• The City Council’s newly elected members, Ronnie Fussell and Richard Clark, will be sworn in today during a brief ceremony at City Hall.
• Where’s Bob? At the Police & Fire Pension Fund building at an administrative hearing Thursday concerning former sheriff Nat Glover. Judge Robert Cohen presided and the opposing attorneys were Robert Klausner and Robert Button.
• The Jacksonville Children’s Commission is getting ready to move into new offices in the Brewer Center off A. Philip Randolph Blvd. JCC staffers did a walk-through in the new facilities Thursday and are said to be very impressed. The Brewer Center should be ready for occupancy in early June.
• Speaking of the Children’s Commission, their Book Rally designed to encourage early literacy by giving books to underprivileged students continues to pick up steam. More than 250,000 books have been donated since the rally’s September launch and, though still a ways away from meeting their one million book goal, event organizers are very pleased.
• City Council is in the process of confirming the appointment of Annette Hastings as executive director of the Tourist Development Council. ‘
• Progress inside the new Main Library continues. Now wired for electricity, lights in the big building were turned on this week.
• Kristen Key, a press aide for Mayor John Peyton, is finding her office walls a little bare these days. After being on loan from the Cummer Art and Gardens for months, a large portrait that hung above her desk was recently reclaimed. “They just came in one day and got it,” Key said of the now-stark office. “Now I need to find something to replace it.”
• Jeff Prosser is leaving Ch. 12/25’s sports department when his contract ends in June. He’s the father of three little ones and says he wants to spend more time with them, so he’ll do freelance television and radio work.
• U.S. Senator Mel Martinez is close to finding a downtown office. Martinez is said to be shopping around for something on the Northbank, likely in Independent Square, but he hasn’t ruled out options across the river. “As long as it’s downtown,” a Martinez aide said. “That’s where we want to be.”
• Two of our big downtown civic clubs make their annual charitable donations on Monday. The Meninaks will give out $25,000 in scholarships and the Rotarians will give $30,000 to the MalVai Washington Kid’s Foundation and $25,000 to Trinity
Rescue Mission.