Local News Now

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Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR / Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. spin in the grass after an incident during Daytona 500 practice Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Dale Earnhardt Jr, wrecked his car in practice today at Daytona International Speedway, and in doing so, knocked himself off the pole for Sunday's Daytona 500.

NSBNews.Net provides Volusia County with 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage for a 21st-century world. This website can also be accessed through VolusiaNews.Net

DAYTONA BEACH -- The Volusia County Beach Patrol is mourning the loss of one of its longtime employees who died while running at noon on the beach today.

"Captain Jay McDonough, 52, was running when he suddenly collapsed in the area of East International Speedway Boulevard and South Peninsula Drive," Volusia County spokeswoman Joanne Megley said gf the mid-day Wednesday news, adding, "He was transported by ambulance to Halifax Medical Center where he was pronounced dead."

NSBNews.Net provides Volusia County with 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage for a 21st-century world. This website can also be accessed through VolusiaNews.Net

1st segment

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Newly repaved track. Same old crashes in Saturday's 33rd running of the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway.

NSBNews.Net provides Volusia County with 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage for a 21st-century world. This website can also be accessed through VolusiaNews.Net

Courtesy photos / This unoccupied house on Mango Tree Drive in Edgewater went up in flames early this morning, resulting in $60,000 in losses.

EDGEWATER -- A structure fire of unknown origin  engulfed an unoccupied home early this morning, shooting flames into the night sky as firefighters were responding to the scene.

NSBNews.Net provides Volusia County with 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage for a 21st-century world. This website can also be accessed through VolusiaNews.Net

Courtesy photo / "Junior" has the pole ahead of 23 other drivers tonight for the Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Perhaps the getting the pole for tonight's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway in a blind draw is an omen of good things to come for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

NSBNews.Net provides Volusia County with 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage for a 21st-century world. This website can also be accessed through VolusiaNews.Net

Courtesy photo / Stetson University Dr. Anne Hallum is featured on CNN for her work with Guatemalan children in need following a mud slide.

DELAND -- Since 1992, Stetson University Political Science Professor Dr. Anne Hallum's non-profit, the Alliance for International Reforestation, has helped more than 2,000 rural Guatemalan families protect their homes and villages from deadly mudslides by planting trees on mountainsides.

NSBNews.Net provides Volusia County with 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage for a 21st-century world. This website can also be accessed through VolusiaNews.Net

Passenger traffic at Daytona Beach International Airport increased 7 percent in January compared with the same period last year.