• Parents and students who would like to know more about financial aid now have the option of listening to advice from a college financial aid professional on ACT’s student Web site. Visit www.actblog.org/podcasts.php to listen to or download an array of college planning topics. You can also learn about taking the proper courses for college, visiting a college campus and planning for higher education.
• American Eagle, American Airlines’ regional affiliate, will add two new non-stop flights from Jacksonville International Airport to Raleigh-Durham, N.C. beginning May 1. The flights will depart JIA at 6:20 a.m. and 6:55 p.m. and will arrive in Raleigh-Durham at 7:45 a.m. and 8:20 p.m. Return flights from Raleigh-Durham will depart at 7 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. and arrive in Jacksonville at 8:35 a.m. and 8:50 p.m. American Eagle will use 44-seat Embraer jets to serve the new routes.
• There were 11,709 residential foreclosures recorded in Florida in January, an increase of 13 percent compared to January 2005 and a 40 percent increase over December. According to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, Florida ranks third in the country in the number of foreclosures. The state also ranks sixth in the country with one property in some state of foreclosure for every 624 households.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Florida is the beneficiary of this years Young Lawyers Section of the Jacksonville Bar Association’s annual “Tee it Up” charity golf tournament. The tournament is March 15 at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club’s Ocean Course from noon-6 p.m.
• Law Day is drawing near and the American Bar Association has issued an entire manual on the week long event that includes everything from what Law Day is to how to plan events. There’s also a local flavor to the booklet. On page 15, there’s a photo of Mayor John Peyton and several members of the Jacksonville Bar Association with the proclamation Peyton signed last year pertaining to Law Day.
• National public works artist Susan Cooper of Colorado has been selected to design the Ritz Theatre and La Villa Museum’s latest public Art installation: the “La Villa Braid.” The contemporary piece will thread music, water and film together in celebration of African American culture and will be executed in several formations at the theater, including the southwest stage house of the Ritz and at the corner of Davis and Union streets. The braids are scheduled to be unveiled this September as part of the City’s Art in Public Places Program.
• With the Spring Break holiday just around the corner, thousands of college students will venture to hot spots like Cancun, Panama City and Key West. To prevent students’ overindulgence in sun, fun and alcohol, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) has issued a Spring Break Safety Tips memo to colleges and universities around the country in an effort to prevent a repeat of last year’s number of nearly 1,600 spring break-related injuries. For more information, visit www.acep.org.