Local News Now

Cory Lancaster's last day March 29; prep sports writer Brian Linder bolting, too

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Editor Pat Rice got bummed out when up-and-coming reporter Andrew Gant, who followed him from Panma City to Daytona, got hired away by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office to crank out the steady diet of press releases the newspaper has long since come to rely on.

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NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Nearly two dozen city parks are up for adoption as part of a new program launched by the City of New Smyrna Beach. From small, 1-acre pocket parks to larger waterfront public areas with playgrounds, individuals and groups may sign up to clean up a park for one year.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Michael Chitwood, the mercurial Daytona Beach polioce chief, who once called retiring Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson a "moron," will take out qualifying papers next week seeking the elected law enforcement post in the 2016 elections, accordiong to an inside source.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- While the controversy surrounding housing for the chronically homeless appears to be going nowhere, the first major hurdle has been eclipsed with renewed hope for an entirely different type of homeless people altogether -- families with children -- with plans to convert the former Hurst Elementary School into a bonafide shelter.

And the leaders of this herculean effort are Volusia County Manager Jim Dinneen,  business entrepreneur Forough Hosseini of ICI Homes and Halifax Urban Ministries Executive Director Mark Geallis.

Fla. showdown looming against GOP frontrunner Donald Trump who calls Sunshine State second home

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 SANFORD, Fla. -- Just one day after making a campaign stop in Sanford, Marco Rubio, once the formidable establishment candidarte for the GOP seen as the strongest consertative Republican standard bearer for the Republican Party rto reclaim the presidency, laid a big goose egg in the Tuesday contests in advance of the upconming Florida primary.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- So Republican Donald Trump won big in South Carolina. And Democrat Hillary Clinton did the same in Nevada. But we're not in Darlinton, SC. and what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right Bernie Sanders?

HOLLY HILL, Fla. -- Children can enjoy group activities and field trips with Volusia County’s spring break camps, which are being offered in Holly Hill and DeBary from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. March 21 through 25. Both camps will offer playground activities, field trips, movies, and arts and crafts. Advance registration and payment are required.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It was 15 years ago that NASCAR executive Mike Helton, a lumbering, but stoic man delivered the news in a hushed tone that made racing fans burst into tears around the world hours after a crash that at first seemed surviveable: "This is undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements that I’ve ever personally had to make, but after the accident in turn four at the end of the Daytona 500, we’ve lost Dale Earnhardt."      

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla -- Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson announced this morning his intention to retire when his current term expires the end of this year.