Volusia News Now

State Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, and Volusia County Chair Frank Bruno, D-Ponce Inlet, are term-limited in their current seats and so they're vying for the dist. 8 state senate seat in the November elections.

PORT ORANGE -- Their State Senate showdown isn't until November, but Republican Dorothy Hukill is chomping at the bit against her Democratic opponent, Frank Bruno: "We just won the West Volusia Regional Chamber straw ballot with over 65% of the vote! Thank you for all your support - onward to November!"

A mailing by Volusia County Council candidate Deb Denys that dismisses her two opponents as Obama clones, sets the stage for what's expected to be a lively series of debates Saturday in New Smyrna Beach, eight in all, sponsored by Headline Surfer.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- There's no love lost between the candidates for the Volusia County Council dist. 3 race and that may be just the warm-up for Saturday's big debates at the Brannon Center.

Headline Surfer, the New Smyrna Beach-based 24/7 Internet newspaper, has eight debates set to go from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with citizen participation a key component in holding the candidates accountable to the voters.

Media pool photos by Orlando Sentinel / Accused killer George Zimmerman and his attorney, Mark O'Mara, are shown here in the June 29 bond hearing at the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford where Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester heard arguments on why he should be granted bail after his truthfulness was called into question about his finances. The judge on July 5 granted $1 million bail. 

SANFORD -- George Zimmerman's attorneys want Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester disqualified from proceedings in the second-degree murder charge against him in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, saying the court is biased against him and because of that, he cannot get a fair trial.

Had George Zimmerman not been released on bail, his defense team could have forced the state to take the case to trial within six months as opposed to the standard year or more in both sides preparing for a trial showdown.

Here is a boiler plate on a defendant's rights to demand a speedy trial:

Edgewater -- Riley Wood was decked out with a homemade Independence Day hat as he arrived wih his parents for the Fourth of July fireworks. Asked if he made the hat," the 6-year-old New Smyrna Beach boy answered, "Yeah, with mommy."

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- I met Peter Mallory and his wife Jackie in 2003, when my husband and I moved to the same street in New Smyrna Beach, but I didn’t know them until I joined the Republican Club of Southeast Volusia County.

Snapshot from YouTube video / Andrew Gant, an award-winning reporter for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, splits his time between the newsroom, the beach and county council chambers in DeLand and wherever else news takes him for that matter.

DELAND -- Whether he's in the newsroom, county council chambers or on the beach, Andrew Gant is one of the new wave of reporters pounding the beat for the Daytona Beach News-Journal and winning prestigious awards along the way.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- News of the impending resignation of County Councilman Carl Persis demonstrates the power of Internet news reporting and the speed at which the public gets its news. Headline Surfer reacted quickly to the news.

By Rick Martorano

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The man has lived next door to me in Sugar Mill for three years. We probably haven’t said 50 words to each other in that time.

There really was no reason to. We don’t share many of the same friends or activities. He, like me, is not a big chit-chatter and like many artists, musicians, writers and creative people, he is rather quiet, a little unassuming in non-working environments and perceived by some as being a little aloof. Aren’t we all?

I really didn’t know him and in those 50 words that we did speak to each other, he didn’t spend a lot of time talking about himself.

Headline Surfer video and photos by Sera Frederick / Alexandria Spradlin, valedictorian of the 2012 graduating class of New Smyrna Beach High School, addresses her classmates during commencement ceremonies Saturday at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, which you can watch by clicking the video. 

New Smyrna Beach High School Class of 2012 Valedictorian Alexandria Spradlin told her classmates the time has come for them to begin their journeys through life and not to cede decisions on where they're going to others. Here is the full text of her speech: