• The City’s Director of Military Affairs, Dan McCarthy, says the USS JFK will officially end its tenure with the U.S. Navy by September. The aircraft carrier will be in Boston March 1-6 for its last operational event before it’s decommissioned and retired. While in Boston, the JFK’s import cabin will be removed and reassembled at the JFK Museum. The official decommissioning ceremony will be March 23 at Mayport. Aug. 1, the carrier will leave Mayport for the last time.
• The 2007 Guns ‘n’ Hoses charity boxing matches between the police and firemen are set for March 10 in the Arena. According to Fraternal Order of Police President Nelson Cuba, City Council members and our Constitutional officers all get two complimentary tickets each. After that, they are $44 for club seats.
• Philip Green, a longtime account manager with Ch. 17 — perhaps better known as the former WB Frog — is moving on. Green has left the station and is now the director of sales and marketing for the Ronco Group in St. Augustine.
• On Feb. 22, the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce will provide a report to the community on the first year progress of the Blueprint for Prosperity campaign. The campaign is designed to encourage businesses to create good-paying jobs and thus raise the level of per capita income in Jacksonville.
• Effective Monday the state minimum wage goes up to $6.67 and hour. That’s up 27 cents from the previous hourly wage of $6.40. It’s also $1.52 higher than the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour.
• Actuarial Concepts, a management advisor and benefits specialist on Hartley Road, didn’t send out Christmas cards this year. Rather, the company sent a note on company letterhead informing everyone they made a donation to Trinity Rescue Mission Women & Children’s Shelter for twice as much as they would have spent on corporate holiday cards.
• Speaking of holiday greetings, Clerk of the Court Jim Fuller’s may have been the most creative. Fuller sent out CDs with Christmas carols, but not just any carols. The 11 songs were performed by members of 11 different departments on his staff and they all have Clerk’s Office-related titles. For example, “The Traffic Serenata” was sung to the tune of “The 12 Days of Christmas” and was performed by nine members off the Traffic Violations Bureau.
• First Guaranty Bank will break ground on its Bartram Trail financial center at 10 a.m. Jan. 9.
• Florida Theatre regulars may recognize the name Florence Desch. She was named “Usher of the Year” and recognized at the Florida Theatre’s usher appreciation party. Desch is a retired nurse who lives in Middleburg and worked 160 of the 200 shows held at the theater last year.
• St. Johns River City Band Director Michael Davis is on his way to Pasadena, Calif. for the Rose Bowl Parade Monday at 8 a.m. Davis is the conductor of the opening band in the parade.