Jacksonville, Florida | featured news

A top aide to U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown will meet next week with a federal judge about whether his attorney’s other clients pose problems for handling his scheduled fraud trial.
Ronnie Simmons, Brown’s chief of staff, was indicted with the congresswoman in July on charges centering on prosecutors’ contention that money donated to a scholarship organization Brown supported, One Door for Education, was used like a slush fund for their private benefit.
Simmons pleaded not guilty and is being defended by Orlando attorney Anthony Suarez.

The approach of Tropical Storm Hermine has caused some Jacksonville-area school and event closures and cancellations. Here is the list:
■ Duval County public schools - All Thursday after-school activities have been canceled, including extended day and Team Up after-school activities
■ St. Johns County public schools -All Thursday afternoon and evening activities are canceled, although extended day programs remain open.

Federal prosecutors have filed fraud charges against Jacksonville businessman Jose Lantigua, whose false reports of dying in Venezuela triggered claims for millions of dollars of life insurance payments.
Lantigua, 63, was accused this week of conspiracy and bank fraud in a court filing that’s usually used when a defendant has already agreed to plead guilty.
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Tropical Storm Hermine will make landfall in Florida as a hurricane Thursday night, according to the National Hurricane Center, which has issued tropical storm and hurricane watches for parts of the state in advance of the pre-Labor Day weekend deluge.
The National Hurricane Center has issued a Tropical Warning from Marineland, Florida to South Santee River, South Carolina.
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The OneJax Institute at the University of North Florida is seeking nominations for the 2017 Humanitarian Awards.
Nominations are based on community service, improving human relations among diverse groups, personal and professional integrity, commitment to “humanitarian ideals,” placing humanitarian concerns above self-interest and humility, according to OneJax.
The deadline for nominations is 5 p.m. Sept. 30; the awards will be given out at an April 27 dinner. To make a nomination, go to onejax.org.

State attorney candidate Kenny Leigh said Wednesday he is withdrawing from the November general election, which would ensure Melissa Nelson will be Jacksonville’s new elected prosecutor.
Nelson beat State Attorney Angela Corey in Tuesday’s Republican primary, but because Leigh had filed as a write-in candidate, Nelson did not win election to the office.
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Once strangers, six Jacksonville residents sit face-to-face around the largest table at Three Layers Cafe. Each with their own connection to the Aug. 11 Louisiana flood, they band together as 904 At Your Door to transport donations of supplies to flood victims.
It’s a chain reaction that started when Springfield resident Tiffany McDonald frantically reached out through social media to find her sister, who lives in one of the parishes hit by the flood.

Voters on Tuesday ended the longtime Van Zant family political dynasty in Clay and neighboring Northeast Florida counties — at least for now.
Clay County voters overwhelmingly ousted school Superintendent Charlie Van Zant Jr. in the Republican primary in favor of challenger Addison Davis, chief of schools for Duval County Public Schools.
Voters also rejected his stepmother’s bid to replace his father, state Rep. Charles Van Zant, in the House District 19 race.

A 69-year-old St. Augustine man is a little better off today after accepting his share of the $16 million Florida Lotto jackpot from Aug. 24
Carl Benedict chose to receive his winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $6.05 million, according to the Lottery.
Benedict bought his jackpot-winning Lotto ticket from the 125 Jenkins St. Publix in St. Augustine.

The day after Public Defender Matt Shirk lost re-election, his office confirmed, he fired four employees.
The Public Defender’s Office provided copies of termination letters given to Jerry Coxen, Shirk’s chief investigator; Coxen’s administrative assistant, Angela Fouraker; Joe Frasier, the office’s IT director; and Lori Williams, another administrative assistant.
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