• Several appointments will go before the City Council tonight. Former Sheriff Nat Glover is up for a two-year term as a member of the Police & Fire Pension Fund Board of Trustees. Also, former PGA of America President M.G. Orender is up for a third term as a member of the Comcast Community Settlement Panel. Hershel Vinyard, a member of the JEDC, has been nominated to replace Tony Nelson on the Jacksonville Port Authority board. Finally, Helen Rowan of Rayonier has been nominated to replace Joe Barrow Jr. as a member of the JEDC.
• Jonathan Plumb, owner of Benchmark Commercial Group, Inc., is shutting down the commercial construction company. Plumb, who left Gate Lands Company in 1993 to start the company, cited the current economic situation and a drop in volume the past year. Plumb sent his resume to Peyton looking for either a job with the City or private sector.
• The calendar may not have reached November yet, but it’s never too early to make holiday plans. The D.W. Perkins Bar Foundation is teaming up with the Jacksonville Brotherhoods of Firefighters and Police Officers, and the NAACP for the group’s first “Holiday Charity Gala” which will be held Dec. 13 at the Prime Osborn Convention Center. The night will include live music, door prizes and a silent auction with proceeds going to MAD DADS and Mothers of Slain Children. For more information contact Rhonda Peoples-Waters at 377-2109.
• In the near future, when you see a TV reporter filing a story from a federal road, they’ll likely be wearing bright safety vests over their street clothes. A new law goes into effect Nov. 24 that will require all media covering events on public highways to wear “high-visibility safety apparel.”
• It’s a ways off, but the Gate River Run is set for March 14. The 32nd version of the world’s largest 15K run starts on Gator Bowl Boulevard and ends on Duval Street near the stadium. The entry until the end of the year is $28 and it varies after that. However, if you buy a pair of adidas running shoes that cost at least $85 before March 9, adidas will pay your entry fee.
• The inaugural Avondale & Ortega Gallery Tour will be held Nov. 15 and will benefit “Art with a Heart,” a not-for-profit that sends local artists into hospitals to share the experience of art with pediatric patients. Avondale Gallery, R. Roberts Gallery, Barnett’s Art & Frame Gallery, Corse Gallery & Atelier and Fairfax Gallery will be open from 4-8 p.m. for the event. Each is donating a painting for a raffle and guests will receive a 10 percent discount on original artwork purchased the day of the tour. Free trolley transportation between the galleries will be provided. For more information, call 389-6712.
• After a successful first year, the Downtown Historic Church Tour is returning Dec. 6. Attendees will get a historical and architectural guide of First Baptist Church, First Presbyterian, First United Methodist Church, Historic Mt. Zion AME Church, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, St. Johns Episcopal Cathedral and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church along with the Main Library. Tickets are $5 and will go on sale in November, with 20 percent of each sale going toward Emergency Services and Homeless Coalition. For more information, go to www.downtownjacksonville.org.
• The Jaguars and Winn-Dixie have begun their 14th annual Thanksgiving food drive. Winn-Dixie kicked off this year’s event with a donation of 32,000 pounds of non-perishable food that was delivered to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Through Nov. 17, donations will be accepted at a 44 North Florida Winn-Dixie stores. The Jaguars will collect canned goods at all four stadium entrances before the Nov. 23 game vs. the Minnesota Vikings. Last year’s drive raised 200,000 pounds of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank.
• Tickets to Saturday’s Georgia-Florida game are going to be hard to come by, but e-Bay is loaded with them — and they are expensive. One of the top options is four tickets in Section 110 with the highest bid as of midday Monday being $2,495.
• This afternoon Mayor John Peyton will be taking a trip to the renovated Norfolk shops in the Northside area. The reason? The new Bravo Supermarket that will be opening at 4750-10 Soutel Dr. is one of the first projects completed under the revised Northwest Economic Development Trust Fund. The store is also the first in a chain of stores to be located in a predominantly African American neighborhood and is owned by two African American women.
• Baptist Health will break ground Thursday on its new 11-story patient building at the Downtown campus. The 300,000-square-foot building will serve the patients of the Baptist Medical Center and Wolfson Children’s Hospital.