Local News Now

EDGEWATER -- Emergency services officials in Edgewater want to assure residents and merchants alike that there is a number to call in dealing with stormwater drainage flooding with the tropical depressssion approaching.

"As Tropical Depression #16 approaches our area, Edgewater Fire Rescue would like to inform residents that during the day (Tuesday) workers assured the function of all of the stormwater drainage systems throughout the City," said Jill Danigel, spokeswoman and captain of the Edgewater Fire Rescue.

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Dr. Ian Day, chief of the medical staff at Bert Fish Medical Center is urging the public to attend tonight's 5 o'clock meeting of the Southeast Volusia Hospital Authority at the New Smyrna Beach Regional Library to understand the stakes are high and that the merger with Florida Hospital is in the best interests of the greater New Smyrna Beach community served by Bert Fish. Please click the attachment to read Day's personal plea of support for the recent merger.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Retiring Volusia County Councilman Jack Hayman said tonight's 5 p.m. meeting of the Southeast Volusia Hospital Authority at the New Smyrna Beach Library to redo in the "sunshine" its discussions over the future of Bert Fish Medical Center is something that not only is important in his lifetime.

Robert Wayne Lott has had a lot of influence in public and private entities over the last half decade in greater NSB, but his financial and personal interests are being called into question by his critics, local officials and the federal government. NSBNEWS.net presents its investigative series "Lott of Influence."

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Tony Owens, 21, of New Smyrna Beach, wanted on a warrant charging him with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Cliff Dallas Baker, 26, of Oak Hill, early Saturday, was apprehended at the Wal-Mart later that night at the Wal-Mart in Ormond Beach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The 21-year-old New Smyrnan wanted on a first-degree murder warrant in the early Saturday morning shooting death of an Oak Hill man in the 600 block of Greenlawn Street was apprehended without incident later that night at the Wal-Mart in Ormond Beach, New Smyrna Beach police said.

Tony Owens was being held without bail at the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A single-engine plane registered in New Smyrna Beach that took off from Edgewater's small airport crashed in Georgia Friday night, killing two of three people on board, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- I am extremely upset that the "Merchants of Flagler" are going after CRA dollars for new Christmas decorations, $42,000 to be precise. I am a merchant there.

The video and audio evidence against Mainland High School football Coach John Maronto released Monday by the State Attorney's Office leads to Volusia County's winningest coach stepping down today, though his criminal defense attorneys maintain his innocence. Maronto was scheduled to take his Mainland squad in two weeks to play at New Smyrna Beach against his former team, the Barracudas. He was New Smyrna Beach's coach in the mid 1990s.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Mainland High School football coach John Maronto abruptly resigned today, two days after release of a Daytona Beach police surveillance video by the State Attorney's Office that accuses him of soliciting sex from an undercover Daytona Beach female cop posing as a prostitute during the Labor Day weekend.

Samantha Bishop, interim director of the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce, will write a weekly blog for NSBNEWS.net on the relevant issues of business and commerce in the cities of New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater and Oak Hill, and the chamber's efforts to encourage and enhance economic development and vitality for the betterment of businesses and the public. Her blog is called "Chamber Change." Here is the first installment:

The past week has been filled with two very helpful business seminars. As you know the Chamber is the resource to help businesses network so they can grow their business and we are also the conduit to push economic development. Economic Development doesn’t just mean bringing in new business but includes helping our existing businesses stay competitive and thrive.

SAMSULA -- School supporters and parents are organizing the third annual Fall Festival Fundraiser to benefit Samsula Academy. The event, hosted at SNPJ Lodge, 421 N. Samsula Drive is slated to begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Festivities include music, game booths and food.

Video and photos by Multimedia Editor Sera Frederick.

Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas returns home Monday from Washington D.C. to announce to a jubilant crowd of supporters in New Smyrna Beach's Memorial Park that she has received a major endorsement from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. See our exclusive coverage in the video above and story and photos below.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas didn't pull any punches in pledging to continue fighting for to strengthen and protect Social Security and Medicare as she accepted the endorsement Monday from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.