A Westside man caught a would-be burglar by surprise Tuesday morning shortly after his girlfriend left for work.

Police were dispatched to the scene of a reported home invasion robbery in the 9000 block of Panda Street about 7:45 a.m., according to a report from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. The victim told the dispatcher for police to be on the look out for a suspect with injuries because he had "hit the man several times." 

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The Jacksonville Beach City Council voted 5-2 Monday to increase water and sewer rates by 7.5 percent.

Penny Christian and Jeanelle Wilson cast the dissenting votes.

City Manager George Forbes said the increase is needed to upgrade infrastructure.

The average monthly bill will increase $3, Forbes said.

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A City Hall committee tasked with overseeing Jacksonville’s economic development activity met Tuesday to hash out exactly how it will do its job.

Most of the two-hour meeting focused on setting the groundwork for its oversight, with the members getting an overview of how the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission works and what changes are in store for it.

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When Rashad Stewart Martinez leaped from a second-story window in his Eastside Jacksonville apartment, prosecutors would later say it was to elude those who had kept him from trying to leave.

But his defense attorney says it was an attempt to flee from a bullying man he was forced to kill just moments later.

The trial for Martinez, 20, began Tuesday. He is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2010 shooting of Tremayne Deangelo Lovett, 19.

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At least Helen Ludwig made her racial comment at a public meeting.

It was recorded, reported, broadcast, archived for history and held up to ridicule.

The 90-year-old community activist resigned her position from the Jacksonville Ethics Commission a day after making the statement during a commission discussion.

She paid a price.

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When Occupy movement protesters set up camp in Jacksonville late last year, City Councilman Don Redman tried to have their protests shut down.

On Tuesday, he tried another front. He elbowed in on their turf.

“I’m just going to be hanging out,” said Redman, who set up a table and two folding chairs near the steps to the City Hall entrance — right where the handful of occupiers shoot video of their efforts.

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Theologian James H. Cone is as controversial as ever.

In the 1960s he founded the black liberation theology movement, a fusion of the ongoing black power effort with the Bible and the teachings of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. It enraged white segregationists and even some politically active secular and Muslim blacks.

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Customer reviews have ranked two St. Augustine dealerships among the best in the country, according to a rating review.

Bozard Ford-Lincoln was the top Lincoln dealership, and Hyundai of St. Augustine was the No. 1 Hyundai deadership. 

DealerRater, a car dealer review website, announced the distinction in its 2012 Dealer of the Year Award Program.

The awards are given for high marks in customer service based upon customer reviews shared on DealerRater's web site.

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An elderly Jacksonville woman was saved Tuesday as fire engulfed the back part of her home in the 1400 block of West 24th Street.

Fire department spokesman Tom Frances said neighbors had already escorted the woman outside when firefighters arrived. While the woman was taken to Baptist Medical Center for observation, firefighters knocked out the blaze as flames started climbing the back wall to the second floor above, Frances said.

No one was injured, he said. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

Dan Scanlan

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Some tax commissioners around the state are making the big bucks ­— really big bucks — but Ware County’s Steve Barnard isn’t one of them and isn’t likely to be.

Barnard asked the Waycross City Commission for what he contends is a long-overdue raise Monday, but was rebuffed.

“For him to come before us now at a time when we are where we are economically, I don’t think that’s good,” Commissioner Alvin Nelson said Tuesday.

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His military service is over, but a Jacksonville veteran fights an unfinished battle in the Middle East.

Former Army Spc. Will Highsmith wants to bring an Iraqi man to the United States. Ali — whose last name won’t be used to protect his identity — was a translator for Highsmith and other members of his unit during the war.

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A Bradford County deputy fired in November has been charged with having sex with a 17-year-old student at the school where he was a resource officer.

Johnny Hernandez, 36, was charged Tuesday with three counts of unlawful sex with a minor involving a relationship with the student that lasted about a year beginning in October or November 2010, said Capt. Brad Smith of the Bradford County Sheriff's Office.

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Officials with Shands Jacksonville said Tuesday they are proceeding with the first phase of construction of a new medical complex including a 100-bed hospital on the Northside despite opposition from Memorial Hospital.

Memorial has filed an appeal of the provisional certificate of need issued by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration to Shands in December.

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McIntosh County, Ga., is trying again to get a grant to begin restoration of the South Newport River.

The tidal river meanders through the northern part of the county, separating McIntosh County from Liberty County and merging with the Atlantic Ocean on the southern tip of St. Catherine’s Island. But it has steadily been filling with mud since Interstate 95 was built in the 1970s.

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By Timothy J. Gibbons

timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com

The committee tasked with overseeing the city’s economic development activity met Tuesday to hash out exactly how it will do its job.

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