• After eight years, Mike Freed is leaving the law firm of Smith, Hulsey & Busey. Freed, who is a business litigator, is moving to the general practice firm Brennan, Manna & Diamond in the Humana building, where he will serve as managing partner. His legal secretary, Donna McGavic, will join him.
• Susie Wiles, who served as chief of staff for former mayor John Delaney, is returning to the mayor’s office as chief of special initiatives and communications. She’ll be responsible for park system projects, the Preservation Project, federal affairs and internal and external communications.
• Road closures around the new Duval County Courthouse started Monday. West Adams Street between Clay and Broad streets, including the intersection of Adams and Clay streets, will be closed for about four weeks. The intersection of Clay and Duval streets will be closed approximately five days. Beginning Wednesday, Adams Street between Pearl and Clay streets will be closed for two weeks, and the intersection of Adams and Pearl streets will be closed for four days.
• Jacksonville Airport Authority chairman Ron Townsend has decided not to seek reappointment. Though no longer on the board of directors, Townsend said he plans to stay active in Jacksonville with local groups, including the Super Bowl Host Committee. “I won’t have a lot of free time on my hands and my golf handicap will remain high,” he said.
• After finding out both the State Capitol and the State Museum were booked, the City is trying to reserve the old capitol for its March 24 Jacksonville Day reception in Tallahassee. The reception provides City representatives a chance to lobby state representatives. Keeping the reception close to the capitol generally ensures attendance in greater numbers from legislators.
• Hampton Golf’s M.G. Orender got a lot of national TV time at this weekend’s PGA Championship golf tournament. He’s president of the PGA of America and presented the trophy to winner Shaun Micheel. But the TV folks need a geography lesson: Orender was labeled as being from “The Golf Club at South Hampton, Jacksonville Beach, Fla.” when it’s actually about 20 miles away over by I-95.
• New restaurant coming soon to the Landing: Sushi Kato, offering Korean and Japanese cuisine.
• Apologies to CasePost.com, an online legal service. We incorrectly listed its annual case volume as 15,000 per year. That figure actually represents what they handle in a month and, in some other markets, it’s what they do in a week. We also misnamed CasePost representative Mike McCann.
• The Super Bowl Infrastructure Task Force’s first meeting — originally scheduled for Wednesday — has been put on hold by the mayor’s office. Former chief operating officer Sam Mousa, who organized the task force at the mayor’s request, is not sure why the meeting was delayed.