• Former Mayor Lou Ritter will be in Baltimore for the Preakness horse race Saturday. His daughter Pam is an assistant trainer for Barbaro, the horse that won the Kentucky Derby and one that many think could win the elusive Triple Crown.
• Many of our local elected officials and business leaders are in Washington, D.C. on the Chamber’s annual lobbying trip and the Jacksonville Aviation Authority is helping them all out by offering parking passes for the three-day trip. The locals will also get a tour of the Capitol today. For the complete list, see page 5.
• A nice chunk of change from the Special Law Enforcement Trust Fund for five local organizations. Of the $56,000 that’s available, the Justice Coalition will get $25,000; MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation gets $15,000; an NAACP crime summit gets $8,000; the Boy Scouts get $5,000; and the Bob Hayes Track Meet, Inc. gets $3,000.
• The Sports and Entertainment division of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission is taking nominees for this year’s Georgia-Florida (the Bulldogs are the home team, that’s why they are listed first) Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be Oct. 27 at noon and nominees are due by June 2.
• A bill is working its way through Council that would permit the relocation of three polling locations in time for this fall’s elections. They are: 54 Magnolia at Deerwood to Hilton Garden Inn; Unity Christian Fellowship to Tru Way Church of the Living Christ; and Oak Harbor Baptist Church to Ambassador Baptist Church.
• The local Taco Bells recently completed a fundraiser during which $32,000 was raised for the local Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida.
• The Supervisor of Elections office received more than $200,000 in state grants to make new polling places and early election sites accessible to the handicapped.
• After learning that some 911 emergency phone system technology was already considered outdated after six years in use, Council member Lad Daniels wondered about his own shelf life: “It’s amazing the useful life for this technology is over after six years. I hate to think about my useful life after six years.” The 911 systems are being updated in Duval County’s outlying areas.