Jacksonville, Florida | featured news

The $21 million interchange improvement project at Interstate 295 East and Heckscher Drive is done, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.
The interchange project was designed to address traffic tie-ups at JAXPORT, with two major seaports and multiple terminals creating a lot of truck traffic entering and exiting the facility to get to and from the interstate, acording to transportation officials.
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A project to improve the Beach and University boulevards intersection begins next week, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.
The $4.9 million project will be done between FOP Way and Ryar Road on Beach Boulevard, improvements to include lane widening, resurfacing and enhanced drainage, according to state officials.
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The Police and Fire Pension Fund is reviewing a letter from attorneys for John Keane, former executive director of the fund, challenging the 20 percent reduction in Keane’s pension.
Based on an opinion issued by city General Counsel Jason Gabriel, Mayor Lenny Curry in April ordered a reduction in Keane’s pension, which he received for his 25 years as executive director of the Police and Fire Pension Fund.
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The things kids lose at school: Hats, jackets, sweaters, shirts, shoes, books, backpacks, lunch boxes, water bottles, sports cleats. You name it, they lose it.
That ends up in the school’s lost-and-found, where it sits. And sits. And sits, until it’s thrown away or donated to a charity.
Twin Lakes Academy fourth-grade teacher Jennifer Smith had an idea this spring: Why not take the unclaimed stuff and get it to straight to fellow students who need it?

Police raided Jacksonville’s Eureka Garden complex on Labelle Street Thursday night, netting four arrests and the seizure of cocaine, according to the Sheriff’s Office.The drug bust came only hours after U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio announced that a hearing will take place concerning the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspections process after viewing living conditions at Eureka, owned by what he called “the slumlords at Global Ministries Foundation.”

The Mathews Expressway’s eastbound ramp to Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Gator Bowl Boulevard is scheduled to close from 8 p.m. Sunday through 5:30 a.m. Thursday to upgrade the guardrail system, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.
Traffic headed east on the Mathews Expressway will be able to detour south on A. Philip Randolph Boulevard, then east on Gator Bowl Boulevard to the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway interchange.

Florida and the First Coast saw a decrease in the monthly unemployment rate for August, bucking a brief trend of rising jobless figures over the summer.
The state’s jobless rate came in at 4.9 percent in August, down from the 5.1 percent rate for July, according to figures released Friday by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Those figures are before seasonal adjustments are factored in, such as students returning to class after the summer break.

St. Johns County is the richest in the state of Florida, according to new information released this week from a national survey.
The U.S. Census Bureau made public the results this week of the American Community Survey 2015, and it reveals a number of positive statistics about the county.
In 2015, the county’s more than 83,000 households had a median income of just more than $70,000. Only Collier ($62,126) and Monroe ($61,000) counties had levels greater than $60,000.

St. Johns County is the richest in the state of Florida, according to new information released this week from a national survey.
The U.S. Census Bureau made public the results this week of the American Community Survey 2015, and it reveals a number of positive statistics about the county.
In 2015, the county’s more than 83,000 households had a median income of just more than $70,000. Only Collier ($62,126) and Monroe ($61,000) counties had levels greater than $60,000.

FLEMING ISLAND | Clay County teachers, support personnel and some parents left no doubt Thursday night that Superintendent Charlie Van Zant Jr. and School Board Chairwoman Johnna McKinnon are lame ducks nearing the end of their terms.
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