Jacksonville | featured news

With slightly less pageantry than last year, although no less historical meaning, St. Augustine marked its 451st anniversary Saturday on the sacred grounds of Mission Nombre de Dios.
On Sept. 8, 1565, Admiral Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés had stepped boldly ashore at Matanzas Bay and founded what is today considered the oldest continuously occupied European city, port and parish in the continental United States.
To commemorate the event, volunteers with Florida Living History host their annual re-enactment of Menéndez’s landing.

A public hearing to discuss a proposed Jacksonville National Cemetery Access Road will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Lannie Road Baptist Church at 5998 Lannie Road, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.
The hearing begins with an open house from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the church, which is 2.5-miles southwest of the cemetery, with a presentation and comment period beginning, according to transportation officials.

In 1945, venerable Times-Union photographer Grover Henley wanted to find out more about the elderly sailor living something of a castaway’s life as the “sole inhabitant and ruler” of an island in the heart of Jacksonville.
So he asked the youngest of the old salt’s eight daughters, Totsie, for an introduction, and she took him on a visit to her father’s island.
He got a great photograph out of it, one that’s as evocative as any good movie poster.

Some Duval County School Board members wrote tougher criticisms of Superintendent Nikolai Vitti’s performance in their notes to his evaluation than they expressed during face-to face sessions with him last week.
Board Chairman Ashley Smith Juarez, for instance, wrote in her notes that Vitti is “often disrespectful to board members [and] has misrepresented the truth publicly and privately.” She called him stubborn and said he “struggles with judgment and communication,” often reacting without planning or informing the board.

A new ride-hailing service in Jacksonville is leading to the renaming of two old standbys in the transportation world: Yellow Checker and Gator cab companies of Jacksonville will officially be called zTrip as of Tuesday.
read more

A Jacksonville teenager will participate in a congressional briefing Tuesday on juvenile justice reform.
Dequan Jackson, a Robert E. Lee High School student, recently was featured in a front-page New York Times story about how court costs can keep poor, nonwhite juvenile offenders tangled up in the justice system for longer than needed.
read more

An arm of Gate Petroleum sued St. Johns County on Monday to get rezoning approval for Ponte Vedra Beach land where, it argued, neighbors’ complaints have stalled decisions indefinitely.
Ponte Vedra Corp. only applied in July to rezone the 99 acres on Neck Road called the Outpost, but Gate Petroleum Vice President Ken Wilson said county planners never answered related requests the company made in 2013 and 2014.
“This was sort of a last resort to us,” Wilson said.

A Pensacola girl airlifted to Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville after a near-drowning incident at the Hilton Garden Inn on PGA Tour Boulevard over the weekend has died, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
No adults were present when Raven Malden, 10, went swimming with three family members, all juveniles, in the pool on site late Saturday night, Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan said.
read more

The Duval County School Board voted Monday night to approve the district’s plan to expand gifted services and bolster services for students with disabilities.
The only dissenting vote from the six-member board came from Constance Hall. She left the meeting without commenting on her vote.
The plan has been controversial in recent weeks because there were differences of opinion about how fast and far to spread the most intense gifted academic programs.

A Jacksonville teenager will participate in a congressional briefing Tuesday on juvenile justice reform.
Dequan Jackson, a Robert E. Lee High School student, recently was featured in a front-page New York Times story about how court costs can keep poor, nonwhite juvenile offenders tangled up in the justice system for longer than needed.
read more