• As of 8 a.m. Friday, the Supervisor of Elections Office reported that 5,966 voters – or 3.8 percent of those eligible – voted early in the City Council Dist. 13, School Board Dist. 1 and State Senate Dist. 8 races. More than 4,600 did so by mail, with more than 1,300 doing so in person.
• The Justice Coalition will join the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and families of Mark Degner and Bryan Hayes, today at 1 p.m. at the Police Memorial Building to recognize Florida’s Missing Children’s Day. Similar awareness events will be attended by Gov. Charlie Crist and other officials across the state. Degner and Hayes were 13 years old when they were last seen walking away from Paxon Middle School in 2005.
• It looms like the Bank of America Tower does over Jacksonville’s Downtown. The second annual Climb Jacksonville race is set for Feb. 6, 2010, but practice sessions are right around the corner – they begin Sept. 15, and registered stair climbers can practice on the stairs of the Bank of America Tower Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5-6:30 p.m. Entry fee is $25 and climbers are required to raise at least $100 for the American Lung Foundation. For more information go to www.mrsnv.com/evt/home.jsp?id=2686
• Gael de Maisonneuve, new Consul General of France in Florida, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, U.S. Virgin Island and Cayman Islands, sent a letter to Mayor John Peyton earlier this month to introduce himself. Jacksonville has a sister city in Nantes, France and one of the newest members of Jacksonville’s business community, Saft America Inc., is a French company.
• The Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida is having its annual meeting Oct. 22 at the Mariott from noon–2 p.m., but it will have a different feel to it this year. It’s the first time officials will make a “real event” of the meeting, said Executive Director Dawn Emerick, as the Council has grown and evolved so much over time. The nonprofit agency serves as the repository of planning, information and research for health care issues in Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, St. Johns and Volusia counties.
• The City’s Human Rights Commission will have one less board member, as Dan Principe notified Mayor John Peyton of his resignation via a letter Thursday. His resignation is effective Sept. 30. Principe served on the board for the last three years and said in the letter he felt the need to move on and use his time in other volunteer areas.