• Wayne Hogan, president of the Terrell Hogan law firm, will receive the JALACARE Pro Bono Award for teaching credit responsibility to local high school students and helping develop a one-day curriculum. Jacksonville Area Legal Aid will recognize Hogan and Richard Burton, his teaching partner and Florida Coastal law student, at its annual “Equal Justice” event Dec. 8 at the River Club. JALACARE is JALA’s Credit Abuse Resistance Education program, which helps area students learn about credit and debt as well as the dangers of misusing credit cards. Hogan and Burton taught the program to five classes of seniors at Robert E. Lee High School.
• Amelia Island Plantation has been recognized for its excellence in the meetings industry with the 2009 Planner’s Choice Award from the readers of “Meetings News.” The resort was chosen as one of the best in the industry by more than 40,000 meeting, convention and incentive travel planners based on service quality.
• University of North Florida student Kyle Groothuis, a junior majoring in transportation and logistics, is the first UNF student ever to win the nationally-recognized L.L. Waters Scholarship. He received the $1,000 award at the American Society of Transportation and Logistics annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif. The scholarship was established to encourage advanced undergraduate study and graduate study in transportation/logistics/physical distribution for the purpose of preparing persons of high potential for professional careers in the field.
• In the latest Florida Trend, the magazine lists the 37 banks in the state that have a “zero star” rating from Bauer Financial. That’s the bad news. The good news is none are from the Jacksonville area. Tops on the list is Ocean Bank in Miami with assets of $4.4 billion.
• Speaking of Florida Trend, Matthew’s at San Marco was the only Jacksonville restaurant to make the magazine’s “hall of fame” list this year.