• Dr. Jerry Knauer surprised wife Biggs with a Paul Harris Fellow award at Monday’s Rotary Club of Jacksonville. The award goes with a donation to the club’s Charitable Foundation, and it was Knauer’s third gift — his father and sister preceded his wife.
• New door handles coming for the Independent Square lobby. That’s why some are missing.
• It’s been a good recovery for UBS Financial services broker DeWitt Storm. He had surgery three weeks ago.
• New furniture was installed in the Robert O. Johnson conference room outside of Council Chambers last week. The “loaners” that were formerly in place were switched out for a large wood conference table and new chairs.
• A happy birthday Wednesday to a man who certainly is a leader on the chicken dinner circuit, Joe Whittlesey. He’s had 44 years of perfect Rotary Club attendance.
• Former Sulzbacher Center Executive Director Linda Lanier left her job Friday for her new job — she’ll head the Jacksonvilles’ Children’s Commission.
• Negotiations for a new labor contract are just getting underway, but the City and the Professional Association of City Employees are still haggling over a year-old attorney’s fees dispute. In July, the City paid PACE more than $70,000 in dues withheld from the union to cover court costs. Last Wednesday, Tallahassee’s First District Court rejected a PACE appeal, meaning the City will seek at least a portion of that money’s return.
• As many of you know, Blue Cross & Blue Shield exec Mike Hightower’s trademark is his white collar-on-a-blue shirt combo. Don’t think he’s wearing a dirty shirt, though. He has 23 of them in his closet.
• Lindsay Stump is the new marketing coordinator for the University of North Florida’s Fine Arts Center.
• According to Mike Goldman of the Florida Department of Transportation, the Main Street Bridge painting is underway. The bridge is being sandblasted and then given a basecoat. You’ve likely noticed the tarps on the north side of the bridge near the Landing.