• Look for a new upscale women’s shoe store to open soon in the ground floor space at the Elks Building on Laura Street. It’s called Tiara and it should be open by mid-September.
• The mayor’s office phones were a little busier than normal Wednesday with citizens expressing their thoughts on the increased budget for the new Duval County Courthouse, the Shipyards deal and lack of Better Jacksonville Plan funds for road projects. Most of the courthouse callers were evenly split, with some saying Mayor John Peyton should build the courthouse properly the first time, while others said it was a waste of taxpayer money.
• Eddie Pells, the local sportswriter for The Associated Press, is leaving the city. He’s taking a job in Denver.
• Local political pollster Bruce Barcelo has added a new member to his operation. Michael Sleep, a Flagler College graduate, will oversee technical support and polling accuracy for the firm.
• Japanese restaurant Ieyasu received the last of its needed equipment Wednesday and is planning a soft opening Aug. 29.
• City contractors recently made the Southbank Riverwalk whole, completing repairs to braces, broken boards and re-tightening all the stainless steel bolts. The work cost a little more than $23,000. Now all that needs to be done before the Super Bowl is a power wash.
• Former Jags coach Tom Coughlin took his boot camp approach to training camp with him to the New York Giants, but it looks like City Council member Jerry Holland is carrying on the tradition. Holland, a high school baseball coach, is leading the City Hall softball team against the media in a game Sunday. In a Tuesday e-mail copied to, among others, the City’s chief operating officer, chief of staff, general counsel, fellow Council members and Mayor John Peyton, Holland reminded the crew that they had missed practice once and that another absence would earn them a seat on the bench come Sunday. The e-mail was signed, “Coach Holland.”
• Congratulations to Carolyn Wallace Ettlinger, executive director of the Housing Partnership of Jacksonville Inc. She’s one of 41 individuals nationwide selected to participate in a training program offered by the NeighborWorks® Advanced Practitioner Program through Harvard University.
• Henrietta’s at 9th and Main in Springfield will soon offer a happy hour on Thursday afternoons. From 4-7 p.m. draft beer will be two-for-one and the restaurant will offer free salsa and chips.
• The vice consul of the Dominican Republic told Mayor John Peyton that City fire trucks, donated earlier this year, had been put to use recently, fighting heavy flooding near the country’s border with Haiti. Vincente A. Rodriguez told Peyton in a letter that the trucks had been used to get food and medicine to people in the area.
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National League
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Southern League
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