• University of North Florida sophomore Kaitlin Devi Ramirez has been selected as a Fulbright Summer Institute participant at Newcastle University in England, where she will study international politics and contemporary global change during a five-week summer program. Ramirez, an economics major, is a Westside resident in the UNF Honors program.
• The Jax Cash Mob meets at 1 p.m. Saturday in Avondale at Mojo, where the targeted store for the day’s spending will be announced. A cash mob is a group of people who assemble at a local business and all buy items from that business, spending at least $10. The Shoppes of Avondale consist of more than 60 locally owned small businesses. “This is ground zero of the shop local movement,” said the Cash Mob’s statement. It’s the second Jax Cash Mob event. The first was April 7 Downtown.
• Dr. Howard Weiss will join the Brooks Rehabilitation Medical Group, a team of physicians board-certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation. His specific interest and expertise is in orthopedic rehabilitation. Weiss has been an independent practitioner in the Jacksonville area for 16 years and will be closing his private practice May 29. His patients will be transferred to the Brooks Rehabilitation Medical Group office at 3901 University Blvd. S.
• The Florida Venture Forum, a statewide support group for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, announced that Carolyn Mathis, a partner with Harbor View Advisors in Ponte Vedra, has joined the organization’s board of directors. The Florida Venture Forum will host the 29th Annual Florida Venture Capital Conference Jan. 31-Feb. 1 in Ponte Vedra at the Sawgrass Marriott. For information, visit www.floridaventureforum.org.
• City Council will consider a Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund for Novitas Solutions Inc. of $425,000 from the City that would be accompanied by a state refund of $1.7 million, for a total of $2.125 million. Novitas, part of Florida Blue, announced this week it would create 200 jobs to handle a Medicare contract. The legislation for the tax refund says Novitas has committed to create 250 full-time jobs by Dec. 31, 2014, that would pay an average annual $45,834. A company executive said Thursday the company expects it will need to hire the additional 50 jobs as the contract progresses.
• Lee Thomas retired from the Rayonier Inc. board of directors at the end of the Jacksonville-based company’s annual meeting Thursday, and Paul Boynton, Rayonier’s president and CEO, assumed the additional responsibility of chairman.
• Roland Garcia, senior vice president and chief information officer at Baptist Health, has been named among the “2012 Top 25 Healthcare CIOs” by InformationWeek magazine. He has more than 33 years of experience in the health care IT field and he oversaw the development and opening of Baptist Medical Center South in 2005 as the first all-digital community hospital with an electronic medical record system. He then led the implementation of one EMR throughout all five hospitals of Baptist Health.