• Two prominent authors are with us this weekend. John Grisham (“The Brethren”) is here to visit pal Bob West and his Bishop Kenny baseball team and National Book Award winner Pete Dexter (“Train”) is playing in a member-guest golf event with pal Tiger Holmes.
• Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver says he’ll take Connecticut to win the NCAA basketball tournament. His team, Auburn, won’t make the field.
• Think you’ve got what it takes to deal with Donald Trump? The University of North Florida is holding casting calls for “The Apprentice” next Saturday at its fine arts center from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. You have to be 21 and legally able to work in the U.S. Oh yeah, you can’t be a candidate for public office or have plans to run in the next six months.
• Runways Transportation Co. in Jacksonville is adding extra service on its Gainesville to Jacksonville International Airport route this weekend to meet the demands of heavy passenger travel for the University of Florida’s spring break. Runways will be running extra trips on its 8:30 a.m. departure Friday morning from Gainesville and its 4:05 a.m. departure Saturday morning. March 19, the Company is also running a special 11 p.m. departure from JIA to Gainesville in anticipation of the heavy travel returning to campus for the resumption of classes. The company also serves the University of North Florida.
• More on spring breakers: The Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco is conducting spring break outreach and enforcement activities across the state to ensure retailer compliance with alcoholic beverage laws in an effort to prevent underage persons from obtaining alcohol. “We will be doing everything we can to keep students safe and healthy during their break,” said Steve Hougland, director of AB&T.
• Correction: City Council member Suzanne Jenkins held her town hall meeting Monday evening at City Hall, not Tuesday.
• City Council President Kevin Hyde has agreed to serve as the Council liaison to the recently-created Racial Opportunity & Harmony Foundation Team. The group is part of the Blueprint for Prosperity initiative.
• 2006 marks the seventh annual Bob Hayes Hall of Fame Banquet and Induction Ceremony and Jags wide receiver Jimmy Smith is on the list. The Pro Bowler, along with five other honorees— which include four former Olympians— will be inducted March 16 at the Terrace Suite in Alltel Stadium at 7 p.m.
• It wasn’t a tense situation Thursday morning at the Landing even though it looked like one with dozens of police in riot gear and a JSO helicopter orbiting above the building. The Sheriff’s Office Field Force was conducting a training exercise. The Field Force is called out to quell civil disorder, according to JSO spokesman Ken Jefferson.
• “It’s pretty dirty,” said Len Buffington when asked about McCoy’s Creek at the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission meeting Thursday. “You can observe the beauty of it, but don’t swim in it.”