• Florida Supreme Court Justice Harry Anstead may be retiring from the bench next year after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70, but it doesn’t mean he is slowing down. He returned to Jacksonville, the home of his youth, for a seniors basketball tournament Wednesday and his brother Sonny’s 80th birthday.
• Tickets go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. for the Dec. 20 University of Florida/University of Central Florida basketball game. They will be available at the Arena box office and all Ticketmaster outlets. The 6:30 p.m. tip-off time was chosen in order to allow fans to do some holiday shopping and still have time to get to the game.
• Todd Roobin, chief of the Jacksonville Film & Television Office, got an e-mail related to the three Emmy Awards received by the made-for-cable movie “Recount” that was filmed in Jacksonville. Mark Levenstein, vice president of production for HBO Films and Miniseries, sent Roobin a message congratulating Jacksonville for being part of the “Recount” team and said he’s looking forward to the next time HBO comes here for a production.
• Speaking of Jacksonville and film making, the 8th Annual Jacksonville Film Industry Reception is set for Oct. 15. PRI Productions on Kings Avenue in San Marco is hosting the event, which starts at 5:30 p.m. The reception will mark 100 years of making movies in Jacksonville.
• A little worldwide publicity for a local. Evan Thompson, a 16 year-old surfer who lives in Jacksonville Beach, is featured in the November issue of Surfing Magazine. Says his favorite surf spot is right here “when it’s good.”
• Speaking of the beach, the Sonic on Atlantic Boulevard in Neptune Beach has closed.
• Jacksonville will mark the 233rd anniversary of the U.S. Navy with a three-day bash next month starting Oct. 11. In addition to the USS Stephen Groves being docked in front of the Hyatt, there will be fireworks and a 20th anniversary rededication of the Jacksonville Navy Memorial on the Southbank.
• You may have driven by the Re/Max Specialists office at 4000 St. Johns Ave. and noticed it’s closed, but just temporarily. Water damage to the building from Tropical Storm Fay has caused agents to relocate to the larger Park Avenue office in Orange Park. Efforts are underway, though, to find a new building in the Riverside area.
• If you call Foley & Lardner attorney and City Council member Kevin Hyde this afternoon at 2 p.m. don’t be surprised if you get his voice mail. Hyde has been invited to participate in a White House conference call with Keith Hennessey, director of the National Economic Council and assistant for economic policy to President George W. Bush. The topic of discussion will be the administration’s financial rescue plan proposal.
• A motion picture about the lives of Drs. Doug and Robbie Smith and their founding of Safe Harbor Boys Home, a vocational and educational facility on the St. Johns River for at-risk boys ages 15–17 is back on track. The film project was announced in 2006 but casting, production and filming have been delayed due to both the writers and screen actors strikes, according to Safe Harbor Development Director Karen Hensel. She is optimistic that the project will begin sometime early next year.