• Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Ken Jefferson has been named the State PIO of the Year by the Florida Law Enforcement PIO Association. This is the second year in a row Jefferson has won the award. Jefferson was nominated by Ch. 4 (he co-hosts the Wheel of Justice segment of the Thursday morning newscasts on the station), the Florida Star newspaper and City Council member Glorious Johnson.
• Times-Union food writer Dan McDonald is leaving the paper. He’s headed to the culinary institute at World Golf Village.
• Speaking of the Times-Union, the mayor’s office gets a small break on its annual weekday subscription. A recent invoice showed the mayor’s office is billed $114.40 for five-days-a-week delivery. The regular rate is $122.41.
• The Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens young professionals’ committee, “Wild Things,” is hosting “Brew at the Zoo” from 6-10 p.m. Friday at the Zoo’s Range of the Jaguar exhibit. There will be entertainment, South American food, and beer and wine from around the world, and behind-the-scenes tours. Tickets are $25 per person in advance and $30 per person at the door.
• The Greater Arlington Civic Council says the city’s Town Center Program isn’t being managed correctly, and that oversight of the project should be taken out of the Housing and Neighborhoods Department and placed under the Public Works Department. In an e-mail to Mayor John Peyton and City Council President Daniel Davis, Civic Council President Lad Hawkins said “There are so many employees and departments involved in making basic decisions on what could and should be otherwise made by one or two parties in Public Works that the implementation of Town Centers is getting bogged down.” “Further,” the e-mail states, “the community is at wit’s end as to which department, HAND or PW, to report concerns or ask questions.”
• Doctors and nurses could do better to let loose and laugh every once in a while, says John Bryan, CEO of Improv! Corporate Workshops. Bryan said he’s looking to partner with area colleges and professional schools, particularly in the nursing or medical fields, to provide low-cost or even free team-building and improvisational workshops. Bryan said institutions can contact him at 247-4707 or at [email protected].
• Tickets are available for the third annual Halloween Doors & More. The event that benefits Community PedsCare — a program of Community Hospice — will be held from 3-8 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Jacksonville Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall. For tickets please call 886-3883 or visit www.communityhospice.com. Prices are $100 per adult and $50 for children ages 12 and under. Children under the age of 2 are free.
“I am willing to make it clear that American foreign policy must uphold the sanctity of international treaties. That is the cornerstone on which all relations between nations must rest.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt