• State Rep. Mia Jones may be in Tallahassee these days as a member of the State Legislature, but she still keeps an eye on things here. The former Dist. 10 City Council member has asked Council President Ronnie Fussell to support a bill that helps Cedar Grove Car Wash. Jones said the owner of the car wash has taken an “eye sore” and turned it into a “beautiful project” that’s adding to the tax base.
• Big changes coming for Ch. 30/47 within the next week. In addition to some moving around of news anchors and building a new set, the news shows become “Action News” as of April 14. The CBS and FOX affiliate will hold a reception Thursday for local VIPs to show off the changes.
• Chief Assistant State Attorney Dan McCarthy sent an e-mail Friday to the extensive list of contacts he compiled while serving as the chief of the City’s Military Affairs, Veterans and Disabled Services Office. McCarthy said he was “writing you one last time from my old office to urge your support and assistance to Bob Buehn,” who was appointed last week by Mayor John Peyton to assume McCarthy’s former post. McCarthy also wrote he was “proud to have been part of what we did in the last six years and will do in the next few years to make Jacksonville a community that goes all out to support those that wear the uniform.”
• At Monday’s Rotary Club of Jacksonville meeting, Peyton said if the City went to court with Waste Management over the Trail Ridge Landfill contract, “We don’t have lawyers good enough (to handle the case) in the Office of General Counsel. We’d have to hire Hank Coxe and that would cost a fortune.” After the meeting, Coxe, a club past-president and former president of the Florida Bar, was asked if he minded Peyton’s comment. Coxe replied, “No. It’s great to get a plug from the mayor.”
• On the City Council schedule for this week is an “Easter Sunday Family Picnic.” It’s this evening in Conference Room B in the Council suite.
• The local Delta folks have been recognized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as “Star” sites as part of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs. The airline’s customer service and global services will be honored April 15 during a ceremony at the airport.
• Sherry Magill, president of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, sent the City a check for $5,000 to help fund a “feasibility grant to explore the possibility of establishing a homeless resource center” in Jacksonville.
• The fire station in Springfield is called “The Deuce” but the important number is 100 as in 100 years of being a fixture in the neighborhood. April 30, the fire department and other City agencies will mark the 100-year anniversary of Station No. 2.