• Attention Jacksonville Bar Association members: Due to overwhelming response, the 2008 Professional Directory photo shoot has been extended for an additional week. Come by Dec. 17-21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to have your photo updated for the new Professional Directory, which will be available in January. The studio is located on Bay Street between Newnan and Ocean. Complimentary parking will be provided at the Daily Record on the corner of Newnan and Bay.
• Speaking of the United Way, the Northeast Florida chapter recently received a $1.5 million Compassion Capital Fund grant to be administered over the next three years. The grant will help community and faith-based organizations in the Arlington area grow their capacity to serve youth and their families more effectively through leadership development, enhanced programs, increased revenue and community engagement. United Way of Northeast Florida partnered with Duval County Public Schools, The Community Foundation of Jacksonville and The Jacksonville Children’s Commission to develop the grant proposal and was one of only 37 organizations nationwide to receive the grant this year.
• The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department will graduate its recruit class 107 during a Dec. 20 ceremony at the Fire and Rescue Training Academy. It’s at 7 p.m.
• A couple of weeks ago, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown asked Mayor John Peyton to delay City Council action on the license agreement between the City and the Tony Boselli Foundation to run the community center at Simonds-Johnson Park. Council voted to approve the deal, but Brown is still after Peyton. “I am asking you to delay signing into action the recently approved Council action on this matter,” said Brown in a Nov. 28 letter to Peyton. “We both know that many questions still remain unanswered, and we both are aware that there were flaws in the process.”
• A correction to last Wednesday’s story that incorrectly identified the architect for the The Library project downtown. The project’s architect is Ruth and Dunavant Architects Inc.
“Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.”
– Noam Chomsky, U.S. linguist and political analyst.