Blogs

NSBNews.net was the first media outlet to file a story on Mitt Romney's visit to Ormond Beach. We'll have Romney's entire speech for you to see and here in a series of videos this afternoon and we'll have local reaction to what he said and whether it will inspire Republicans to stick with him as the frontrunner or go with conservative Newt Gingwich or Rick Santorum or Ron Paul.

NSBNews.net also has exclusive interviews with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and a whole host of other stories, photos and videos from the Romney rally.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Hair stylist Ray Catheline sparked an effort to help those forgotten or ignored in our community, especially children, with his fundraiser a year ago that raised $7,873 for "Cudas Unhooked," a very constructive and cost effective program set up by a group of New Smyrna Beach volunteers like him to help “at risk” high school students finish high school and be successful in life.

The program is designed to give the kids the help, encouragement and support they need to get their lives back on track and graduate from high school.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- As hard as I work to get to the truth in reporting I have to realize that I am just one person with so many hours in a given day. I can tell you as of this writing, I am embarrassed and frustrated -- embarrassed to see the big story in the Daytona Beach News-Journal on suspended Southeast Volusia Advertising Director Nicole Carni. Frustrated because had there been a level playing field with the release of her payroll figures -- denied to NSB News -- then I might have had the story today as well, maybe even sooner.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- As each of us faces the new year we all hope that it will be a good one for us. The most important point about this desire is that how the new year turns out for us is for the most part more dependent on our own efforts than any other consideration.

In other words, for most people the new year depends more on them than any other factor. The best thing about this situation is that for most people there are sure fire things they can do to make things better that cannot be stopped by outside forces. It is instructive to mention some of the things that you can do to make things get better.

First of all, have a positive attitude. While it is often easier to be negative than positive you usually achieve much more while being positive.

NSBNews.net is proud to announce that New Smyrna Beach Vice Mayor and City Commissioner Jim Hathaway has agreed to write an exclusive weekly blog for us. Hathaway replaces Mayor Adam Barringer who said he couldn't make the commitment anymore.

Hathaway's exclusive blog for NSBNews.net is called "Vice Mayor" and in it, he'll give his take on issues that he feels are important. Hathaway is an announced 2012 candidate for the Volusia County Council district 3 seat held by Joie Alexander, who opted not to seek re-election to that post. Alexander has not ruled out running in a different race.

Anyone who read the glowing story on Kent Sharples plastered Wednesday on the front page of the Daytona Beach News-Journal can relate to steroid slugger Mark McGuire's refrain before Congress in that he's "not here to talk about the past. Certainly, it is not in my place to tell the News-Journal how to report the news, but as someone with a vested interest in the media, as well as being a taxpayer and a family man, I find the print media becoming more and more a marketing arm of the power elite.

On the eve of my 50th birthday, I couldn't be more proud of our standing in the community with NSBNews.net -- not only here in New Smyrna Beach, but across Volusia County in the public and private sectors. Since our April 7, 2008, launch, we have been accessed by more than a million unique visitors. Because we are growing so fast, we are going to have a new umbrella name: Headline Surfer.

Ed Pankonin, the treasurer and board member of the Southeast Volusia Advertising Authority, resigned. He and George Richford, who earlier resigned, were the two dissenting board members in action taken by the other five SVAA board members to fire Nicole Carni as director last month.

Supposedly, the letter fron Pankonin was written to Volusia County Manager Frank Bruno. The News-Journal had a story about it today. They had a reporter at the County Council meeting Thursday. I was in bed sick with bronchitis, though I did get out to an open house Thursday by the Sheriff's House in Oak Hill.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- One of the things I've learned early on as a journalist and reinforced over the years is that things are not always as they appear. Nothing could be more true than the situation at hand here in New Smyrna Beach, a beautiful seaside community with some ugly secrets.

I knew when I embarked on our investigative project "Show Me the Money: New Smyrna Beach," that NSBNews.net and myself, in particular, would be labeled a troublemaker. It comes with the territory.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The problem with trying to tell about a career in engineering is that most of the things that interest an engineer would bore the ears off of a brass donkey. The solution of difficult and complicated problems in science and mathematics is what makes engineering fun, but to the layman there is nothing of interest whatsoever.

Therefore it is the challenge of this blog to find personal stories from the world of engineering that the layman can find amusing and entertaining. Here goes: