• The University of North Florida will break ground on its new Student Union Sept. 19 at 10 a.m.
• City Council member Clay Yarborough has questioned why the City flies the American flag 24 hours a day above City Hall. In a letter to Mayor John Peyton, Yarborough cites a section of the United States Code that calls for the flag to be flown “only from sunrise to sunset” unless it’s illuminated at night and not when the weather is inclement.
• Clarification to a Monday City Note. Attorney/art collector Barbara Jane League was one of the first female students to receive undergraduate and law school degrees from Washington & Lee in the early 1990s.
• Gov. Charlie Crist has agreed to be the guest speaker at the Sept. 12 Cornerstone luncheon at the Osborn Center. Cornerstone is the economic development arm of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce.
• According to Devin Reed, chief of the City’s Procurement division and chair of the City’s Professional Services Evaluation Committee, the engineering firm of England Thims & Miller was the top firm in the City’s effort to find a firm to provide civil engineering and land planning services for Cecil Commerce Center. England Thims & Miller graded highest of nine that submitted proposals for the job. HDR, Inc. and Prosser Hallock, Inc. rounded out the top three, all of which will be sent to Peyton for the final decision. ETM scored a 92 out of a possible 110 points.
• The Gate gas station on Atlantic Boulevard near 9A was closed Tuesday from 5 a.m.-6 p.m. The station spent the day installing hurricane generator equipment that complies with a state law.
“The $100-plus dinner in New York is a major speculative undertaking akin to going after sunken treasure. The cost of the expedition is going to be steep and you’ll come out of it enriched or just soaked.”
– Ross K. Baker