• Florida Coastal School of Law is targeting a June 1 move-in date for its new expanded campus in Baymeadows. The school originally sought to move from its cramped Beach Boulevard campus in January but has had to wait on building permits for the renovation of the Baymeadows site. The new facility should be open in time for summer school. It will more than double the size of Florida Coastal’s campus and features an expanded library, two fully functioning courtrooms, a fitness center and a 1,400-space parking garage.
• Attorney Bill Maness and wife Betsy are recovering in Baptist South after a wreck Sunday night. He has broken ribs; she has a cracked pelvis and other problems. Not much of a place for a birthday party: he’s 89 today.
• Is the city’s “Jacksonville Day in Tallahassee” a goner? The new laws regarding lobbyists mean that legislators can’t be wined and dined by those seeking influence, and the city’s Day will have to go without the traditional reception, breakfast and luncheon — and without those, it’s doubtful that many from here will make the trip.
• John Prine’s show at the Florida Theatre Wednesday night brought out a wide age range of folks. Prine, whose album “Fair and Square” has been nominated for a Grammy, quipped, “Back then I was up against the Eagles, now I’m up against 50 Cent.” Prine won a Grammy in 1991. This is his fourth nomination since 1988.
• Haydon Burns Library architect Taylor Hardwick is pleased that it looks like his building won’t be torn down after all. He said, “The Haydon Burns Library is the magnum opus of my 50-year career and has at least 60 more years of useful life to give to our community.”
• The possibility of having a playoff game in Jacksonville is almost nil but the Jaguars have alerted season ticket holders that they can put down a deposit on tickets. The only scenario for a playoff game would be for the Jaguars to get the first wild card spot and then win two games while the team getting the second spot also wins twice. That would put the AFC Championship game at Alltel Stadium.
• The portion of Riverside Avenue under construction will close at night over the weekend as crews try to get it ready to open sometime next week.
• It seems like just yesterday that Bishop John J. Snyder High opened on the Westside but this spring the school will graduate its first four-year class. And the school has already outgrown its facilities. In 2002, it enrolled 78 students total, this year its enrollment is 377. A silent auction will be held Feb. 25 to raise money for new classrooms and a multi-purpose stadium.
• An odd landmark has fallen due to clearing for construction of a fancy condo on the Ortega River. Folk singer Al Wells’ house, made semi-famous in his album “Songs from the Doublewide,” is gone. It was called a “doublewide” because it had two front doors and looked like a big trailer.
• Local Christian activists are circulating a petition to get a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. They need about a million names by year’s end.
• Don’t gripe about the way you’re treated by the Jaguars. A national sports magazine surveying over 1,000 fans and got them to rate the 91 American professional sports franchises and the Jags were No. 16 overall.
• Rep. Don Davis, ailing knee and all, played in the Gate Senior golf tournament this week and managed to finish the event with a respectable score.
• Almost 600 people attended the Springfield Woman’s Club’s 19th Annual Holiday Festival Tour of Historic Homes last weekend. Many also picked up forms to order memorial bricks which will be installed around the new fountain in Klutho Park. Artisans have begun carving marble and casting a new bronze cherub for the historic landmark restoration project. The city has approved the plans and site preparation will also begin soon, said club member and fountain historian Chris Farley.
• Fidelity National Financial President and CEO Bill Foley is doing all right these days. According to Florida Trend magazine, Foley will make about $6.2 million in total compensation this year (that’s with a base salary of just over $991,000). However, he’s well behind the state’s leader, Lennar Corp. President and CEO Stuart Miller who stands to take home about $16.2 million this year (his base salary is $1 million). Other locals on the top 25 list include Interline Brands Inc. President and CEO Michael Grebe ($4.9 million), Rayonier Inc. Chairman, President and CEO Lee Nutter ($4.2 million), Landstar System Inc. President and CEO Henry Gerkens ($3.4 million), St. Joe Co. Chairman and CEO Peter Rummell ($2.7 million) and Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. President and CEO Peter Lynch ($2.7 million).
• A former JSO detective got a little national publicity recently, albeit the wrong kind. Shawn Pringle was featured in Maxim magazine’s “Filthy Harrys” spread as one of the worst cops in 2005. The former detective was accused of sexually assaulting several women and was freed on $500,000 bond.
• The library has put out its December-January guide for all programs at the Main Library and the 19 branch libraries and there’s an interesting one set for Jan. 21 at the Main Library. It’s called “Poop, Boogers & Vomit: An Adventure in Grossology.”
• State Senate President Tom Lee and State Speaker Allan Bense will be the featured speakers at the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s first quarterly Cornerstone luncheon next year. It’s Jan. 18 at the Hyatt and it starts at noon.