Local News Now

NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick

At left, New Smyrna Beach native Joe Visconti gets a kiss Wednesday from daughter, Mallory Pumphrey, and mother, Tootsie McDonald, after presenting a $500 check to the S.E. Volusia Cancer Society's Relay for Life, on behalf of his employer, United Launch Alliance, the rocket manufacturing giant. Above photo, with Visconti from left to right are Sharon Atwell, team development chair for Relay For Life; Brenda Hendrickson,  RFL logistics chair; RuthAnne Yeats, RFL co-chair and Mallory Pumphrey. Sixty-five RFL teams under the direction of Yeats and co-chair Deborah Alonzo raised $136,420.08. The check from Visconti brings the total closer to RFL's goal of $153,000 for the 2010 campaign.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Six years ago today, Joe Visconti lost his mother-in-law, Jacqueline Mallory, to cancer. The date was etched in his memory as he donated a $500 check to the Southeast Volusia American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, on behalf of his employer, United Launch Alliance, the nation's rocket giant.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A Venetian Bay man armed with a handgun and threatening to kill himself was taken into custody without harm to himself or others early Sunday and transported to Bert Fish Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation under provisions of the state's Baker Act.

The following was written for NSBNEWS.net as a Father's Day blog by Reed Markham, associate professor, Daytona State College, New Smyrna Beach campus:

Do you remember the advice your father gave to you as a child?

Here are a few examples from Bruce Lansky, author of "Fatherly Wit and Wiisdom":

* So you think you're smart, do you? * I may not be a rocket scientist, but I am your father.  * Algebra doesn't have to make sense. * I couldn't  afford college so I went to the School of Hard Knocks. And I got my degree in Bumps and Bruises. * Finish school or you'll wind up digging ditches like your brother.

NSBNEWS.net videos by Sera Frederick.

Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas speaks to Orlando TV news crews WFTV and Central Florida 13, a Hometown News reporter and NSBNEWS.net on her meeting with Coast Guard officials at the Ponce Inlet station Saturday before speaking exclusively with NSBNEWS.net on this and other matters.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas, D-NSB (FL-24), spoke with the media at noon Saturday following a meeting with top brass at the U.S. Coast Guard station, reporting that plans are in place to deal with the gulf oil mess that remains a potential threat to both Florida's coastlines.

NSBNEWS.net video by Sera Frederick.

Restaurants like Clancy's Cantina and community organizations like the New Smyrna Beach Lions Club were major attractions for several thousand people Thursday night for the annual NSB Seaside Fiesta on Flagler Avenue. Our video coverage includes interviews witth Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce President Sue Williams and Clancy's Cantina co-owner Margaret Michelbrink as well as the flavor of the street festival.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Boston vacationers Chad and Beverly Siebel didn't have to go far from their beachside condo rental to find a family night-out event to share with their daughter, Taylor, 3, and son, Parker, 5 months old: The NSB Seaside Fiesta on Flagler Avenue.

NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick

At left, New Smyrna Beach resident John Mc Elroy shops at Walmart 3 a.m. Friday at the NSB Regional Shopping Center on State Road 44. The  is expected to close next year with the planned building of a Super Walmart further west near Interstate 95.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Walmart has been the shopping mecca of New Smyrna Beach for years, but complaints about limited parking, increased traffic and limited merchandise have led to the planned building of a Super Walmart further west on the 44 corridor, near Interstate 95. Groundbreaking could come as early as August.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Power was restored to 3,000 customers by 6 p.m.Thursday, less than an hour after a fast-moving thunderstorm knocked out electrical service on North Dixie Freeway, Pioneer Trail, Bay Drive and the Islesboro area, a field operator for the Utilities Commission of New Smyrna Beach confirmed.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A fast-moving thunderstorm knocked out power through parts of the city just after 5 p.m. By 6 p.m. power had returned to parts of North Dixie Freeway. A voice-recording for the Utilities Commission lists affected areas as Pioneer Trail, Williams Road, Bay Drive and the Islesboro area. The recording does not include North Dixie Freeway, which also lost power. NSBNEWS.net can't provide information beyond this because nobody can be reached at the Utilities Commission.

The Utilities Commission Web site at 6 p.m. listed "no outages" but Commissioner Buz Reynolds said that was obviously in error and he could only direct NSBNEWS.net to the recording.

As of 6 p.m. power was restored to the the North Dixie Freeway area, but NSBNEWS.net can't confirm whether the other affected areas have been addressed as of 7 p.m.

NSBNEWS.net videos by Sera Frederick.

The City of New Smyrna Beach has settled a lawsuit with Bill of Rights, Inc., also known as NSB Shadow, by agreeing to pay $20,000 in attorney's fees to Edward "George" Beasley. The first video shows NSB resident Bill Koleszar doing the Shadow's bidding publicly. The second video shows the City Commission rejecting the settlement request three weeks earlier, which at that time stood at $30,000.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The former city attorney sent out an e-mail Monday clarifying the city's position regarding a $20,000 lawsuit settlement he's receiving in "attorney's fees" in his representation of the city's chief Web site nemesis: NSB Shadow.