Jacksonville | featured news

John Rutherford is the essential “heavy local” in Jacksonville politics, a candidate who focused primarily on local issues for most of his political career.
But his evolution is picking up pace as he heads into to the final contest in the general election Nov. 8 to win Florida’s 4th District congressional seat.
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State Attorney Angela Corey has offered new jobs to some of those fired last week by Public Defender Matt Shirk the day after he lost re-election.
Joe Frasier, Shirk’s former IT director, and Angela Fouraker, a secretary, have already accepted new jobs at the State Attorney’s Office, pending paperwork and drug testing, according to the State Attorney’s Office. Lori Williams, who oversaw misdemeanor secretaries at the Public Defender’s Office, has also begun talking with the State Attorney’s Office about possibilities, she said.

After a delay due to tropical Storm Hermine last week, traffic will finally be shifted on Interstate 295 on Tuesday and Wednesday night as part of a safety improvement and resurfacing project between I-10 and Commonwealth Avenue, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.
The shift will allow the contractor to continue with roadway widening activities.
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Duval Superintendent Nikolai Vitti did not grade himself on the written self-evaluation he sent School Board members last week, but Tuesday he said he probably deserves a B for improving most of Jacksonville’s schools over the past year.
It’s unclear if the School Board agrees with him.
Board members Thursday will hold a special meeting to give Vitti his formal annual review and vote on an annual budget.
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Lelia Duncan has resigned after 4 1/2 years as chief executive officer of Community Connections of Jacksonville, which offers day care, after-school programs and transitional housing for needy families.
“It has been a privilege to serve Community Connections. I have treasured this opportunity and am very proud of the accomplishments we’ve made,” she said. “It is an amazing organization. While leaving is bittersweet, I am excited about the next chapter in my life.”

John Rutherford is the essential “heavy local” in Jacksonville politics, a candidate who focused primarily on local issues for most of his political career.
But his evolution is picking up pace as he heads into to the final contest in the general election Nov. 8 to win Florida’s 4th District congressional seat.
read more

Jose Lantigua, the Jacksonville businessman once reported dead in South America, is scheduled to face a federal judge Tuesday to answer fraud charges over a multimillion-dollar insurance scam.
Lantigua, the former owner of Circle K Furniture, was charged last week with planning his 2013 disappearance and a story that he was dying from mad cow disease.
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A local nonprofit says a politically connected businessman gave campaign donations to former Mayor Alvin Brown and other officials as he tried to kill the group’s proposed apartment complex for homeless people and that city officials retaliated against the group after it sued the city for housing discrimination.
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A local nonprofit says a politically connected businessman gave campaign donations to former Mayor Alvin Brown and other officials as he tried to kill the group’s proposed apartment complex for homeless people and that city officials retaliated against the group after it sued the city for housing discrimination.
read more

FERNANDINA BEACH | After a troubled 11-year marriage, painful divorce and cross-country move back to her native Nassau County, single mother Tiffany Alderman is slowly trying to find her way in the employment and dating worlds.
But after a year, she has not found a job and the men who have come into her life seem to want to move relationships ahead too fast.
“I’m trying to figure out what to do,” said Alderman, 31. “I thought I was the only person in the world going through this.”
She was wrong.