• Celebrity Cruises has decided to return to Jacksonville for the 2004-05 cruise season. As you may recall, earlier this year Celebrity said they would come to Jacksonville for a six-month test, beginning in October. Celebrity said they are so pleased with the community’s response they have decided to commit for another season.
• The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra has received one of only 25 National Endowment for the Arts grants. Symphony officials are mum on the details until a Sept. 15 press conference, but Cultural Council director Robert White said the grants were “extraordinarily competitive” and said that NEA director Dana Gioia would present the award personally to the symphony.
• Conservative rocker Ted Nugent is becoming a fan of the City Council. Nugent’s United Sportsmen of America wrote the Council a letter of support for its opposition to increased manatee safety regulations.
• It’s good to be mayor. As reported in Tuesday’s Daily Record, Mayor John Peyton has received clearance to fly in an F-15 fighter jet on Oct. 2. City Council member Jerry Holland has been trying to get a similar invite for nearly two years.
• Chip Patterson, the mayor’s emergency preparedness chief, is taking note of the federal Department of Homeland Security’s recent brush-off of another Southern city. When the federal department distributed $500 million in grants three months ago, it included cities such as Buffalo, N.Y. and Honolulu, but ignored Atlanta, the South’s largest metropolitan area. To avoid a similar fate, Patterson told the mayor’s policy chief, Steve Diebenow, that Jacksonville must involve itself in national security forums and enlist the help of congressional and legislative representatives.
• Major East Coast ports such as Miami and Port Everglades appear to be losing export business, partially to Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Port Authority increased its share of cargo container exports by about 4 percent over the last year. During that same period Miami’s market share decreased by 8 percent while Port Everglades dropped 2.6 percent. Jacksonville was the fourth busiest Florida cargo port, behind Miami, Port Everglades and Tampa.
• In addition to offering free entertainment, this year’s Fair will also charge admission for three headlining acts, appearing Oct. 15, and 16. The headliners, including Darry Worley and the Rockin’ Roadhouse Tour, will play in the baseball park. In the past, there was nightly entertainment (usually country or religious bands) and it was part of the admission ticket.
• There’s a new associate at Volpe, Bajalia, Wickes & Rogerson. Tara Van Rooy began with the firm last month.