NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A husband and wife dead on their Cuddy cabin-style boat earlier today near disappearing Island between Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna Beach have been identified, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

Howard Lupton, 50, and Sandra Lupton, 48, of Palatka, were found by their son on the boat, authorities said.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission thinks the victims likely died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the commission.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Christopher Evanson said the discovery was made about 11 a.m. Sunday.

NSBNEWS.net file video by Sera Frederick. The 2009 July 4th fireworks in Edgewater drew several thousand people.

EDGEWATER -- As of 5 p.m., the fireworks show planned for tonight off Riverside Drive is still on, local officials said. NSBNEWS.net will let you know if anything changes.

NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick.

Kevin Harvick comes off Turn 4 and down the front stretch on his way to the checkered flag in the Coke Zero 400. Below, "the big one," a reference to the big crash in a restrictor-plate race, collects 19 cars on lap 149, forcing NSCAR to red flag (stop) the race for 19 minutes and 34 seconds.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Kevin Harvick won the Coke Zero 500 in a crash-marred race with nine cautions, including the "big one" on the second-to-last caution.

Casey Kahne finished second, followed by Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton rounding out the Top 5.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The city economic development crisis is far more severe than even NSBNEWS.net reported in breaking the story online Wednesday: Not only were planning documents dating back five years not sent to the state for compliance purposes, the final applications were never even created in the first place.

NSBNEWS.net videos by Sera Frederick.

Bert Fish Medical Center officials as expectedconsummated a deal Wednesday to allow Florida Hospital to take over administrative functions. Meanwhile, The New Smyrna Beach City Commission last Tuesday allowed Bert Fish to absolve itself from the Community Redevelopment Agency, which leaves a gaping hole of 26 percent less in revenues the CRA can now count on before it sunsets in 2015. Our first video looks at the debate over hospital funding with the highlights of the City Commission voted in our second video.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A lease agreement signed early Wednesday means Bert Fish Medical Center is now under the management of Florida Hospital. Florida Hospital, under the umbrella of the Adventist Health System, will take over management of the 112-bed hospital off the South Causeway, with an option to buy the hospital outright in five years.

NSBNEWS.net photo by Henry Frederick.

David Swentor, at right, the developer of the proposed Hampton Inn & Suites on Flagler Avenue, shown here with local attorney Glenn Storch earlier this month, was pleased to finally have the city sign off on the project, or so he thought.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- South Carolina-based developer David Swentor was floored when he learned Tuesday that his proposed $15 million Hampton Inn & Suites for Flagler Avenue could be jeopardized because city staff failed to follow through with zoning and land-use amendments.

"This is insane," Swentor told NSBNEWS.net when reached by phone late Tuesday night.

NSBNEWS.net file photo.

Mayor Adam Barringer, shown in this photo in the weeks leading up to his successful election in November with economic development as his cornerstone, faces a major crisis with at least two multi-million dollar projects now in jeopardy because of a breakdown in planning management and oversight.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Just hours before Mayor Adam Barringer met with his newly formed economic advisory board Tuesday night, he was facing the biggest crisis of his seven months in office, and perhaps in modern times for this seaside community: Screw-ups in planning oversight at City Hall that have put the proposed Hampton Inn on Flagler Avenue and the Super Walmart near I-95 in peril.

"It's as bad as it can get," Barringer said tersely in a brief interview. "We stand the potential to lose the hotel. We've identified some administrative issues back through this entire process and I'm working with the city manager to resolve them."

NSBNEWS.net photo by Henry Frederick.

Mayor Adam Barringer, second from right is joined, from left to right, by Jill Carlton, Jack Holcomb, and Paul Mayer, at Tuesday's inaugural meeting of the Economic Development Advisory Board. Not pictured are fellow board members Randy McHenry, Dr. Arlen Stauffer and Bill Hall.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Allen AME Church is holding a fish fry and chicken wings extravaganza 11 a.m. today to benefit its choir and chorus programs, 344 Sheldon St., crossing Mary Street. Sandwiches are $7 and fries are only a buck.

Courtesy photo / SeaWorld.

This manatee was rescued Wednesday n the waters of the Canaveral National Seashore suffering from an apparent injury resulting from contact with a boat, SeaWorld officials said.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An endangered female manatee was rescued Wednesday after she was observed floarting near bthe surface and unable to submerge, officials with SeaWorld Orlando's Animal Rescue Team said.

The animal was rescued from the waters of the National Canaveral Seashore just south of New Smyrna Beach.