• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida executive Mike Hightower has been named the new president of Florida House, which is essentially the state’s “embassy” in the Washington, D.C. It’s a two-year appointment. The chair of Florida House is usually the governor’s wife. However, current Gov. Charlie Crist is single and has committed to being what Hightower called “an active chair.”
• Have you seen the word “ExperienceJax” painted on the sidewalk all over Downtown? Well, the messages are to promote www.ExperienceJax.com being launched by the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville. The Web site, which the group calls a “gift to the city,” will list art and entertainment events across Northeast Florida and allow vendors and event promoters to upload their own information.
• The Jacksonville Zoo & Garden’s 2007-08 board members are Ann Baker, board chair; John Hayt, member-at-large and former chair; Lou Fouts, secretary; Lewis Lee Jr., treasurer; Pamela Phillips, of counsel; Misty Skipper, mayoral appointee; Martha Baker; Carl Cannon; David Loeb; Radford Lovett and Dori Walton.
• A correction to Friday’s story about www.WhenToVote.com. Contrary to a quote from Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland, the election information Web site does not link users to a site that charges a fee for voter registration.
• State Attorney General Bill McCollum Thursday recognized Arlington Middle School for being the first school in Florida to educate its entire 900-member student body about Internet safety through the Attorney General’s CyberSafety Education Program. Members of the Attorney General’s Child Predator CyberCrime Unit began taking the 50-minute presentation into middle and high schools statewide at the start of this school year. Designed to empower children to use the Internet safely, the program combines real-life stories and examples to help students identify the ways they could be victimized online. For more information on the initiative, visit www.safeflorida.net.
• Maarten van de Guchte, director of the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens said there were four people from Naples, Italy in Jacksonville for about a week to help install the “Art from the Ashes: In Stabiano, Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite” exhibit. He said the installation went well, but “the biggest problem for them was finding a good Italian restaurant in Jacksonville, but they did find one in Orange Park.”
• Beth Shankle Anderson, a 2006 graduate of Florida Coastal School of Law, wrote this month’s Florida Bar Journal cover story titled, “Our Federalism — The Younger Abstention Doctrine and its Companions.”
• Speaking of Florida Coastal, the school’s Career Services department is hosting its second annual “Starting Line” reception. The legal community is asked to attend to introduce themselves to this year’s first-year law students. The event is at the school from 5-7:30 p.m. Thursday. Please call 680-7700 for more information.
“Law students are trained in the case method, and to the lawyer everything in life looks like a case.”
– Edward Packard Jr., attorney and author.