Local News Now

Have you watched ‘The Amazing Race” on television? If not, they have pairs of people race around the world, perform tasks and eliminate one couple per week until the final three couples are left.

The first pair to finish all their trips and tasks on the last episode wins $1 million.

This week they were in Moscow. Dallas & Toni, a mother & son, lost their money and passports when Dallas forgot his backpack in a cab.

Why is this interesting?

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Volusia County Council has been invited to a social hosted by the Florida Inland Navigation District Board of Commissioners at 7 p.m.at J.B.’s Fish Camp, 859 Pompano Ave., said county spokeswoman Pat Kuehn.

F.I.N.D. is a special state taxing district for the continued management and maintenance of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, she said.

Photos by Jill Danigel for NSBNEWS.net. Cutline: Edgewater fire personnel respond to a fully-engulfed recreational vehicle fire Monday night on U.S. 1 in Edgewater.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 17-year-old Edgewater boy who had been drinking vodka last night died early this morning at a friend's house on Corbin Park Road just outside the city limits despite efforts by paramedics to revive him, Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.

The victim, Jamie Gibson, spent the night at 1160 Corbin Park Road in New Smyrna Beach, where he's friends with two teenage brothers who live at the residence.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Two years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hirem Desai became an American citizen. The bloodshed in his native India over the last several days has reinforced his belief that terrorism can happen at any time and any place.

Desai, who works as a cashier at the Marathon gas station on North Dixie Freeway, has been heartbroken over the carnage that claimed nearly 200 lives in Mumbai -- a half dozen Americans.

The world is not big enough for terrorism to hit home, Desai said. "It's bad and getting worse," said the 27-year-old native of Braruch, 200 miles south of Mumbai, India's largest city. Now a resident of South Daytona, he added, "I feel bad for everybody."

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- While countless shoppers got up at the crack of dawn this "Black Friday" morning to rifle through the aisles of the Wal-Mart on State Road 44 in search of super-discounted merchandise, Myrtle Richardson was getting ready to go to do her job -- stand in front of the store all day and ring the bell for the Salvation Army.

"God bless you," she said as every fourth or fifth shopper passed by and dropped a dollar bill or change into the kettle."

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- An 84-year-old woman was found Thanksgiving Day living in deplorable conditions in a home near New Smyrna Beach along with about 50 cats, 15 turkeys, 20 ducks and a dog, Volusia Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said, adding deputies learned she had apparently been living in the home against her will, having been set up there by her daughter.

TALAHASSEE, Fla. -- Dear Friends, This week we celebrate the many things we as Floridians – and Americans – have to be grateful for.