Florida, Duval County | featured news

Florida State College at Jacksonville hosts an international “Observe the Moon” event from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, in North Campus Parking Lot 1 at 4501 Capper Road.
The free event is part of NASA’s International Observe the Moon night, and joins locations all over the globe to encourage observation, appreciation and understanding of the moon and its connection to NASA planetary science and exploration.

Although most of the six-member Duval School Board said they want a mediator to help them repair their relationship, three members voted against hiring one within 30 days, seeking instead to delay it.The vote comes after a week of turmoil and dissension which began when Board member Scott Shine announced that Board Chairman Ashley Smith Juarez asked Superintendent Nikolai Vitti to resign or face a possible vote to fire him.

Expect a detour next week on the Mathews Expressway’s eastbound ramp to Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Gator Bowl Boulevard, according to the Florida Department of Transportation.
The ramp is scheduled to close from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday as part of an ongoing $13 million project on the area roadways.
Traffic headed east on the Mathews Expressway will detour south on A. Philip Randolph Boulevard and east on Gator Bowl Boulevard to the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway interchange.

The health insurance company Humana is on a mission to improve the health of Jacksonville’s residents 20 percent by 2020.
Using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy Days survey, Humana found city residents have approximately 14 “unhealthy days” each month, said Albert Tzeel, the regional medical director for Medicare operations in North Florida.
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Nearly every Friday when the work week comes to a close, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Matthew Dakota leaves his office at Fort Stewart, Ga., hops in his car and heads straight for St. Augustine.
The weekend’s arrival is all Dakota needs for a short trip back to his favorite city, the place he’s called home for nearly a decade. It’s where he went to college, his parents retired and his No. 1 return destination.

The Duval School Board meets today with Superintendent Nikolai Vitti to discuss the district’s future.
The meeting, which begins at 10:30 a.m. at district headquarters, comes after a week of speculation that there might be a vote on Vitti’s employment status in the district.
Board member Scott Shine and Vitti say that late last week Chairman Ashley Smith Juarez threatened to vote to terminate Vitti if he didn’t resign. Vitti refused and Shine publicized the exchange.

The health insurance company Humana is on a mission to improve the health of Jacksonville’s residents 20 percent by 2020.
Using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy Days survey, Humana found city residents have approximately 14 “unhealthy days” each month, said Albert Tzeel, the regional medical director for Medicare operations in North Florida.
read more

Nearly every Friday when the work week comes to a close, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Matthew Dakota leaves his office at Fort Stewart, Ga., hops in his car and heads straight for St. Augustine.
The weekend’s arrival is all Dakota needs for a short trip back to his favorite city, the place he’s called home for nearly a decade. It’s where he went to college, his parents retired and his No. 1 return destination.

St. Augustine Mayor Nancy Shaver’s most recent call for increased paving dollars in the city budget — via a letter sent to and published in The St. Augustine Record earlier this week — has sparked support from some residents.
But one commissioner has a different view.
“It’s either misunderstanding of what our budget is or it’s just political stuff,” Commissioner Todd Neville said. “It’s one or the other.”

Mayor Lenny Curry suggested Thursday that his comprehensive proposal for changing the city’s pension system will include long-awaited pay raises for city employees who saw their paychecks shrink during the city’s financial hard times.Curry, speaking at the start of a collective bargaining session with the Jacksonville Supervisors Association, outlined the guiding principles he said will shape the offer he puts forward in the coming weeks.