SpaceX, the Rodman Dam and a "serial stowaway" 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 cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 60 degrees. Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low around 46 degrees.
At the Beaches it will be cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 57 degrees. Tonight skies will be partly cloudy, with a low around 47 degrees. (National Weather Service)
DCF investigating Jacksonville day care after infant returned home injured. A Northside grandmother rushed to the hospital when the day care bus dropped off her 2-month-old grandson from Possibilities and Success Child Care Center on Golfair Boulevard covered in burns, bites, bruises and cuts. Jasmine Brown, the child's mother says that X-rays showed a footprint over the boy's right eye. (News4Jax)
Northside elementary school learning how to garden by growing fruits and vegetables for the cafeteria. New Berlin Elementary School is participating in a pilot program with seven other schools around the country to grow food for the students to eat in the cafeteria. The program is intended to help children make better food choices. (WJCT)
"Serial stowaway" arrested in Nassau County. Marilyn Jean Hartman was arrested on charges of fraud and impersonation when she was caught staying at the Omni Resort Amelia Island Plantation Tuesday checked in under another person's name. Hartman has been arrested six times around the country in the past year for the same or similar crimes. (News4Jax)
Putnam County residents come out against proposal to breach Rodman Dam. During a town hall meeting Monday opponents spoke angrily against the the plan to remove the dam developed by a coalition that included the St. Johns Riverkeeper, Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and JaxPort. (The Florida Times-Union)
SpaceX to try landing on platform again. The for-profit space transport company will make another attempt today to land a rocket vertically on an autonomous floating platform about 200 miles off the coast of Jacksonville Beach. The company's first attempt in January failed due to a problem in the hydraulic system. (Jacksonville Business Journal)
Today on First Coast Connect, Morris Dees, founder of the Souther Poverty Law Center, will join Melissa Ross to discuss his up coming lecture "Justice for All in a Changing America" at the University of North Florida on Feb. 19. Then Executive Director of North Florida TPO Jeff Sheffield joins the show to preview the 2015 Florida Alternative Fuel Vehicles Expo. And finally, Players by the Sea will preview its latest play, "A Lesson Before Dying."
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.
