William Ruben Ebron Jr., the prime suspect in the disappearance of 21-month-old Lonzie Barton, pleaded not guilty Monday to two counts of child neglect and one count of lying to police. Mayor Lenny Curry plans to participate in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities program, which will provide Jacksonville with a $1 million grant to establish the position of Chief Resilience Officer, who will help address challenges like sea-level rise and hurricane preparedness. A Jacksonville Sheriff's Officer is on administrative leave and a robbery suspect is behind bars after a police-involved shooting in Baldwin Monday.
It’s Tuesday, August 18, 2015. Welcome to WJCT First Read, your daily weekday morning round-up of stories from the First Coast, around Florida and across the country.
Sign up for WJCT First Read!Get the most important stories from WJCT News and NPR delivered straight to your inbox every weekday morning!
Here are 8 stories you don’t want to miss.
Ruben Ebron, Main Suspect In Lonzie Barton Case, Pleads Not Guilty
William Ruben Ebron Jr. was charged with two counts of child neglect after Lonzie's disappearance more than three weeks ago. An additional charge of giving false information to police was added Friday.
Jacksonville To Receive $1M To Help With Hurricane, Disaster Preparedness
The Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative is an effort to identify cities that show great resilience in the face of economic, social and environmental catastrophes, but may need some extra help to keep it up.
Jacksonville Nonprofit Receives Grant To Help Empower Disabled People To Work
The federal government has just awarded The Independent Living Resource Center $1.5 million to be paid out over five years. The money will be used to fund additional staff to teach people the procedures they must follow so that they can be more independent and not get penalized.
JAX Chamber Pulls Support For Rodman Dam Breaching
The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce is pulling its support for a an environmental offset sought by the St. Johns Riverkeeper. The agreement included plans to breach the Rodman Dam in Putnam County in exchange for deepening the St. Johns River in Jacksonville.
Planned Parenthood Seeks Injunction After Abortion Allegations
Planned Parenthood fired back Monday against allegations that three Florida abortion clinics provided second-trimester abortions without proper licenses, seeking an emergency injunction against the state Agency for Health Care Administration "to protect women's access to safe, legal abortion."
Ruben Ebron, Main Suspect In Lonzie Barton Case, Pleads Not Guilty
William Ruben Ebron Jr. was charged with two counts of child neglect after Lonzie's disappearance more than three weeks ago. An additional charge of giving false information to police was added Friday.
Georgia-Pacific-Funded Environmental Center Touts Manufacturing, Ignores Climate Change
A new environmental education facility opened to the public in Palatka last month, inviting school groups to learn about wetlands and wildlife; however, some scientists who helped develop the center are questioning whether the manufacturer Georgia-Pacific had too much influence over its curriculum.
Baldwin Police-Involved Shooting Ends With No Injuries, Suspect In Custody
Sheriff’s Office Chief Tom Hackney says 12-year JSO veteran Officer Jeff Webster was patrolling, looking for an armed robbery suspect. The robbery was caught on camera last week at the IGA grocery store. Webster believed he saw the suspect around noon Monday, and pursued him.
IRS Hack Bigger Than First Thought
In May, when it first revealed the breach, the IRS reported some 114,000 taxpayers' data was stolen. But in what the IRS is calling a "deeper analysis" of the breach, it identified an additional 220,000 cases where hackers got access to taxpayer records.
Get all the latest headlines online atWJCTNews.org, on ourFacebook page and on Twitter@WJCTJax.
