Apartments with black mold, Rep. Adkin's pension workshop, and a would-be terrorist from Jacksonville 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 mostly clear, with a high near 56 degrees. Tonight will be clear, with a low around 43 degrees.
At the Beaches it will be mostly cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 55 degrees. Tonight skies will be mostly clear, with a low around 45 degrees. (National Weather Service)
Jacksonville man sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. Shelton Thomas Bell, a 21-year-old man from Jacksonville pleaded guilty to the charges on March 29, 2014. Bell apologized and said he wanted to change. (WJCT via News4Jax)
State Rep. Janet Adkins lead a workshop yesterday to try to address the ongoing problems with the Jacksonville Police and Fire Rescue Pension Fund. The meeting was held at City Hall with other state and city leaders with presenters from Florida TaxWatch and the Florida League of Cities. (WJCT)
Residents of two Jacksonville apartments threatening lawsuits over black mold. Residents of the Oakwood Villa Apartments in Arlington and the La Estracia Apartments in the Biltmore neighborhood in Northwest Jacksonville are threatening to sue Housing and Urban Development because they say the apartments are full of black mold, and they say apartment management is not doing anything to fix it. (News4Jax)
Jacksonville Bar Association may take over the job of conducting weddings at Duval County Courthouse. Chief Judge Mark Mahon requested a plan from the Jacksonville Bar Association that would require minimal judicial involvement to restart wedding services in the courthouse. Clerk of Courts Ronnie Fussell discontinued offering weddings due to members of his staff being uncomfortable with the prospect of having to perform same-sex marriages. (The Florida Times-Union)
More details revealed about Peter Rummell's project for the former JEA Southside Generating Station. The waterfront development near the Southbank Riverwalk will contain multifamily, mixed-use and retail spaces that will be designed to encourage "unintentional exercise" and support healthy lifestyles. The development will not be named Healthy Town or Elements; the developers will be seeking name ideas from the community in the next few weeks. (Jacksonville Business Journal)
Today on First Coast Connect, the Media Roundtable Week in Review will tackle all of the big stories of the week.
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.
