• Emergency surgery for Fire Chief Rick Barrett that will require a few months to recover has convinced Chief Administrative Officer Dan Kleman to rethink retirement. Mayor John Peyton announced Monday that Kleman will take over the department as the interim director. “He won’t carry any hoses,” said mayoral spokesperson Susie Wiles. The administrative position isn’t something new for Kleman. He held similar positions in Tallahassee and Hillsborough County. According to Wiles, Barrett is supposed to retire this summer.
• The Internal Revenue Service call center Downtown has added 111 new employees this week. The new customer service representatives will be trained over the next few months to make sure they are ready to handle the volume of calls expected during tax season.
• Twenty-three units of blood were donated at the Sept. 25 Florida-Georgia Blood Alliance drive at One Independent Square sponsored by Capital Partners and First Coast Security. That’s enough blood to help 69 people, said Nadya Dutchin, donor resource consultant at the Blood Alliance.
• The political and public policy radio talk show “Down to Business Andy Johnson” is now on AM-1320 weekdays from 2-5 p.m. The show is also on simulcast on AM-1240 from 3-5 p.m. The call-in phone number is 266-1320.
• The Department of Public Works installed a left turn signal at the intersection of Park Street and Riverside Park Place Monday to service traffic attempting to turn left onto Riverside Park Place from Park Street. It’s anticipated to ease congestion at the intersection. The signal will function only during morning and afternoon rush hours and there are no plans to install a permanent left turn lane there.
• There’s a change in the Rotary Club of South Jacksonville’s schedule. The Oct. 10 speaker will be Dr. Robert Harmon, director of the Duval County Health Department. Jags Owner Wayne Weaver has been rescheduled for Nov. 28.
• SunTrust Mortgage has opened a new office at 13901 Sutton Park Dr. S., Bldg. C. Suite 170.
• Atlanta-based Wakefield Beasley & Associates Architects, Inc. celebrated its third anniversary in Jacksonville by moving into bigger offices. The firm now has nearly 5,500 square feet in Southpoint.
• Movie buffs might want to consider JMOMA’s next Underground Cinema event. The Wednesday screening at 7 p.m. will feature the 1975 film “The Passenger.” Call 366-6911 ext. 204 for more information.
• The Jacksonville Waterways Commission meets Thursday at 9 a.m. in City Council Chambers.
• New restaurant coming to Riverside. Brown Bros. Barbeque will open next door to the Pizza Palace at Park and King streets soon.
• More than 14,000 Duval County Public Schools middle school students participated in the Sept. 28 Guinness Book of World Records Reading Challenge. The local students joined more than 300,000 middle school students state-wide to read “Peter and the Starcatchers” written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. The 300,000 students reading simultaneously broke the previous Guinness record of 155,528 students set in the United Kingdom in 2004.
• In the 2007 Jaguars Playbook which has been released and is available at all public libraries, two quarterbacks listed books with pet titles as their favorites. Byron Leftwich listed his favorite book as, “Wackiest White House Pets,” by Gibbs Davis and, “No More Dead Dogs,” by Gordon Korman was listed by David Garrard as his favorite.
• The FCCJ Artist Series is accepting donations of new or gently used winter coats for children at the I.M. Sulzbacher Center at the “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” shows beginning on Oct. 17 at the T-U Center. The FCCJ Artist Series is accepting donations through Oct. 20. For more information call 632-3200.
• The Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art held “Jammin at JMOMA” last Saturday where students from over 22 middle schools in the area participated in a group art project. The art project is going to be on display at the museum during the Art Walk on Wednesday.
• Attorney General candidate Bill McCollum will be in town Thursday for a breakfast meeting at the Republican Party headquarters on Beach Boulevard. It starts at 9 a.m.
• According to Ray Rodriguez of the Real Estate Strategy Center of North Florida, Inc. a couple of recently “flipped” homes on County Road 210 have proven quite profitable. One was bought in the Johns Creek development in February for $440,000 and sold two months later for $650,000. The other was purchased in July in St. Johns Forest for $563,300 and resold a month later for $669,000.