A runaway emu, guardrails on the Buckman Bridge, and Edgewood Bakery are all 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.
Today's Weather
In Jacksonville skies will be partly sunny, with a high near 55 degrees. Tonight, it will be mostly cloudy, with a low around 36 degrees, but the wind will make it feel as low as 29 degrees.
At the Beaches it will be partly sunny, with a high near 55 degrees. There will be a 20 percent chance of precipitation.
Tonight skies will partly cloudy, with a low around 40 degrees. (National Weather Service)
Two churches merge to help bridge racial divide. Ridgewood Baptist Church, a predominantly white church, merged with Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, a predominantly black church, to became Shiloh's new Orange Park campus. (WJCT)
Nassau County emu ran away from home. The large bird went missing from his rural home on New Year's Day. His owners, who consider him a part of their family, are distraught over the emu being on the loose, which may have gotten spooked during the fireworks. (News4Jax)
Florida Department of Transportation is considering raising the height of the guardrails on the Buckman Bridge. FDOT is studying the cause of crashes on the Buckman Bridge, such as the one that killed William Maddox when his pickup truck went over the guardrails last year. The department is studying all kinds of accidents to see what improvements could be made to make the bridge safer. (News4Jax)
Two Duval educators face disciplinary action for separate incidents of unprofessional conduct around children. William Robert Young, a teacher's aide at First Coast High may be fired for making sexual comments and innuendos. Patrick Hale, a science teacher at J.E.B. Stuart Middle allegedly over-aggressively grabbed a student around the neck. (The Florida Times-Union)
Rykalskys and Khan heading back to court over Edgewood Bakery. After two days of mediation, paid for by both parties, an agreement was not met over who would be in charge of Edgewood Bakery, forcing the case back to court. Circuit Court Judge James Daniel will hear the case today from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (The Florida Times-Union)
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office may be unable to use federal hiring grant money. The $1.875 million grant from the Department of Justice would allow JSO to hire 15 more police officers. However, the grant only covers 75 percent of the cost of salaries and benefits for the officers officers for 3 years, and the city must contribute the remaining 25 percent of the cost, in addition to other costs such as vehicles, pensions and gear. (WOKV News)
Today on First Coast Connect, the Media Roundtable joins Melissa Ross to discuss all of the top stories of the week, and veteran broadcaster Jay Solomon shares his occasional commentary segment, "With All Due Respect."
You can get all the latest headlines online at WJCTNews.org, on our Facebook page, and on Twitter @WJCTJax. You can follow Ray Hollister on Twitter @RayHollister.
