• Two local teachers, Jeffrey Cumber from Robert. E. Lee High School and Kevin Simmons from Eagle’s View Academy, have been selected to join a group of 29 educators nationwide as members of the Space Foundation’s 2007 Flight of Teacher Liaisons. They were chosen based on their advocacy of space and science education in the classroom and the community. Cumber and Simmons will be honored at the 23rd Annual National Space Symposium April 9-12 in Colorado Springs and will participate in a day-long professional development workshop.
• Steps have been made towards creating a Downtown experience to coincide with The Players Championship in May. Subcommittees have been formed and chairs have been named. Jim Dalton of The Dalton Agency will head the “Presence Program” while the City’s Office of Special Events will coordinate all golf-themed planning and Jacksonville and the Beaches Visitors & Convention Bureau President John Reyes will lead the “Transportation” committee.
• The Jacksonville Waterways Commission meeting has been moved to April 12 at 9 a.m. in Council Chambers. The meeting was originally scheduled for April 5.
• In search of effective tips on how to keep your lawn lush? Laurie Prescott, of Green Schemes, Inc. presents “A Guide to Landscaping Your Lawn” Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. For more information, call 757-4462.
• Today is the last day on the 4th floor at City Hall for Keith Weiss. A City Council research assistant for the past five years, he is retiring and heading to his farm in Greenville, Tenn. Weiss said he is going to be a farmer and also teach political science and statistics at Tusculum College.
• If you tuned in to TV-47 Thursday for the noon news broadcast, you discovered the station ran a local travel show instead. According to Clear Channel News Director Lynn Heider, the news was preempted in order to upgrade equipment in the news control room and make sure it was on-line for the 5 p.m. show. She added viewers should notice a “much sharper look for breaking news and weather alerts.”
• As part of the new partnership between the Bausch & Lomb Championships and Mayor Peyton’s RALLY Jacksonville! early learning initiative, the tournament donated $1 to the reading program for every ticket sold for Tuesday’s day session. Saturday afternoon, between the first and second singles semifinal matches, Tournament Director John Arrix will present a check for $4,401 to Peyton and members of the Book Club. At its February meeting, the Sports & Entertainment Board of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission approved a $10,000 grant for this year’s event after a request from the tournament and the Mayor’s office.
“Try to cook so that it will surprise a little, agreeably … and astonish slightly, without shocking.”
– Jean Marie Amat, chef, St. James restaurant in Bordeaux, France