AT&T, medical marijuana, and a great white shark are in the headlines today.Welcome to WJCT First Read, your daily weekday morning round-up of stories from the First Coast, around Florida, and across the country. We'll also preview some of WJCT's upcoming news programming.
Two minors charged in Jax movie theater scuffle as questions of excessive force linger: Three teenage boys and two younger people were charged in the Christmas disturbance outside the Regal River City Marketplace Theater on Christmas that drew a response of more than 60 police officers to control an estimated crowd of up to 750. (News4Jax)
AT&T moving workers out of downtown Jax: Telecommunications giant AT&T has begun relocating workers from their space at EverBank Center downtown to a new building in Orange Park. (Jacksonville Business Journal)
Florida set to surpass New York in population: U.S. Census Bureau demographers expect that Florida will pass New York in population either this year or in 2014. (New York Times)
Medical marijuana petitions surge ahead of February deadline: The campaign to get a voter referendum question on medical marijuana in the state had nearly 700,000 petitions filed as of last week. They will need around 683,000 valid certified signatures. (MyFoxTampaBay)
Georgia officials issue recall for cheese sold in Florida: The Georgia Department of Agriculture says 90 pounds of Flat Creek Farm and Dairy’s Heavenly Blue cheese and 78 pounds of the company’s Aztec Cheddar cheese sold in Florida and Georgia may be contaminated with Salmonella. (CBS Miami)
Tanning beds bigger than McDonalds in Florida: A new study by the University of Miami shows there are more tanning parlors than McDonalds or CVS pharmacies in the state. (Miami Herald)
Bulldogs, Huskers arrive in Jax for Gator Bowl prep: The University of Georgia and University of Nebraska football teams are in Jacksonville in advance of the Gator Bowl at EverBank Field on New Year's Day. (Savannah Morning News?, Lincoln Journal Star)
Great white swimming off NE Florida: Katherine, a 14-foot, 2,300 pound great white shark is being tracked swimming just off the coast of Nassau County as recently as yesterday morning. (First Coast News)
Today at 9 a.m. in place of First Coast Connect, hour-two of "Best of the Best: The 2013 Third Coast Festival Broadcast" with interviews from the producers of the best radio documentaries of the year.
You can get all the latest headlines online at WJCTNews.org, on our Facebook page, and on Twitter @WJCTJax. You can follow Patrick Donges on Twitter at @patrickhdonges.
