• Lelia Duncan was elected president and CEO of Community Connections, succeeding Pat Hannan, who has led the organization for 17 years. Duncan was executive director of Learn To Read Jacksonville and before that was vice president of the membership division of the JAX Chamber. She joins Community Connections Feb. 20. Judy Bradshaw was named interim executive director of Learn To Read. Community Connections provides assistance and housing for the homeless and support for women, children and families.
• The St. Vincent’s Medical Center Southside sign is scheduled to be unveiled at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. The campus was formerly known as St. Luke’s Hospital.
• 1000 Friends of Florida Chair Victoria Tschinkel is the guest speaker about the new Florida Conservation Coalition from 4-5:30 p.m. today at The Garden Club of Jacksonville along Riverside Avenue. Register at 285-7020. Tschinkel was the 1981-87 secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation and is co-founder of the Florida Conservation Coalition.
• The Jacksonville Regional Political Leadership Institute seeks applicants for its 2012 class. Visit www.jaxleader.org for an application, which is due March 2. The institute is a no-cost, nonpartisan public leadership development program.
• Gov. Rick Scott appointed Kevin Doyle to the board of directors of Workforce Florida Inc. Doyle, the founder and president of the Wexford Strategies Group, previously worked for U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, first as regional director and later as state director, from 2004-09. His term began Friday and ends March 21, 2015.
• Two judicial campaigns for the 2012 election made history. Rhonda Peoples-Waters, County Court, Group 12, and A. Wellington Barlow, Circuit Court, Group 29, both were the first candidates to be certified to qualify by petition for campaigns for their respective courts. Peoples-Waters submitted more than the 5,271 necessary petitions Jan. 24 to qualify to run for Duval County judge. Barlow submitted more than 8,000 signatures Thursday, which was more than the 7,000 required to qualify. Candidates may also enter the judicial races by paying a qualifying fee of 4 percent of the salary of the office they are seeking, about $5,700 for Circuit judges and nearly $5,400 for County judges.
• Gov. Rick Scott reappointed Paul Sandefer of Orange Park to the Electrical Contractors Licensing Board. Sandefer is the vice president of Miller Electric Co. He was reappointed for a term that began Monday and ends Oct. 31, 2013. The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
• Kmart filed three Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Notices Monday with state, including one for a layoff of 83 employees at its Fernandina Beach store between April 1-15. The other two are for stores in Orange City, with 66 employees affected, and in New Smyrna Beach, with 73 employees affected.