ORMOND BEACH -- Adults can try their hand at drawing during four free art classes at the Ormond Beach Regional Library, 30 S. Beach St.Local artist Betty Travis will lead the classes from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on these Saturdays: Aug. 9: Introduction to drawing; Aug. 16: Drawing trees; Aug. 23: Drawing rocks & mountains; Aug. 30: Drawing flowers.
DAYTONA BEACH -- Tony Ledbetter has proven himself to be an abysmal failure since taking the reigns of the Republican Party of Volusia County from Stan Escudero following the 2012 elections.
Ledbetter's also proven himself to be divisive, polarizing and downright mean-spirited and even bigoted. He's alienated members of the media, the voting public and even people in his own party.
His alienation of Republicans running in primaries in this election cycle include District 3 School Board incumbent Stan Schmidt, District 5 County Council candidate Fred Lowry and District 3 candidate David Machuga. He did this by orchestrating a vote of the executive committee in supporting their party rivals, which is proof of his utter idiocy.
Headline Surfer® graphic / WINTER GARDEN -- Orange County Sheriff's deputies are investigating what may have caused the death of a 9-month-old baby found unresponsive Saturday when they responded to a 9-1-1 call at the Lake Tiki Village resort six miles away from Walt Disney World.
The unidentified child died shortly after transport to a local hospital after deputies responded to to emergency call at 9:10 a.m. at the resort spread across 64 acres on US 192 -- a 10-minute commute from Disney. It's a family setting with paddle boats, barbecue grills, tennis courts, and a playground. And the victim's family was visiting here from Louisiana when the incident occurred.
Photo and graphic for Headline Surfer® / Brenda Reynolds, shown here at left in a booking mug, is being held without bail at the Volusia County Branch Jail on a second-dsegree murder charge in connection with the stabbing sdeath of a woman in her residence at 847 N.orth St. The electronic map shows more than crimes in the past year within a 1-mile radius of the residence. DAYTONA BEACH -- The continuing violence that has gripped this city for the better part of four years now continued Friday night with a woman plunging a large steak kniife into the upper chest of a friend in her bedroom.
Photo for Headline Surfer® / Ramara Garrett, shown at far left, was found 'not guilty', but her live-in boyfriend, and father of their baby girl, Joim Sotolongo, was found guilty in a mortgage fraud trial and is awaiting sentencing.ORLANDO -- The scheduled July 28 sentencing hearings for Jim Sotolongo and Stephanie Musselwhite have been re-scheduled to Sept. 13 in U.S. District Court in Orlando with a hearing on the possibility of a new trial sandwiched in between.
By ANDEW SPARDAYTONA BEACH -- There has been a lot of talk about due process for teachers over the past few years.
Recently, a California court struck down a state law that provides teachers with due process, also known as tenure. Florida, which really has never had tenure, did away with continuing contracts in 2011, for anyone who did not have that right already.
Tenure is often misunderstood. It is often characterized as a job-for-life status. That is simply not true. Tenure means that before a teacher can be fired, the administration must have a valid reason for terminating the teacher.
Tenure is often misunderstood. It is often characterized as a job-for-life status. That is simply not true. Tenure means that before a teacher can be fired, the administration must have a valid reason for terminating the teacher.
The green flag is waved to start the Coke Zero 400, but there would be no checkered flag for race winner Aric Almirola in the rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International SpeedwayDAYTONA BEACH -- Aric who? And no checkered flag? That's right. The Coke Zero 400 race winner, Aric Almirola, was decided by NASCAR. Not by the competition on the track in Sunday's rain-shortened race.
Photo for Headline Surfer® / Die-hard racing fans begin to leave the grandstands at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Fla., after the Coke Zero is called off Saturday night, 50 minutes after the sceduled 8 p.m. start because of thunderstorms, in favor racing on this Sunday morning. But just 11 laps into the race, it was stopped because of rain.DAYTONA BEACH -- Just 11 laps into the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, the mid-summer race was red flagged because of rain. In the 6th lap, the yellow flag was dropped because of rainfall in turn 2 on the super speedway, eventually prompting stoppage of the race on lap 11.
Photo for Headline Surfer® / Fans in raingear try to wait it out nearly an hour after the scheduled 8 p.m. Saturday start of the Coke Zero race.DAYTONA BEACH -- The Coke Zero 400 race under the lights at Daytona International Speedway has been called off by NASCAR with a scheduled run for 11 a.m. Sunday.
Headline Surfer videos by Henry Frederick / Here are the sights and sounds from the 2014 Fourth of July fireworks show from the Sanford Pier in Sanford, FL. Shown in the photos are Gordon Obermeyer and Maranda Torres of Sanford sporting USA T-shirts and Alexis Marie Obermeyer, 8, and Anthony Lamar Torres, 18 months. More photos & videos with the story. SANFORD -- Thousands of patriotic citizens descended upon the downtown and the Sanford Pier for the July Fourth fireworks show.
