Local News Now

Headline Surfer photos / New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer, shown here on the dais with then-City Commissioner Jim Hathaway in 2012, is the subject of multiple investigations by the Florida Commission on Ethics

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Embattled New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer tells everyone who will listen that coverage that doesn't favor him or his insider friends is nothing more than the work of a blogger. Headline Surfer's answer to this corrupt politician is simple. He can run his mouth all he wants, but the reporting of his municipal affairs is accurate, fair and backed up by public records, audio and video recordings.

This year's Florida Press Club awards are a testament to the quality and importance of the coverage and the journalistic integrity that comes with it.

Photo for Headline Surfer / Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to announce this morning his intention to seek the governorship again at a rally in St. Pete.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will launch his gubernatorial campaign this morning at a public rally to be held at Albert Whitted Park near his St. Petersburg home.

"I'm looking forward to Monday and making it official in every way," Crist said on Friday. "I just hope that the message that we deliver will lift Florida's spirits and let her know that there's a brighter future tomorrow. And it's coming."

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / Scenes like this bar patron drinking a beer on the public sidewalk in front of the Om Bar on Flagler Avenue during the 2011 New Smyrna Ween -- Halloween Creepy Crawl on Flagler Avenue, are no longer being tolerated by Police Chief George Markert, shown here at left, who was hired as New Smyrna Beach's top cop last Spring.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- For the past five years, patrons attending the six annual alcohol-fueled street festivals sponsored by the Merchants of Flagler Avenue Hospitality Group and paid for with tax dollars have been able to drink in public without impunity from the cops. But all that changed Halloween night.

Headline Surfer®/NSBNews video produced by Multimedia Editor Serafina Frederick / The 24/7 internet newspaper captured the 2011 Flamingo Follies as shown in this video. Below, the South Causeway Bridge carries traffic to and from the beach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Fall Beach Weeks now swings into November with lots of great activities for locals and visitors alike, including the upcoming Flamingo Follies on Flagler Avenue.

Beach Weeks is the initiative of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority, which uses collected bed tax revenues from overnight hotel and condo vaction rentals to provide tourism activities to generate out of town visitors to the area.

Headline Surfer® video / New Smyrna Beach will hold its Halloween Parade at 4 p.m. today on Canal Street. You can watch highlights of last year's parade by clicking the video. At left, Olivia and Nicholas Catheline are dressed as a cowgirl and a gingerbread man, respectively, for this Halloween. 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Olivia and Nicholas Catheline already had their costumes on this morning and Halloween doesn't even begin until dark. But that's because they have parties at school, said their proud mom, Misty Burris Catheline.

Sanford-based district announces passing of community leader

Photos for Headline Surfer / Diane Bauer gets a hug from then-U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio during her 2010 re-election for the district 1 seat on the Seminole County School Board. Bauer died Tuesday night.

SANFORD -- It was three years ago when Diane Bauer was running for re-election in her non-partisan district 1 seat on the Seminole County School Board that she got a hug from Marco Rubio on her way to yet another victory.

Headline Surfer® photos>/ John Cena won the WWE heavyweight championship over Alberto Del Rio at Hell in a Cell pay-per-view and as a result is No. 1 in the inaugural Wrestling ReWind Top 25 Rankings. Daniel Bryan lost to Randy Orton for the WWE championship, thanks to sweet chin music from special referee Shawn Michaels shown at right. AJ Lee retained her Divas championship over Brie Bella to claim the No. 1 spot in Headline Surfer's women's top 10 rankings.

DAYTONA BEACH -- With his victory over the WWE heavyweight champion Alberto Del Rio in Sunday's Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in Miami, John Cena can rightfully claim the top spot in Wrestling ReWind's inaugural weekly Top 25 rankings of the best of the best.

Macedonia church minister's Sunday visit part of 113th anniversary celebration

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." -- Matthew 16:18

Photo for Headline Surfer® / Greater Friendship Baptist Church is celebrating its 1113th sanniversary with a Sunday visit from The Rev. Willuie Barnes, as shown here, and pastor of the Macedonia Baptist Church of Eatonville.

DAYTONA BEACH -- The Rev. Willie C. Barnes of Eatonville will be the featured speaker for the 11 a.m. Sunday service commemmorating the 113th anniversary of Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.

Greater Friendship is located at 539 George W Engram Blvd. Barnes is the pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in Eatonville.

 He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering.

Source: Jailed husband confessed to killings, but won't say where bodies are

DELTONA -- The Deltona mother and her children missing since Wednesday are confirmed dead, the victims all murdered, Headline Surfer® has confirmed.

Volusia County Sheriff's investigators have yet to recover the bodies of 28-year-old Yessenia Suarez and her two children, 8-year-old Michael Otto and 9-year-old Thalia Otto, while the suspected killer, Luis Toledo, the woman's husband, remains jailed without bail on a domestic violence charge the before she and the kids disappeared.