• AmSouth Bank will open two new branches early next month. On Feb. 6, the bank is holding a reception for its new Avondale/Riverside branch. Two days later, the bank will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new St. Johns Town Center office.
• City Council President Michael Corrigan recently formed the Special Committee for a Safer Jacksonville. Over the past few weeks, Corrigan has met with the mayor’s office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Council member Gwen Yates. Corrigan has since realized the committee’s work won’t be done before his tenure as Council President ends, so he’s appointed former Council president Kevin Hyde to co-chair the committee with him. The group met formally for the first time Tuesday.
•The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce has announced the appointment of Michael J. Breen as director of the Chamber’s International Department. He has been a business and economic consultant in the Netherlands for the last nine years and has experience in corporate relocation and business mobility. George Gabel, chair of the International Department, said Breen’s international business experience “communicates to the Jacksonville business community that we are ready to be a global city.”
• The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is hosting a gallery drawing workshop Feb. 3. The workshop will take place inside the “Temples and Tombs: Treasures of Egyptian Art from the British Museum” gallery. The class is for intermediate- and higher-level art students from ages 13 to adult. The workshop will be held from noon to 4 p.m. It costs $32 for members and active docents and $59 for non-members. For more information or to register, call 355-0630.
• Synovus Bank of Jacksonville’s holding company, Synovus Financial Corporation, has been named one of Fortune magazine’s “Top 100 Best Companies to Work for in America” and it was also named on the “Platinum 400 List of America’s Best Big Companies” by Forbes magazine.
• The Main Library will host a free program of ballet and dance at 3 p.m. Feb. 4. The Dancers of the Ballettschule im Ullsteinhaus from Berlin will perform.
• Correction. We incorrectly identified the appointment process for the Jacksonville Waterways Commission in a Wednesday story. According to City ordinance, the JWC is a 13-member panel: three are appointed by the Council president, one by the Duval Legislative Delegation and nine by City Council. The Commission reports to the Council.
• Acting Planning Director Brad Thoburn is getting backing for his permanent appointment from people besides the mayor. Incoming Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Chairman and Foley & Lardner attorney Bob Rhodes and England, Thims & Miller, Inc. CEO Doug Miller have both contacted Council President Michael Corrigan expressing their support of Thoburn.