Local News Now

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Everything from ballroom dance to doing the YMCA is on tap at the Brannon Center 6:30 p.m. Thursdays, starting this Thursday.

This will be a time to party, make new friends, and bring your own group and dance.

There's a big Valentine’s Party Thursday, Feb. 12.

Tickets are $5 at the door, for more information, please call Nicole Charbonneau at (386) 424-2280. The Brannon Center is at 105 S. Riverside Drive in New Smyrna Beach.

Dec. 23, 2008 -- Jacky Walker and Andrea Andermanis of Edgewater, boy, 4 pounds, 12 ounces, 12:22 p.m., Florida Hospital Ormond Memorial.

Dec. 11, 2008 -- Amanda Fowler of Edgewater, girl, 6 pounds, 13 ounces, 3:11 p.m., Halifax Health Medical Center, Daytona Beach Danielle and Charles Lindemeyer of New Smyrna Beach, boy, 8 pounds, 1 ounce, 6:24 p.m., Halifax Health Medical Center, Daytona Beach.

Jan. 2, 2009 -- Kristopher L. Parnell and Jessica S. King, New Smyrna Beach.

Dec. 30, 2008 -- Everett E. Woodruff II and Terri L. Zanghi, Edgewater; Christopher W. Gibbs, New Smyrna Beach, and Stephanie M. Thomas, Ormond Beach.

Dec, 27, 2008 -- Vincent G. Timlin and Debra K. Scott, New Smyrna Beach.

Jan. 2, 2009 -- Darrin Scott Zellner, 35, Edgewater, violation of community control (2), unlawful possession of a controlled substance.

Jan. 1, 2009 -- Jeffrey Law Hampton, 29, New Smyrna Beach, possession of a schedule II narcotic (2).

Wilfred Glasbrenner, 75, of New Smyrna Beach, a retired master cabinet maker died Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008.

Richard "Puffer" Green Jr., 79, of Edgewater, a former linesman for a utilities company, died Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008.

Jean Myers, 85, of New Smyrna Beach, died Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008.

Ronald North Sr., 69, of Edgewater, a firefighter for the Turnbull Volunteer Fire Company in New Smyrna Beach, died Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Three local teens were arrested in a stolen car and a handgun recovered following a suspicious motor vehicle stop at 3 a.m. off 10th Street, New Smyrna Beach police reported.

The car was speeding and driving recklessly when cops caught up with it in the parking lot of the Newport Sound Apartments off 10 Street. Three teens jumped out of the car and ran and police caught up with them a short distance later with the help of canine units.

The stock market for 2008 will go down as a very bad year. Almost every stock had a lower price per share than at the beginning of 2008. It would be wise to read a book or two on investing to help being properly positioned in stocks in 2009. Here are some excellent readings you can find at a book store:

1) The Entrepreneurial Investor: The Art, Science, and Business of Value Investing
Authors: Paul Orfalea & Lance Helfert

2) The Little Book That Beats The Market (Little Books. Big Profits)
Author: Joel Greenblatt

3) It's When You Sell That Counts
Author: Donald Cassidy

OAK HILL -- The victims in the noon Wednesday double-fatality crash at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Halifax Avenue were identified as 71-year-old Eunice Perkins and 70-year-old Mary Campaigue in their 70s, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 24-year-old man was arrested this afternoon on charges of robbing a woman at gunpoint and pistol whipping her the previous day near New Smyrna Beach.

James L. Smith Jr. faces a charge of armed robbery with a weapon for the daylight confrontation. The 33-year-old victim was treated at Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach for her facial injuries and released the same day.