Daytona Beach, Volusia County | featured news

DAYTONA BEACH - Former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez will be the featured speaker at the third annual One Volusia event on Friday hosted by State. Rep. David Santiago. The event, from 10 a.m. to noon, will be at the Bill France Room at Daytona International Speedway. Other guest speakers will include representatives from the region's transportation, tourism and manufacturing sectors. The event is free and open to the public. For more information and to make a reservation to attend, call 407-794-0937.

A West Virginia man seen on the beach with pit bull puppies was asked to leave but instead sought an off-beach parking lot where he left the animals locked up in a hot van in 90-degree weather, Beach Safety Ocean Rescue officials said Monday.Shanton Penn, 23, of Charleston, West Virginia, was arrested and charged with three counts of animal cruelty for leaving the dogs in what officers estimated was almost an hour in the hot vehicle, reports show.Penn was being held Monday in the Volusia County Branch Jail on $1,500 bail.Beach Safety Ocean Rescue Capt.

<p/>Qua Brown established himself as one of the area's top defensive backs at University High last season, and, after a brief stint at DeLand High earlier this year, he is now in line to finish his prep career where it took off.<p class="MsoNormal">Brown, a rising senior who transferred from University to DeLand in February, confirmed Monday that he has transferred back to University.<p class="MsoNormal">“I hate that I've had to bounce back-and-forth,” Brown said.

See a drive-in movie, attend an “Inspired Mic,” hear the old songs . . .1. SEE A DRIVE-IN MOVIE: “The Lego Movie” will be shown at a local drive-in -- a local drive-in church, that is.“The Lego Movie” will be screened at the Daytona Beach Drive In Christian Church, 3140 S. Atlantic Ave., Daytona Beach Shores. Games and festivities will begin at 8 p.m. with the film showing at dusk.Children are encouraged to dress in character. Admission is free. Entrance is from South Atlantic Avenue only.

TALLAHASSEE - Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Monday vowed to rein in federal spending and combat the "arrogance," ''sheer incompetence" and size of government if he's elected.In a speech aimed at President Barack Obama's administration as well as his rivals for the GOP nomination, Bush called for limiting new hires in government and extending the ban on former members of Congress from lobbying their colleagues from two years to six years.Bush also called for amending the U.S.

SARASOTA COUNTY – One by one, Pam DeFouw carefully picked maggots out of the ears of six baby possums, alive but traumatized after being found in the pocket of their dead mother and brought to the Wildlife Center of Venice.As she worked, North Port Animal Control Officer Jared Fegan walked in the animal rescue and treatment center with three more possums, whose mother also was hit by a car.

OSTEEN - The next leg of the East Central Florida Regional Rail-Trail is, for all practical purposes, done.The paved trail extends from the new bicycle-pedestrian bridge over State Road 415 nearly 3 miles east to Guise Road, much of it under tree cover. From there, cyclists can head south to Hickory Bluff Preserve, a passive county park on the St. Johns River."It's really beautiful," said Gerald Brinton, director of engineering and construction for Volusia County.

Owners of a boutique hotel that revitalized a foreclosed property in Ormond Beach plan to apply the same formula to a couple of empty beachfront lots in Daytona Beach.Owners Anand Jobalia, Ken Patel and Kirit Patel bought two vacant parcels totaling 48,110 square feet at the southeast corner of Riverview Boulevard and North Atlantic Avenue for a combined $3 million.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH - When Cheryl Brooks sold The Book Rack in Edgewater in 2012 to go to school to become a certified medical electrologist, she said she began missing the pleasures of running her own bookstore, which included interacting with customers and local authors.While she enjoys success today as an independent laser hair removal/skin care specialist, she has decided to rejoin the ranks of booksellers by opening Books by the Beach on Aug.

TALLAHASSEE - Joining three other Florida congressmen in seeking to move to the U.S.