• Tiara, a new shoe and accessories boutique for women in the Elks Club Building on Laura Street, is preparing for its grand opening next week. Owner Maria T. Jones and friends are putting the finishing touches on the shop this week in preparation for an open house Monday.
• The Downtown Development Authority approved a $20,000 grant to help renovate the London Bridge Pub on Ocean Street. If approved by the JEDC in December, the money will subsidize a $58,000 investment from property owner Chris Hionides to fix up the exterior and install utility upgrades that will include central heating and air.
• Mayor John Peyton thinks the City is getting shorted in homeland security funding and he’s asked for Gov. Jeb Bush’s help. Peyton told Bush that Jacksonville gets shortchanged on federal funding because dollars are distributed by population density — a major handicap to a city like Jacksonville that spreads over 800 square miles. Peyton asked Bush to reconsider how the State will distribute its homeland security funds. “If the State distributes 25 percent off the top to Miami, Orlando and Tampa and excludes Jacksonville, this will simply exacerbate the inequity,” Peyton wrote to Bush in an e-mail. The governor said he would look into it.
• Reminder: the Jaguars Taste of the NFL dinner, benefiting the Lutheran Social Services Second Harvest Food Bank, is tonight at Alltel Stadium. A limited number of tickets are still available. For details, call 353-3663.
• Steven L. Cottrell has joined Akerman Senterfitt law firm as an associate in the Taxation Practice Group.
• Michael Mulder, a special agent for the U.S. Secret Service, will give a lecture today about the current frauds and scams in the financial industry. Mulder is scheduled to speak at the Radisson at 11 a.m.
• St. John’s Cathedral will celebrate Scotland’s Patriotic St. Andrew’s Day Sunday with a Scottish music festival. The program is free and open to the public. Parking and child care is available.