Jacksonville, Florida | featured news

For family members of those lost when the cargo ship El Faro went down during a hurricane, each release of details about those last hours is another piece to a difficult puzzle.
“It’s like you live in a movie, live a dramatic movie — just trying to figure out that day, what was happening to them, what they were feeling, what they were going through,” said Carla Newkirk, daughter of Brookie “Larry” Davis of Jacksonville. “For me, I didn’t want to see that my dad got stuck on the ship and drowned. It is a relief for me he got off.”

James H. Winston, a Jacksonville civic leader, real estate developer and philanthropist, has been a YMCA devotee for 50 years.
The Y, he said, was “what we used to call gym and swim.”
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Pod Rods takes a look at some wild rides around the world, seen at Pebble Beach; we hang on with a fast Volvo - truck; and wish we could go to England to see Chitty.
Plus check out the car event calendar:
 
-- A one-of-a-kind police-escorted drive around Jacksonville in the name of charity will hold its second lap around Jacksonville on Saturday, Oct. 22, preceded by a special hangar party on Friday, Oct. 21, at Malone Air Center at Craig Municipal Airport.

Traffic will be shifted on Interstate 295 at 9 p.m. Monday as part of a safety improvement and resurfacing project between I-10 and Commonwealth Avenue, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.
The shift, to be done weather permitting, will allow the contractor to continue with roadway widening activities.
Motorists traveling north on I-295 from the I-10 and I-295 interchange will shift to the left onto newly widened lanes about a half-mile north of I-10 pass Commonwealth Avenue (Exit 22).

Jacksonville’s M.A.D. D.A.D.S (Men Against Destruction Defending Against Drugs and Social Disorder) holds its annual Peace Ride For Life at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, at Adamec Harley-Davidson at 8909 Baymeadows Road.
But the anti-crime organization is holding advance registration for the police-escorted motorcycle ride from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. this Saturday. Those early registration sites are at Adamec Harley-Davidson on Baymeadows Road, and Florida Riders Restaurant at 243 Edgewood Ave. S.

State Attorney Angela Corey’s opponents are striving to distance themselves from the top prosecutor on matters of juvenile justice.
Though their plans are sometimes murky, Republican challengers Melissa Nelson and Wesley White promise one thing for sure: They will be different — different from each other, but intentionally so from Corey.
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A lawsuit challenging the ballot language for Jacksonville’s sales tax referendum won’t be decided before election day.
Five Duval County voters filed the lawsuit July 26, and it was still pending Friday in Duval County circuit court.
The lawsuit contends the ballot language is confusing and fails to comply with requirements of state law, a characterization rejected by the city.
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TALLAHASSEE | Describing the misconduct as “essentially unprecedented,” the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that two attorneys should be permanently disbarred for their roles in setting up the drunken-driving arrest of an opposing lawyer during a high-profile case.
Justices unanimously supported the disbarment of Robert D. Adams and Adam Robert Filthaut, who were with the Tampa firm Adams & Diaco, P.A. in January 2013 when the bizarre series of events occurred.

While organizers of the Tech Coast Conference were thrilled that about 800 people attended the event Aug. 17 in Jacksonville, they’re assessing the real impact the conference had on the local technology industry beyond the numbers and say it’s basically planted a stake in the ground.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” JAX Chamber President Daniel Davis said of Jacksonville’s place in the technology industry. “… Technology is at the forefront of [most] industries.

A ceremony to commemorate the 48th anniversary of the Battle of Hue, one of the longest battles of the Vietnam War, will be Sunday at Mayport Naval Station.
The ceremony will be hosted by the captain and crew of the USS Hue City, a Ticonderoga Class of Aegis guided-missile cruisers and the only ship named after a battle. The ship has a memorial service each year to honor the U.S. Marines who fought in the battle and memorialize those who died there.