Jacksonville, Duval County | featured news

The latest littoral combat ship to be commissioned to the Navy was forced to take a detour to Mayport Naval Station for repairs after two separate issues in a 24-hour period on its way from Mobile, Ala., to its eventual home port of San Diego.
The USS Montgomery arrived at Mayport on Tuesday after suffering a leak in the hydraulic cooling system as well as a separate engine failure Sept. 13.
The Montgomery was commissioned in Alabama on Sept. 10, and the Navy announced the necessary stop for repairs Monday.

Vilano Beach residents staged something of a whiteout at Tuesday’s St. Johns County Commission meeting with the intent of convincing commissioners not to support a proposal for a luxury resort to be called Watermarke along Florida A1A.
They had to wait until the daylight waned for the answer, but it was the one they wanted.
After hours of presentations and debate, the Watermarke plan failed to gain approval and was formally withdrawn before a motion to deny could be considered.

The owner of the cargo ship El Faro has settled with two more families of the 33 crew members who died when the ship went down almost a year ago during a hurricane.
Tote Services Inc. and Tote Maritime Puerto Rico have now settled 23 of the 33 wrongful-death claims, according to paperwork filed by the company in federal court on Monday.
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A JAXUSA Partnership official has been appointed to run a state panel designed to develop economic initiatives in Florida.
Cathy Chambers, senior vice president of strategy and business development for JAXUSA Partnership, has been named chairwoman of the Florida Economic Development Council for 2016-2017. Chambers will oversee the 22-member board that seeks to educate and serve as an advocacy group for economic development in the state.

American journalist Sandy Tolan was visiting Ramallah, a Palestinian village on the West Bank, about six miles from Jerusalem, in 1998 when he saw a poster for the National Conservatory of Music with two images of Ramzi Aburedwan.
One image was of an 8 year old Aburedwan throwing a rock at a tank. The other was of an 18-year-old Aburedwan playing the viola.
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The owner of Eureka Garden and a handful of other subsidized apartment complexes in Jacksonville said Wednesday the “clock has run out on us,” but vowed to continue renovations and to enhance security until the apartments are sold.
The Rev. Richard Hamlet, CEO of Global Ministries Foundation, met with Mayor Lenny Curry at City Hall on Wednesday, the day before a U.S. Senate hearing on conditions in some of his complexes and on his business practices.

The family of a man who died after being shocked by a Taser and restrained inside the Duval County jail has filed a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Mike Williams and 16 corrections officers.
The suit argues Paul Testa’s death in December was a result of the Sheriff’s Office not being prepared to deal with mentally ill people and resorting to “unjustified, unreasonable and illegal use of force.”
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The owner of Eureka Garden and a handful of other subsidized apartment complexes in Jacksonville said Wednesday the “clock has run out on us,” but vowed to continue renovations and to enhance security until the apartments are sold.
The Rev. Richard Hamlet, CEO of Global Ministries Foundation, met with Mayor Lenny Curry at City Hall on Wednesday, the day before a U.S. Senate hearing on conditions in some of his complexes and on his business practices.

The family of a man who died after being shocked by a Taser and restrained inside the Duval County jail has filed a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Mike Williams and 16 corrections officers.
The suit argues Paul Testa’s death in December was a result of the Sheriff’s Office not being prepared to deal with mentally ill people and resorting to “unjustified, unreasonable and illegal use of force.”
read more

A JAXUSA Partnership official has been appointed to run a state panel designed to develop economic initiatives in Florida.
Cathy Chambers, senior vice president of strategy and business development for JAXUSA Partnership, has been named chairwoman of the Florida Economic Development Council for 2016-2017. Chambers will oversee the 22-member board that seeks to educate and serve as an advocacy group for economic development in the state.