• The City Council Finance Committee completed its 48-item agenda in 10 minutes Tuesday afternoon, approving 17 actions and sending the remainder back to the committee. Council member and committee chair Kevin Hyde predicted a short Council meeting on Jan. 9.
• Also from the Finance Committee meeting: Council member Warren Alvarez welcomed Hyde back to the Council chambers after he turned down a new job in Tallahassee. Hyde replied, “It was fun to go nowhere.” New governor Charlie Crist nominated Hyde for a position on his cabinet in late December, but Hyde announced last week that he would be staying in Jacksonville.
• The Atlantic Beach location of LaMee the Florist has moved to Mayport Road from its longtime location at the corner of Atlantic Boulevard and Royal Palm Road. The florist shared a building with a gas station for many years, but the gas station closed a couple of months ago.
• Speaking of Atlantic Beach, look for the new Bailey’s Powerhouse Gym to open in a couple of weeks. It’ll be the tenth location for the business that brothers Don, Dave and Darryl Bailey opened in 1981 as a one-room gym on Penman Road.
• LandMar Group, LLC announced its $51.7 million purchase of a 750-acre tract in St. Marys, Ga. this week. The land was formerly used for a paper mill by the Durango Georgia Paper Estate. Landmar plans to redevelop the property into residential and commercial real estate with a marina.
• Re-gifting gets a new twist. Nonprofit Lutheran Social Services is participating in Trading Graces, an online auction that benefits Lutheran health and human service organizations nationwide. The group encourages people to donate “grace gifts” – ones they don’t want to keep and worth more than $50 – to the auction. People can bid on items on eBay Feb. 25-March 25. Contact Rachel Jackson at 730-8284 to donate.
• For 23 years, people have been tracking the performance of BellSouth stock by looking for the symbol “BLS.” With the recent merger between BellSouth and AT&T, they’re going to have to look for another symbol. The new company’s stock now trades as just “T.” AT&T is one of the few companies that trade on the New York Stock exchange under a single-letter. The stock symbol “T” first appeared in 1888 when it was taken by American Bell, a predecessor company to American Telephone and Telegraph.
• Michael Holmes is the new chief operating officer for St. Luke’s Hospital. He is currently the interim chief operating officer at Mount Carmel West in Columbus, Ohio and will start in Jacksonville Jan. 22. St. Luke’s is currently operated by Mayo Clinic and Holmes will oversee the transition of operations to St. Vincent’s, a change that will take effect in April 2008 upon the completion of the new hospital at the Mayo Clinic campus.
• January is National Mentoring Month, so Arby’s has partnered with one of America’s oldest mentoring initiatives, Big Brothers Big Sisters. When you visit any participating Arby’s restaurant and donate $1 to the cause, you’ll receive discount coupons for combo meals and shakes valid through March 31. The funds raised will be used by Big Brothers Big Sisters to continue the organization’s 100-year history of matching caring adults with young people who need role models.