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Courtesy photo. Paul Newman, Hollywood icon, philanthropist and race-car driver, was a fan-favorite at the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. The 83-year-old actor died in February.

DAYTONA BEACH -- He was known for his role on the big screen as "Cool Hand Luke" and behind the wheel of a sports car, he had the steady hand as well, taking the checkered flag in the GTS-1 class at the Rolex 24 At Daytona at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 5, 1995. Paul Newman was 70 then, but continued to race well into the 2000s. The Hollywood icon and racing enthusiast who started out at a small racing track in Thompson, Conn., 30 minutes from his Hole in the Wall Camp for cancer-stricken children, died Feb. 26, after a battle with lung cancer. He was 83.

Headline Surfer photo by Sera King / Jill Biden, wife of Vice President-elect Joe Biden campaigned for him and Barack Obama in New Smyrna Beach, just 11 days before the general election.

By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Jill Biden, wife of vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, urged nearly 300 Democratic supporters at the Woman's Club of New Smyrna Beach on Oct. 24 to take advantage of early voting before the expected Nov. 4 election-day crush.

Coutesy photo. Roy Lee McDuffie was sentenced at re-trial in November to three life sentences after his first trial conviction and death sentences were tossed on technical grounds in the 2002 killings of two Dollar General Store employees in Deltona during a robbery that netted him $7,000.

DELTONA -- Roy Lee McDuffie got his wish Nov. 19, when a jury recommended three life sentences in favor of returning him to death row in the 2002 killings of two employees of the Dollar General Store in Deltona.

DELTONA -- An 83-year-old man was struck and killed by a van while walking along a Deltona street earlier tonight, Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught reported.

The incident happened at about 7:06 p.m. as Jack Theison was passing in front of 1851 Trumbull Drive. A van driven by Wilfredo Palomares backed out of the home's driveway and knocked Theison down and ran over him with the rear tires. Palomares then tried to pull forward, running him over a second time, Haught said.

DEBARY -- The home wasn't even hers, but that didn't stop Libra Latham from renting the same DeBary house to three different people. Volusia County
Sheriff's investigators, however, put a halt this week to the rental scam by turning the tables on the 37-year-old mastermind, Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said.

Now, Latham is in jail on nine felony offenses, with additional criminal charges likely to follow, Haught said.

NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera King. New Smyrna Beach police Cmdr. gave a riveting speech during a 9/11 remambrance ceremony, one of several around Volusia County.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Police Cmdr. William Drossman urged some 300 people gathered at a service at VFW Post 4250 to commemorate the seventh anniversary of 9/11 to not lose sight of America's purpose as the leader of the free world.

NSBNEWS.net photo by Sera King. Criminal defense attorney Rob Sanders had a dream year in 2008, keeping an Edgewater killer Russell Bradshaw from death row sentence and convincing another jury not to send Dollar General double-murderer Roy Lee McDuffie back to death. He was also named president of the Volusia Bar Association.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Robert Sanders had a dream year as a criminal defense attorney -- staving off an almost-certain death sentence for an Edgewater killer and later convincing a jury to put the Dollar General double-murderer in prison for life instead of his former place on death row.

EDGEWATER -- A proposed residential/commercial development that would double Edgewater's population, drew criticism from the Florida Department of Community Affairs in October, principally over the sheer size of the project as well as concerns about transportation and water supplies.

Courtesy photo. Cynthia Horvath, who resigned from her teaching post at Warner Christian Academy Oct. 12, was arrested on charges of having sex with a 17-year-old male student at motels in Port Orange and Daytona Beach, according to police.

PORT ORANGE -- A former Warner Christian Academy teacher was arrested Oct. 22, by two police departments on charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old student over several months in local motels before she abruptly resigned earlier that month.

DAYTONA BEACH -- NASCAR reportedly reached a verbal agreement with the family of a pilot employed by the racing giant killed in a 2007 crash that also claimed the husband of Lesa France Kennedy, International Speedway Corp. president.

Though a court file specifying the settlement was ultimately sealed, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported on the front page of its Sept. 18 edition that "A handwritten document in the file reflected $2.4 million 'wrongful death claim approved.'"

The settlement was for pilot Michael Klemm's widow, Wendy, and the couple's three sons.