• The Jaguars are holding a special gathering during training camp but it’s only for local VIPs. The team’s “Tuesday Night Football” party is Aug. 15 in the Terrace Suite at Alltel. Guests will enjoy a cocktail reception, dinner with Jags owner Wayne Weaver and head coach Jack Del Rio and then a private viewing of training camp. Player autographs will be available, too.
• Think Jacksonville has a big budget at just under $900 million? Try the state’s. It’s $71.3 billion with nearly half ($31.9 billion) devoted to education. The next biggest line item is health care ($23.7 billion).
• Rachel Kaltenbach has returned to the Jacksonville Landing as its public relations director. Kaltenbach said her four months at Nocatee in a similar position was a good experience, but she missed working at the Landing and wanted to move back into her old office before football season kicked off.
• Speaking of the Landing, that big hole in the ground at the east entrance is due to the installation of underground plumbing and grease traps for the new Fuddrucker’s restaurant.
• The City of Jacksonville’s Community and Senior Services Program will present the 25th Annual Senior Prom “Remember the Times” Aug. 4 at the Osborn Center. The Fabulous Moods of Roger Glover will provide musical entertainment. Tickets are $10 dinner included and are available at the Mary L. Singleton Center. For more information call 630-0952 or 630-0995.
• City Council member Elaine Brown got a top referral from Mayor John Peyton last week. Peyton sent a letter to Michael Sittig, executive director of the Florida League of Cities, notifying him that Brown agreed to be reappointed as the City’s board representative for the League.
• The Foley & Lardner law firm reeled in a big one when they landed Florida Solicitor General Christopher Kise, who will join the firm as chair of its national Appellate Practice and as a member of the Litigation Department and White Collar Practice. He’ll work out of the firm’s Tallahassee office.
• Gator Bowl Association President Rick Catlett wasn’t around for the end of the Atlantic Coast Conference meeting here Tuesday — he was off to another conference get-together, this one the Big 12 gathering in Kansas City.
• Another Gator Bowl note: there have been discussions about moving the parade to New Year’s night to create a Mardi Gras atmosphere Downtown. The party may go on but the parade apparently will remain a daytime event due to the large number of high school bands that participate.
• One more specialty license plate: this one for the real estate and construction industries.
• More City Notes, page 3.
• The Jacksonville Transportation Authority Connexion will stop providing Medicaid-sponsored transportation in Duval County. However, the Commission for the Transportation Disadvantaged, through a formal Request for Proposal, has selected MV Transportation to provide Medicaid Non-emergency Transportation effective Aug. 1. The change is a repercussion from the legislation signed by Gov. Jeb Bush in June 2005 that restructures Medicaid and will implement pilot reforms programs in Broward and Duval counties. JTA says about 4,500 clients will be affected.
• She’s back again. Dr. Charlotte Mabrey, University of North Florida percussionist and music professor, will host “An evening of 20th century music” Saturday. Tickets are $10 and the concert will begin at 8 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center’s Lazzara Performance Hall.
• Sheriff John Rutherford will be the guest speaker at the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s August board of governors meeting. It’s set for Aug. 16 at the Marriott Southpoint. Networking gets underway at 11:30 a.m. followed by a 12:15 p.m. program.
• The Florida State football media guide is out and the cover epitomizes a team without any big name players. There are eight Seminoles on the cover.