• Winston Dean, former investigative reporter with Ch. 12, has filed a lawsuit against the station and Gannett, which owns Ch. 12, for age discrimination. Dean has been off the air since he was fired by the station earlier this year.
• The law firm of Pappas, Metcalf, Jenks & Miller will celebrate its 20th anniversary this month. The group recently relocated to new offices in the St. Joe Building.
• Downtown Vision’s Ambassadors spent Wednesday picking up hundreds of scraps of paper scattered across downtown. The papers turned out to be temporary plate application forms for mobile homes. An unknown source spilled them up and down Main Street from Adams to Water streets.
• Business has been booming at the Adam’s Mark Hotel, which is playing host to a series of groups visiting the City. A couple hundred members of the Laser Institute of America were at the hotel last week. Around 450 members of Rotary Clubs International started signing in Monday and will be here through Sunday. The Florida Alliance for Health and Physical Education starts checking in today.
• After better than a year on the job, Mark Nelson, vice president of sales for Jacksonville and the Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau, is moving on. Today is his last day before becoming VP of sales for the Orlando Convention & Visitors Bureau. A search firm is being used to find a replacement.
• Hunting season is just a few weeks away, and a wildlife official says that you need to be careful in the woods. No, not getting shot, he says — the biggest cause of accidents is falling out of the tree stands.
• Despite the “new era” fanfare that accompanied the coming of new Jag Coach Jack Del Rio, the team’s 1-5 start has some boo birds howling. What’s the reality of him staying around? Pete Prisco, the former T-U football writer who now works for cbssportsline.com, says this year isn’t a problem. But, going on past performances in the National Football League, if he wins only three (or fewer) this year, he needs to show improvement — seven wins next year, a playoff contender in the third year.
• JaxPort contributed $70,000 to help the City pay for its annual Manatee Protection Program. As part of the program Jacksonville University researchers conduct aerial manatee surveys of the St. Johns River and Intracoastal Waterway.
• Seminole County traffic engineer Bob Zaitooni has declined the City’s offer to head its Traffic Engineering Division. Zaitooni said the quality of life he enjoys in Orlando was the deciding factor.