• The Chamber honored funeral director Wendell Holmes with its Community Service Award and selected Promo Depot owner Dea Sims as the Small Business Leader of the Year. The awards were announced during Thursday night’s annual meeting at the Osborn Center.
• It’s official: the Suns’ season opener will be here on April 8.
• A local shop was recently chosen by a national magazine as one of the best for clothes shopping in the country. Petal, located in the Avondale shopping center on St. John’s Avenue was named by Lucky Magazine as one of five Best of Clothes Shopping venues.
• Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra executive director Alan Hopper sent a letter to the board of directors asking for their support on a restructuring plan designed to pull the JSO out of more than $2 million in debt. The plan cuts salary raises, pension contributions and leave time for musicians and staff and has drawn criticism from the musicians. Without restructuring, Hopper said, the JSO could follow in the path of the Ft. Lauderdale, Savannah and Tampa symphonies, which have been forced to either declare bankruptcy or cut short their performance season.
• The mayor’s staff is soliciting recommendations to fill the Downtown Development Authority’s revamped Design and Review Committee. The committee will include architects, a contractor, developer or realtor, an urban planner and three downtown property owners. All of the current committee members have said they want to keep their positions.
• The mayor’s office is searching for a new location for the “eternal flame” — which is dedicated to Duval County veterans who have died in foreign wars — once the current Duval County Courthouse closes. Spokesperson Heather Murphy said the mayor is committed to keeping the flame burning.
• The Northeast Florida Veterans Council asked Mayor John Peyton to reconsider creating a Purple Heart memorial along the walkway from the Veterans Arena to the Veterans Wall park site. The mayor’s office declined because it feared that rowdy sports fans might deface the walkway. A memorial inside the park could be an alternative.