• Perhaps its was only a slip of the tongue, but it certainly got a lot of attention at The Jacksonville Bar Association’s luncheon last week. U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger was making a point about Legal Aid when he turned to the featured speaker, General Counsel Rick Mullaney. Except he referred to him as “Dean Mullaney.” The general counsel has been widely rumored to have the inside track for the vacant dean’s position at Florida Coastal School of Law.
• Jacksonville Community Council, Inc. plans to release its 2003 Quality of Life report today. Among the findings: the high school graduation rate is up, while the dropout rate is down; the economy slowed locally; commute times improved in Duval County; and public and private support for the arts increased. For the complete report, see www.jcci.org.
• Mayor John Peyton will join members of the Republican National Lawyers Association and the Christian Legal Society at a luncheon Tuesday at Florida Coastal School of Law.
• Girl Scout cookies? JEDC director Kirk Wendland has plenty of ’em.
• Attorney Teresa Sopp is pushing the Florida Children’s First reception on Feb. 5, which honors those in our community who have worked to raise awareness for the foster care system.
• Germany’s Consul General, Volker Anding, was in town last week to tour Jacksonville’s business infrastructure. Anding saw the Adams Mark Hotel, Cecil Field, the Northside and the University of North Florida’s Research and Development Center on a whirlwind, one–day tour.
• McDonald’s announced that it will bring its Gospelfest Festival and Competition to Jacksonville July 23–25. Jacksonville becomes the third city nationally to host the annual competition, joining New York and Los Angeles. The burger chain calls the event a “celebration of the joy and tradition of gospel music,” featuring some of the top gospel ensembles and choirs from across the southeast. McDonald’s will announce the event Feb. 17, at the Landing.
• Sheriff John Rutherford said the City’s new Protect Homeland America software could have put an early end to last year’s Washington D.C. sniper attacks. Rutherford said D.C. police ran suspect John Lee Malvo’s vehicle tag 14 times before catching him, but none of the individual traffic stops raised suspicion. Rutherford said the City’s software would have recognized the pattern and alerted the police. “They stopped him 14 times in four different states. That would have been enough for this system to tell an officer, ‘This is something I need to look into,’” said Rutherford.
• Today at 3:30 p.m., City Council president Lad Daniels and Mayor John Peyton will reveal their plan to increase opportunities for minority businesses to work for the City. Daniels has asked Council member Warren Alvarez to chair a Council subcommittee to look at various inefficiencies, and Peyton has assembled an 11-member panel to serve a similar purpose.