• Jacksonville will be featured in two upcoming in-flight airline magazines and plenty of area officials are gathering Nov. 3 at the Times-Union Center to celebrate. Delta Sky Magazine and Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine will both have stories on Jacksonville and the surrounding area. Officials from Visit Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission are hosting the reception.
• Same objective, but a new name for Volunteer Jacksonville. The nonprofit organization has changed its name after 35 years of service to the community to HandsOn Jacksonville. Part of the organization’s mission is the restoration of schools as centers of communities.
• Correction: In a recent article about the Hubbard House’s Barbara Campbell Memorial Breakfast, Larry Tagarelli was incorrectly identified as an attorney for domestic violence victim Amanda Smith. He is a staff paralegal and victim advocate at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and assisted attorney Beth Luna with Smith’s case.
• St. Johns Riverkeeper is holding its annual oyster roast Nov. 21 at the Garden Club of Jacksonville. Attorney Wayne Hogan and his wife Pat, Jacksonville University President Dr. Kerry Romesburg and his wife Judy and Jaguars owners Wayne and Delores Weaver are just a handful of the many recognizable folks serving on the host committee. This is the seventh oyster roast and gets underway at 7 p.m. Go to www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org to buy tickets.
• More than 70 people attended “Celebrate Family History Day” Saturday, the genealogy symposium hosted by the Southern Genealogist’s Exchange Society and the Jacksonville Public Library. Society President Betty Reed said the group meets each month at its headquarters on the Westside. For meeting times, call 778-1000 or visit www.sgesjax.com.
• In light of the Nov. 4 general election, City Council President Ronnie Fussell has moved the Land Use & Zoning Committee agenda and standing committee from election day to the day before. The agenda meeting is set for 3 p.m. while the standing committee meets at 5 p.m.
• The numbers are in for the Sept. 20 Jacksonville Coastal Cleanup, a city-wide volunteer effort to remove litter from the shoreline all over Duval County. Together, more than 570 volunteers, including individuals, families, students, scouts, businesses and other organizations, contributed 1,297 hours and collected 16,420 pounds of litter – more than 8 tons. The local effort was part of the Ocean Conservancy’s 23rd Annual International Coastal Cleanup. Since 1986, thousands of volunteers from around the globe have come together to clear more than 100 million pounds of trash from 170,000 miles of shorelines, rivers, lakes, and wetlands.
• United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Robert O’Neill recently informed Mayor John Peyton the City has been awarded a grant worth just under $750,000 as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Grant to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforcement Protection Orders. The program helps implement certain provisions of the Violence Against Women Act. According to O’Neill, the City will work with Hubbard House, the Fourth Judicial Circuit, the State Attorney’s Office and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to create a dedicated domestic violence court.
• Seventy-five Duval County Public Schools are celebrating after being granted the Southeast Rebuilding Collaborative ‘Met the Challenge’ Award. The award recognizes the schools’ commitments to saving energy. The awarded schools improved their energy usage average 20 percent while local schools involved with the program have saved $7.65 million in its three year existence. Overall, Duval County Pulic Schools improved 17 percent on average.