• The Jacksonville Port Authority has released its 2005-06 annual report and for the fourth year in a row the Port has broken the previous year’s record for cargo moved through the Port. Last year, 8.7 million metric tons of cargo passed through the port, topping the previous year’s 8.44 tons. On the downside, almost 10,000 fewer passengers boarded cruise ships in Jacksonville last year than in 2005.
• Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith is serving as the chair of the Morton’s Medicine & Miracles fundraiser that benefits the Children’s Miracle Network. It’s May 22 at Morton’s Steakhouse and Smith is recruiting local notables to serve as “celebrity waiters” including Mayor John Peyton.
• The Monique Burr Foundation for Children is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Since its creation in 1997, the organization — which was founded by LandMar President and CEO Ed Burr — has expanded into Palm Coast, Tampa, Ft. Myers and southeast Georgia.
• Denise Bunnewith, the executive director of the four-county Metropolitan Planning Organization, has been elected chair of Florida’s MPO Advisory Council and she’s also been appointed to the Policy Committee for the Association of MPOs, a group that represents nearly 400 MPOs nationwide. Bunnewith will assume her chairmanship in July.
• The Players Championship will hold a reception for its corporate partners April 12 at the River Club. Invitees will get an update on the tournament and the Stadium Course.
• University of North Florida professor, Dr. Ellen Wagner, will speak at the April 16 meeting of the First Coast Freethought Society. The topic of the speech, which starts at 6:30 p.m., is “Morality and God: Does what is right and wrong depend only on God’s commands?” The event is at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville on the Arlington Expressway
• One local elementary school is celebrating a major anniversary this year. Ruth N. Upson Elementary is holding a reception April 15 to honor its 90th year of teaching kids in Duval County.
• It’s no secret City Council member Lad Daniels plans to run for State Rep. Mark Mahon’s seat in 2008. Both are term-limited and as of now, no one else in Mahon’s district has expressed any interest. Daniels hopes to run unopposed and already has the backing of Mahon.
“Judgment is more than skill. It sets forth on intellectual seas beyond the shores of hard indisputable factual information.”
– Kingman Brewster, former president of Yale and U.S. ambassador to Great Britain