• The Alltel Stadium sports bar debuts during Friday night’s Jags scrimmage. It’s the offensive vs. the defense, starting at 7:30 p.m. The scrimmage is free and open to the public.
• Gov. Jeb Bush drops by Monday. He’ll be at the Adam’s Mark Hotel to address attendees at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism.
• The Ponte Vedra Beach Chamber of Commerce has a new director, Beth Richmond. She replaces Linda Wilson.
• The Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art is participating in the JaxReads program, featuring Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.” Allison Graff, the museum’s director of education, will lead a gallery tour Friday at noon with a discussion of parallel themes between the novel and JMoMA’s current Skin exhibition.
• Word on the street has a Billy Joel concert opening the new Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in November.
• The State Legislature formally gave the Jacksonville Port Authority back its original name. The port authority took the name “Seaport Authority” when it split from the city’s airports in 2001. The name change was sought because the port authority had marketed its name internationally for 40 years.
• Interim financial officer Walt Bussells and Risk Manager Mary Arditti will travel to New York City in late September to meet with rating agencies. The pair will make numerous presentations in an effort to improve the City’s bond rating. If successful they will reduce the interest paid by the City on borrowed money. Standard and Poor’s currently gives Jacksonville an A+ rating, its fourth highest.
• Reminder: Friday Fest returns to Hemming Plaza this week with a 1950s-style sock hop. The party starts at 4:30 p.m.
• Military liaison Daniel McCarthy is concerned that an Aug. 13 visit from Nebraska business leaders and politicians could be a BRAC scouting trip. He asked Defense Policy Board chair Tillie Fowler in an e-mail whether Nebraska has any military facilities which might be in competition with Jacksonville for the next round of base closures.
• Rock & Roll Pizza no longer serves lunch, choosing to open at night only. “The lighting is not bright enough and the floors are disgusting,” said owner Lisa Thomas. “This is a nightclub. The atmosphere is not conducive to a lunch crowd. We’ll open back up [for lunch] when we can do it right.”
• The new Lowe’s home improvement store on Atlantic Boulevard is open, but don’t follow the directions on a billboard near St. Johns Bluff Road that says the store is located at Atlantic and San Pablo Road. The store is just east of Girvin Road across from The Woods subdivision.
• City flags are at half-staff to honor Bob Hope. President Bush ordered flags at government buildings lowered to pay respect to an “American treasure.”