• Jaguar players aren’t the only ones who will hit the practice fields this summer — 200 children will be, too, as part of the 5th Annual Tropicana ‘Got Skills?’ Rookie Day on June 18. Children ages 6-14 can sign up for the football drills event for $5 at any Winn-Dixie location. The fees will benefit the Jaguars Foundation.
• With the start of hurricane season next week, Mayor John Peyton joined Jack Morgan, CEO of the Northeast Florida American Red Cross and Lorin Mock, Chief of Emergency Preparedness for Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, to dub this week “Hurricane Preparedness Week.” Mock is asking residents to focus preparedness efforts on knowing risk and vulnerability, having a 72-hour supply kit, preparing for their pets and registering special needs assistance when applicable. For more information on the hurricane preparedness, go to www.coj.net.
• The final numbers are in for the inaugural “26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer.” This week race founder and breast cancer survivor Donna Deegan presented a check in the amount of $306,477.21 to the Donna Hicken Foundation. The foundation has financially assisted more than 1,000 women with breast cancer and has raised more than $1 million since its inception in 2003. Deegan also presented a $525,566.78 check to the Mayo Clinic to help fund clinical trials and provide therapy for breast cancer patients. More than 6,900 racers from 15 countries and more than 2,000 volunteers participated in the debut event. The second annual edition is set for Feb. 15, 2009.
• Eight students from the Duval County Public School System were awarded National Merit Scholarships Wednesday. Seven students from Stanton College Preparatory School received the scholarships financed by colleges and universities: Jessica Davis, University of Central Florida; Nikola Dragovic, New York University; Lauren Fant, University of Central Florida; Taraneh Hazrati, Florida State University; Robert Lamell, Georgia Institute of Technology; Visalak Ramachandran, University of Central Florida; Justin Spengler, New College of Florida. Douglas Anderson School of the Arts’ Anne Ogburn was also awarded a scholarship and she will be attending Tulane University. These students were among 2,800 to receive the award.
“I shouldn’t want you to be surprised, or to draw any particular inference from my making speeches, or not making speeches, out there. I don’t recall any candidate for President that ever injured himself very much by not talking.”
– Calvin Coolidge, U.S. president