• How popular is singer Jimmy Buffett? His Feb. 21 Arena concert sold out in 16 minutes.
• Rep. Corrine Brown has introduced a bill in Congress to name the Federal courthouse after the late Judge Bryan “Cowboy” Simpson.
• The mayor presented — and the City Council approved — an $856 million budget last year, but after the City spent about $20 million responding to a series of hurricanes late last summer there’s been a lot of speculation around City Hall lately about exactly how much money the City actually has to spend. Those questions will be answered March 1 when an independent auditor gives the mayor’s office its opinion. Then the mayor’s office presents the final number to the City Council later in the month.
• The Jaguars have been contacting the season ticket holders who will have to relocate because the team is covering up some seats in Alltel Stadium to avoid blackouts. The cheapest seats will be covered and fans are being given a year at better seats for the same price of $135 for the 10-game season. After that: $315.
• Our dog track was among the businesses which did well during the Super Bowl. The Saturday before the game saw a million dollars go through the betting windows.
• Chamber Government Affairs Committee chair Jim McCollum of BellSouth has named his seconds in command: Michael Stewart of the airport will handle federal issues, Linda Lanier of the Children’s Commission will take local matters in hand and Kellie Jo Kilberg of the Clay County Committee of 100 will do the state work. Teala Milton of the JEA will be in charge of Jacksonville Day in Tallahassee.
• One of our area’s top executives may be moving. Donna Orender, who runs PGA Tour Productions, is rumored to be the top candidate to be the commissioner of the ladies’ golf tour.
• Good news from the Otis Smith Kids Foundation— there was no major vandalism to the manatee statues during the Super Bowl festivities. Two had minor damage but are repairable.
• Jacksonville military lobbyists have some unexpected backers in their fight to keep the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy off the Pentagon’s chopping block. If the carrier is retired, lobbyists in the Hampton Roads section of Virginia worry that one of their Norfolk-based carriers will be transferred to Mayport as a replacement. The paper up there, The Virginian Pilot, is running a poll asking readers if they think the Kennedy should be retired.
• Super Bowl Host Committee President Michael Kelly got some immediate feedback on slow-clearing parking lots under the Hart Bridge after the Super Bowl. He told Host Committee co-chairman Peter Rummell in an e-mail that he “got screamed at by some Philly guy stuck on a bus there.” But overall, Kelley said the good comments far outweighed the bad. Host committee board member Tom Petway said he heard from NFL COO Jim Steeg that “You guys did a fantastic job.”
• The mayor’s office was a little miffed that a full-page ad purchased by the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce to run in Monday’s USA Today didn’t contain any mention of the City’s “Jacksonville... Where Florida Begins” branding campaign. Mayor’s office spokesperson Susie Wiles called it “a missed opportunity.” Cornerstone Executive Director Jerry Mallott told her it was an oversight. “He reminded me that the Chamber had included the campaign in many of its other initiatives. This was just one that slipped through the cracks,” said Wiles.