• Last call if you want to watch a Jaguars’ practice because they’ll go behind closed fences after this morning’s drill.
• Progress on Hendricks Avenue. They’re putting in the new traffic light poles.
• Pro golfer Mark McCumber’s golf architecture company has made a deal to develop courses in China. He and his brother Jim represented McCumber Golf at a conference recently and they were one of seven chosen to build golf courses there.
• The St. Johns River City Band has a $25,000 donation in hand and is trying to match it. Expect a letter with a pledge card.
• Football is getting close. Banners have been placed on light poles around the stadium and they’re giving the exterior a good bath.
• Also on the clean-up list: the Crowne Plaza, where crews are scrubbing the sides.
• Remember the Hob Nob, the big political party sponsored by the Chamber? Not enough races this year, so no Hob Nob, they say.
• Thursday’s Jacksonville Economic Development Commission meeting would have been the first for three new commissioners — Craig Gibbs, Randle Shoemaker and Clarence Gooden. However, Gooden couldn’t make it.
• After the JEDC approved a $900,000 grant for the Kuhn Companies’ renovation of the Barnett Bank building, JEDC Chair Ceree Harden expressed a bit of an affinity for the building. “That’s where I begged for my first loan about 30 years ago in the mezzanine,” said Harden.
• Adm. Kevin Delaney, who runs the Delaney & Associates Consulting firm here, has been named to the Small Business Association’s National Advisory Council.
• The Omni was quick to let everyone know that they’re aware of the airport problems. General Manager Scott Stuckey says he’s acquired more liquid and gel “basics” for guests that were required to relinquish them before boarding planes.
• Going in style. The City has completed pouring the foundation for a $285,000 four-stall public restroom at Huguenot Park. The budget is so high due to the location in a storm-surge-prone zone.
• McGuireWoods attorney David Wells is the new president of the Fourth Judicial Circuit’s Judicial Nominating Committee. Wells succeeds Mary Bland Love of Gobelman Love Gavin & Wasilenko.
• City Council member Ronnie Fussell is back in City Hall this week after having shoulder surgery last week to repair rotator cuff damage in his right shoulder. He’ll wear a sling for about another 6-8 weeks.
• JTA plans to rename its Downtown transit station the Rosa L. Parks/FCCJ Transit Station. It’ll be made official during an Aug. 28 ceremony at 10:30 a.m.
• Speaking of FCCJ, President Dr. Steven Wallace has asked the City to include the school in its 800 MHZ radio system. Wallace contends it will help the school’s disaster preparedness and city-wide radio communications system.
• Gov. Jeb Bush will be in town Aug. 31 to help the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce kick off its First Coast Business Leadership Network. It’s at the Blue Cross Blue Shield building on Deerwood Campus Parkway and tentatively starts at 9:30 a.m.
• The Aug. 21 “concrete breaking” for the new terminal expansion project at JIA has been canceled. No word as to why.
• A local hot sauce company has some interesting names for its products. Pepper Rama in the Riverside Village shopping center sells Lawyer’s Breath — named after a California attorney, we’re told — and So Sue Me hot sauces as well as hundreds of others.
•The Sales and Marketing Council of the Northeast Florida Homebuilders Association is sponsoring a charity run/walk for its inaugural Thanksgiving Turkey Trot benefiting Trinity Rescue Mission and Builders Care. The event is Nov. 18. For more information call 421-0298.
• The Symphony Guild will have two Oct. 5 parties in advance of the opening of their Showhouse in Springfield. The house will be open Oct. 7-22 and there will be a luncheon and an after-work party at the Karpeles Museum. Both feature food and shuttle rides to the house.
• The Suddath Companies has been selected as a Top 100 For Hire Carrier by Transport Topic Magazine. The list is published annually and recognizes trucking companies. Last year, the company was ranked 87th; this year 77th. Its revenue went from $211 million to $264 million and it added more than 100 positions.
• Veronica Sledge, a longtime board member of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, passed away last week after a long illness. Sledge was a fair housing advocate in Jacksonville who was involved in a case that resulted in the development of hundreds of public housing units in non-minority neighborhoods.
• Also, condolences to Sports Board Director Mike Sullivan on the passing of his mother.
• If you were ever a visitor to the Cummer Museum of Art & Garden’s Web site — check it out now. It’s been updated and is much more informative then it was in the past. The site is www.cummer.org.
• Koja Sushi at the Landing is giving their customers a complimentary bottle of water before they leave because of the high temperatures outside. Also, the Baymeadows Koja is supposed to open in about a month.
• Want to be a star? You could get your big break at the inaugural Jax Music Conference and A&R Super Summit Nov. 2-4 at the Osborn Center and the Omni Hotel. Tickets are $75 before the end of August; $150 at the door. The Jacksonville Music Committee is hosting the summit and promises representatives from record labels, music professionals, up-and-coming artists and others in the industry will be there. For more information go to www.jaxmusicconference.com.