• Republican presidential hopeful John McCain will be at the Fairgrounds Monday for what’s billed as a “pancake breakfast.” Doors open at 7 a.m. and members of the Fraternal Order of Police are cooking.
• Independent Resource Center is looking for volunteer help from local businesses to participate in the organization’s Professional Mentoring Fair for young people with disabilities. It’s Oct. 21 from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Cuba Hunter Community Center. Those interested can call Jenny Soucek at 398-7279. Those who have already committed include CSX, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and several others.
• Clarification to Thursday’s budget hearings story. Former City Council President Daniel Davis created the ad hoc committee that looked into the 2 percent of the city budget put below the line last year. Former Finance Chair Art Shad stressed he was opposed to the ad hoc committee and the decision to put any of the budget below the line. He said he voted against both.
• Speaking of Shad, he and Council President Ronnie Fussell are cosponsoring a resolution that honors Dan McCarthy for his appointment as Chief Assistant State Attorney in the 4th Judicial Circuit. McCarthy is the City’s chief of military affairs but will join State Attorney-elect Angela Corey’s staff. In the August primary, Corey beat current Chief Assistant State Attorney Jay Plotkin and will succeed the retiring State Attorney Harry Shorstein.
• The Jacksonville Waterways Commission meets Thursday at 9 a.m. in City Council Chambers. Waterways Chair and Council member Bill Bishop can’t make it, though. Instead, Waterways and Council member Jack Webb will run the meeting.
• JTA is looking to make the Arlington Expressway Access Road more pedestrian friendly. The Authority is holding a public meeting Thursday to brief area residents and business owners about the plan to extend the existing sidewalk on the north side of the road and also add a bus pull-off and transit shelter. It’s from 5-6 p.m. at the University Park Library.
• Speaking of JTA, if you haven’t been out Beach Boulevard in a while, real progress is being made on the Kernan Boulevard overpass project. While it’s still a steel shell, the Kernan overpass spans all of Beach Boulevard.
• Remember the big tattoo convention here last year? They’ll be back this weekend. It’s Friday through Sunday at the Wyndham.
• Retired: St. Johns/St. Augustine Board of Realtors director Marian Blanchard. The search is on for her replacement.
• Harry Hampel is the new president of the Housing Partnership of Northeast Florida. He’ll officially succeed the retiring Carolyn Ettlinger Monday. Hampel has been serving as a consultant to the Housing Partnership since Ettlinger — the founding president of the organization — announced her retirement earlier this year. Hampel was chosen by the Housing Partnership’s board of directors.
• Mayor Peyton’s Chief Administrative Officer Alan Mosley told the crowd at Meninak on Monday the new County Courthouse is in the “guaranteed maximum price” stage, where designs are being turned into a hard construction number. If the plans meet the $350 million (minus the $65 million already spent) price range, construction could start in January or February.
• One more from the Meninak meeting. Club president Harrison Conyers recently received a “Leader of the Pack” award, given for exceptional duty, from the mayor’s office for his work to secure funding for the local Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program. Conyers secured a $900,000 three-year grant, with the funding beginning last year. “There is a huge need for it in Jacksonville,” he said. “We help them (homeless veterans) with transitional housing, resumé skills and getting them jobs and back on their feet.” The program, said Conyers, has just over an 80 percent success rate.