• Former JEA spokesperson Ron Whittington has formed Whittington & Associates, a media and crisis management consulting company. Whittington, who has more than 30 years media experience, has already made several presentations to various companies both locally and regionally.
• Duval County judges are keeping a close eye on Tallahassee, where Gov. Jeb Bush is reviewing candidates to fill a local judicial vacancy. Bush is choosing from finalists: Robert Aguilar, Mark Borello, Angela Dixon, Mose Floyd, Sheila Loizos and Joseph Vaughn. Local judges are hoping the vacancy is filled by November, in time for the new hire to step into the holiday rotation.
• A large part of Wednesday’s Jacksonville Bar Association meeting focused largely on New Orleans’ struggles in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The meeting included personal reminiscences from Tulane law school grads Alan Bookman, the president of the Florida Bar Association, and Judge Bernard Nachman. Nachman, who left New Orleans with “a wife, daughter and a law degree,” predicted the city would be rebuilt by 2011, in time for his 50th reunion at Tulane.
• It’s not just the legal community that’s pitching in to raise money for the victims of Katrina. Family members are getting involved as well. Judge Gary Flower’s son raised $250 by selling lemonade.
• Fashion statement by Jags’ quarterback Byron Leftwich after Sunday’s 26-14 win over Seattle: black blazer, unbuttoned white dress shirt, white tee-shirt, blue jeans and shower shoes.
• Seattle tried to keep their players cool with a makeshift arrangement. When either the offensive or defensive team came off the field, they would huddle under long screens held by trainers’ assistants. The screens weren’t light, either, and the holders were visibly weakening as the game went on.
• Free Press writer and freelance artist Charles Griggs has joined the city’s health department in a public relations role. You may know him from the roundtable of local journalists on Ch. 7. No more. Since he went “over to the other side,” as he says, they don’t consider him a journalist.