Top 100 Stories

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Award-winning fiber artist and quilter Lauren Austin will appear at the New Smyrna Beach Regional Library at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 25, as part
of the Live in the Library arts and entertainment series. Austin will show her newest work documenting recent projects in Kenya and the Bahamas and will discuss her experiences, techniques and life-long obsession with fabric.

Her quilt, “Journeys Begin from Home,” was one of 44 selected worldwide for the Historical Society of Washington’s exhibit, “Quilts for Obama,” to celebrate President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

I read a very interesting article today about recycling and reusing nuclear waste. You know, that stuff the government has terrified us about for years and has buried in Yucca Mountain . Whenever the notion of more nuclear power plants comes up the first thing that happens is the chatter about the waste. What will we do with all the waste?

Come to find out, we can reprocess this material with relative ease and effectiveness. The problem is the government has made that process illegal.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Spring begins Friday, but its beautiful weather is here already. Residents and visitors - including many spring breakers - are getting
out and enjoying Volusia County’s beaches, but are reminded to stay safe while enjoying the 47 miles of county beaches, officials say.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The citizen who first wrote to the city earlier this year to question the validity of the Angler's Club lease agreement with the city for primate riverfront propety is at it again. He e-mailed the city again last night demanding answers as to the veracity of the longstanding lease he and others have dismissed as a "sweethart deal" that favors the rich.

Harvey T.K. Mitchell continued his call for an independent outside counsel, something at least two other residents -- William Kolesczar and William Gerhartz -- asked for at the March 10 City Commission meeting.

ORLANDO -- A 24-year-old African elephant died Tuesday at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom after a brief, isolated illness.

Tumpe, a female, had moved to the Animal Kingdom in 2007, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

In recent months, the elephant had been suffering from skin sores and gastrointestinal problems, according to Disney, despite ongoing medical care by medical staff onsite, including blood , bacterial and viral testing, ultrasound and laparoscopic surgery.

DAYTONA BEACH -- A man got off the bus near his home and made a startling discovery while walking by the Pinewood Cemetery -- a human skull was lying upside down on top of a grave.

"Well, I thought it was a dead skull. Was it really a human?" nearby resident Calvin Williams asked when interviewed by WFTV Channel 9, which first reported the story.

The TV station said cops searched the cemetery to see if a grave had been dug up and none had been nor was there any vandalism.

Police said the skull. was, indeed, that of a human.

DELAND - A 28-year-old Holly Hill man was indicted Tuesday on a charge of first-degree murder in the bludgeoning of his father, in what Holly Hill police termed a "crime of rage."

A Volusia grand jury handed up the indictment at the Volusia County Courthouse against Juan Luther Reid, charging him with pre-meditated murder of 73-year-old James Leroy Reid, whose body was found March 2 in the family's home on Jarecki Avenue.

FLAGLER BEACH - The Flagler Pier, this small beach town's biggest draw from Volusia County, was closed indefinitely Tuesday becausw of the loss of pilings and croos beams that may have compromised its safety.

The 806-foot pier, built in 1925, became a risk over the weekend when some loose pilings and cross beams washed away.

City officials have not provided a timetable for its reopening.

ORMOND BEACH -- Florida Hospital Ormond Memorial is changing its name in July to Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center, officials there announced.

The change will go into effect in July when the hospital moves to its new multimillion dollar facility.

Officials said the name change is to honor the community that founded the hospital, which has served the community for more than 42 years. The new facility ill be built within the Daytona Beach city limits.

Courtesy photo. Here is a surveillance video photo of the man who robbed the CVS pharmacy in DeLand of pills on Sunday.

DELAND -- A man armed with a pistol robbed the CVS pharmacy,2497 South Woodland Blvd., on Sunday, of prescription pills, including the addictive painkiller Oxycodone, DeLand police said.