheriff Johnson, Nassau County Sheriff Tommy Seagraves, retired Lake County
Sheriff Noel Griffin, Jr., Sheriffs Youth Ranches President Roger Bouchard and several local media personalities. Other activities at the

Courtesy photos/NSB mug shots.Tamera Jo-Ann Busbey, Kyle Patrick Doolin, Daniel J. Weekley, William R. Taylor and Brian Vanaller (not pictured) were all charged in connection with shooting into an occupied dwelling that stemmed from a domestic dispute.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A boyfriend-girlfriend dispute is believed to be the reason for a gun being fired into a residence that has resulted in five arrests, New Smyrna Beach police said.

Johan "Hans" Stockinger, 81, of Edgewater, a former auto body repairman, died Monday, Sept. 14, 2009.

Monnie E. "Bud" Karrow, Jr., 86, of Edgewater, a Navy veteran of World War II and a police officer for the City of Westfield, N.Y. for 14 years, died Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009.

Kimberly Lynn Earlywine, 43, of Edgewater, a Kentucky native, died Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009.

Thomas Tretheway, 71, of Oak Hill, who moved here from Detroit and Knoxville, Tenn., and enjoyed motorcycle riding and boating, died Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Police responded to 3:44 p.m. Wednesday to a report of "shots fired" at 916 Palmetto St., apartment A, and after getting information from the intended victims who were not injured, police caught up with the suspect vehicle and arrested the occupants.

Police charged Tamrea Jo-Ann Busbey, 19; Kyle Patrick Doolin, 18; and a juvenile with shooting into an occupied dwelling.

Sept. 16, 2009: Daniel C. Woods and Monica L. Leucht, New Smyrna Beach.

OAK HILL -- A 47-year-old motorist killed Tuesday in a car accident Tuesday on Interstate 95 in Brevard County was identified today by the Florida Highway Patrol as Oak Hill resident Artice Lee Smith

NSBNEWS.net video and photos by Sera Frederick. Between four and six city workers spent all day Tuesday putting up the $9,000 artificial Christmas tree purchased with tax dollars by the Community Redevelopment Agency at the eastern-most end of Canal Street just a couple feet from the riverbank. The tree went up less than a week after the City Commission voted unanimously to tentatively go with the rolled-back rate of $3.7 per $1,000 to finance the $21 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which meant no raises for city employees, the elimination of five open police officer positions and severe cutbacks in capital improvements. Yet the Community Redevelopment Agency was allowed to spend $9,000 this spring to purchase the artificial tree, which has become a lightning rod in this primary election about spending priorities.

NSBNEWS.net video by Sera Frederick.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Forty-three employees of the Daytona Beach News-Journal lost their jobs earlier today, according to several sources.

Of the 43 cuts, 16 were in the newsroom and nine were unionized pressmen. The others were from various other departments.

Executive Editor Don Lindley informed the terminated employees in an e-mail and then left for the day at 4 p.m. without facing any of those whose jobs were cut, according to an inside source.