• The JEDC’s Sports and Entertainment Board has a new chair, and it’s a first. Beverly Jelinek, a vice president of marketing for Burger King, is the first woman to chair the board since its inception in 1979. She’ll serve a one-year term.
• A team of about 15 individuals from Holland & Knight prepared and served a big meal Tuesday night to the homeless at the I.M. Sulzbacher Center. Lawyers, paralegals and secretaries were at the center for two hours, serving meals to an estimated 75 to 100 persons. The menu included Swedish meatballs, carrots, peas, rice, and apple and peach pie. Holland & Knight makes a point of preparing and serving meals twice a year at the center.
• To prepare for their grand opening early next year, representatives from Japanese cuisine restaurant Ieyasu in the W. A. Knight Building are taking some extreme measures to insure everything is authentic. They’re traveling to Japan to gather design ideas and elements.
• The City is considering banning paper towels in its public rest rooms. Seems too many people are flushing them down the toilets, resulting in a number of expensive calls for the plumber. Because electric hand dryers are available, the City may discontinue the paper towels.
• Several new associates have joined the Rogers Towers law firm, including Shannon Scheffer, Nadia Policard Jones, Beverly Pascoe and Chris Hand.
• Don’t be surprised to hear an electronic voice answer your call to City Hall offices. Mayor’s office spokesperson Heather Murphy said the new voice mail system was intended to ease the burden on the front desk receptionists and allow callers to leave weekend messages. Calls to the main line will still get a human answer, and callers can still reach an operator by pressing zero.
• A mock version of American Idol is coming to Jacksonville Oct. 10. As part of the Southside Businessmen’s Club youth achiever charity event, 10 high school students from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts will compete in a talent contest, Jacksonville Idol, for a $2,000 college scholarship. Cocktails open the event at 6 p.m., followed by performances at 8 p.m. The Improv Jacksonville comedy troupe will also perform.
• Dr. Andy Teare, a veterinarian at the zoo, will make an address before a Congressional oversight committee in Washington, D.C. today on the state of medical and animal record keeping in zoos and aquariums. Teare will be joined at the national meeting on animal care and management by zoo officials from Denver, Ft. Worth and San Diego.