Columns

Animal House: Shelter from the Storm

Animal House: Shelter from the Storm

On Friday and Saturday, Sept. 1-2, Jacksonville supported a Hurricane Idalia Pet Flight Mission and Vehicle Transport Caravan that moved animals out of shelters in Florida to make room for pets affected by the storm. The flight was organized after Idalia, a Category 3 hurricane, made landfall Aug. 30 at Keaton Beach, Florida, in the […]

Local Folks: Craig Hamilton

Local Folks: Craig Hamilton

A Man of Many Minerals At his core, Craig Hamilton is a collector. Over the years, he has collected coins, stamps, seashells and history, but what he loves collecting most is gems and minerals. He first started digging for rocks more than 65 years ago. When he was in sixth grade at North Shore Elementary […]

City Council Approves Florida Blue Office Space for JSO

City Council Approves Florida Blue Office Space for JSO

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s (JSO) Homeland Security Division will soon be getting new office space in Brooklyn’s Florida Blue office tower. Currently, 135 of the division’s 205 employees are housed at a JSO facility at the intersection of Liberty and Beaver streets while the remaining officers are at additional off-site locations. At a Sept. 5 […]

Local Folks: Laura Lothman Lambert

Local Folks: Laura Lothman Lambert

“I love, love, love being back in Jacksonville!” said Laura Lothman Lambert. And this time, she’s here to stay. “Jacksonville is a very special place to me, having grown up here,” she said. Lambert first arrived in Florida at seven years old when her family moved to the San Jose area of Jacksonville from Atlanta, […]

Local Folks: Mike Kovacs

Local Folks: Mike Kovacs

Mike Kovacs and his wife, Chelsea Hamilton, moved to Avondale in November 2020 from New York City. They were ready for a change of pace, a change of weather and a change of taxes. Kovacs and Hamilton tend to be analytical people and embarked upon “Operation Sunshine State.” For quite some time, they researched a […]

The Way We Were: Roger Vega: Unlocking the Past

The Way We Were: Roger Vega: Unlocking the Past

Roger Vega is the one-man team behind his locksmith company, serving as the face and workforce of Piners Locksmith Service. He is also the keeper of a Jacksonville legacy that predates the beginning of his company and stretches back to Piner’s Grocery, the neighborhood grocery store that would serve as an anchor to the Miramar […]

Retirement on the Road – Part 3 of 3: Have Food? Will Travel.

Retirement on the Road – Part 3 of 3: Have Food? Will Travel.

Traveling can be even more fun when you get to discover something new along the way, especially if it’s tasty. Before starting our exploration trip of the Western United States, my brother-in-law, Paul, sent us a list of Food and Wine Magazine’s 2021 Best Sandwiches in every state. We thought it would be fun to […]

Retirement on the Road – Part 2: No Reservations

Retirement on the Road – Part 2: No Reservations

The first column in this series on retirement focused on trip planning for our cross-country RV adventure and planning ahead – which leads us to this month’s topic: the importance of reservations. Even if you are not traveling in an RV, coordinating all your trip details, times, dates and costs can be a scheduling nightmare. […]