• Former Mayor and current University of North Florida President John Delaney will be put through the ringer, so to speak, Oct. 20 when he’s roasted by the UNF athletics and the UNF Osprey Club. The roast is sponsored by The Kossak Companies and all the proceeds will benefit UNF athletics.
• The Florida Bar is hosting a two-day seminar for 12 print and 12 broadcast journalists Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. The seminar is sponsored by The Bar’s Media & Communications Law Committee and is designed for journalists new to the courts and legal beats. Lawyers and judges will serve as moderators and the seminar includes sessions at the Florida Supreme Court, The Bar’s headquarters and a dinner reception at the capitol with the Florida Supreme Court Justices.
• Speaking of The Florida Bar, it’s accepting nominations for this year’s Young Lawyers Division Award that recognizes the outstanding contributions of a young lawyer to those in need of free legal services. The deadline for nominations for the pro bono award is Nov. 1.
• Florida Coastal School of Law, in conjunction with Jacksonville University, is hosting Environmental Summit 2006 Nov. 3 at JU’s Davis College of Business. The keynote speaker this year is Brian O’Neill, a partner in the Minneapolis firm of Faegre & Benson. O’Neill was the lead counsel in the Exxon-Valdez Alaska oil spill litigation. The day-long summit starts at 8 a.m.
• The UPS Store on Hogan Street is urging Downtown workers and visitors to sign a petition that would require six JSO officers on foot 24 hours a day, seven days week in the Northbank’s urban core.
• Xerox has come up with an interesting — and free — way to thank U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq. Go to www.letssaythanks.com and pick out a thank you card. You won’t know who gets the card, but Xerox will print it and send it free.
• The City’s Mental Health & Welfare Division’s Emergency Assistance program has moved. It’s now in offices on Boulevard Center Drive, Suite 101 in Midtown Centre Office Park, the former Koger Center.
• Tickets to next year’s Florida State-Alabama game in Alltel Stadium are no longer on sale locally. If you want to go and don’t have a ticket, you’ll have to go through one of the schools.
• The Gator Bowl Committee meets Thursday at Alltel Stadium in the Terrace Suite at 5 p.m.
• Jacksonville is getting another school. The Art Institute of Jacksonville will open in January at 8775 Baypine Rd. The school will offer associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs in graphic design and interactive media design, along with a bachelor’s degree-only track for interior design. The new location joins three others already operating in Florida: Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Miami. The Art Institutes school system has 31 educational institutions throughout North America.
• Think you can’t get fired without a good reason? Think again. The assumption that one can’t be fired without good cause after 60 days is one of workers’ rights attorney Tess Arington’s “top 10 employment myths.” She said people have a distorted sense of job security because only specific employment contracts and some government jobs prevent employers from firing employees at any time for any reason – race, gender or other legally-protected discrimination issues excluded, of course.
The new Downtown This Week is out and covers the evolution of both DTW and Downtown the past three years. The magazine is free and available all over Downtown.