• Detour ahead: Ft. Caroline Road East between St. Johns Bluff Road and Creekview Drive will be closed to all traffic for 30 days beginning Jan. 8. The closure is part of the Wonderwood Three road improvement project segment of the Better Jacksonville Plan. According to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, completely closing the road will reduce the project time by 90 days, save money and trees and reduce the impact to wetland areas.
• Duval County’s third rabies alert of the year is in effect through Jan. 25 for the Talleyrand Avenue port area following the discovery of a rabid bat. The alert area is bordered on the north by Meta Street at Morrison Street, on the south by Duval Street at Talleyrand Avenue, on the east by University Boulevard North at Burdette Road and on the west by Main Street at 8th Street. Pet owners in the alert area should confine their animals and be certain that each animal has received current rabies immunization shots from a licensed veterinarian. Stray animals should be reported to the City’s Animal Care and Control Division at 630-2489. Animal bites should be reported to Rabies Control at 630-3260.
• There are a few new faces at the Downtown Omni. Natasha Augustine is the new director of human resources, Warren Truitt is the director of engineering and Joel Morano transferred from the Omni in New York City and is working at the front desk.
• The tribe has spoken: Auditions for the CBS-TV reality series “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race” will be held Jan. 13 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Hardee’s restaurant at 12771 Atlantic Blvd. between Kernan and Hodges Boulevards. “Survivor” is looking for individuals while “The Amazing Race” will audition two-person teams. For rules and information, call 564-2218 or visit www.cbs47.com.
• The Wall Street Journal and Harris Interactive conducted a survey in December and found 83 percent of U.S. adults contributed to a charity in 2006. One-third of those who donated said they contributed to religious, hunger-related or health- and disease-related charities. The average total giving last year fell to $1,220 per donor from $1,352 in 2005. Disaster relief charities experienced the largest decrease in contributions, with 27 percent of respondents reporting they made contributions to those charities last year compared to 49 percent in 2005.
• Sunglass Hut at the Landing has closed. An employee, who was packing up the kiosk Friday morning, said the shop simply wasn’t doing enough business to stay open.
• Real estate appraisers and consultants Broom, Moody, Johnson & Grainger, Inc. have relocated to Deerwood Park Boulevard from their Salisbury Road offices. The phone number is the same.