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Mayor Lenny Curry has been active on Twitter, tagging Elon Musk in tweets concerning bringing his businesses to the First Coast.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Mayor of Jacksonville took questions from reporters Thursday regarding a video in which he appears with CFO Jimmy Patronis, calling on Elon Musk to bring his business to Florida, specifically Jacksonville.

Mayor Lenny Curry has been active on Twitter, tagging Elon Musk in tweets concerning bringing his businesses to the First Coast.

"We are positioned for @SpaceX in Jacksonville," retweeted Curry Wednesday night, along with a video next to Patronis.

"Hey @elonmusk, Whether it’s your exciting @boringcompany, your uplifting @SpaceX, your non-exhausting @Tesla, Florida is the one place that will always accommodate your drive to innovate. DM me or @lennycurry for your personal tour to the land of opportunity. #FloridaIsForWinners," tweeted Patronis.

Curry was asked what his plan would be if Elon responded to the tweet expressing interest.

"You set up a phone call or a zoom, just like my days in business," Curry responded. "And I'll tell you, I know some people that may have access to Elon, and we're trying to work the back channels to make sure he sees the tweet."

Curry was also asked by reporters about some of his recent absences, including not being in attendance at the Jacksonville Memorial Day event and the city's Bicentennial Celebration.

He was also not in attendance for the vote by City Council on the Confederate monuments bill.

"I mean, you guys can look at my calendar, the last couple of weeks, I've had numerous press conferences, I've been involved with a number of events," he said. "I don't go to city council meetings. So that's not unusual. I don't believe I've ever sat through a city council meeting. It's their job to legislate on the executive branch. And this weekend, I was with my daughter."

Curry continued, "I mean, the idea that people are asking me what I was doing when I'm with my seventh grade daughter that has a special day. I'd pick that any day a week over anything else."

On the list of events for the Jacksonville Bicentennial, the opening ceremony included a reading of the original petition to name the city, as well as a reading of a Mayoral Proclamation.

The Jacksonville Historical Society, the organization who had a large part in planning the Bicentennial, says it received a notice well in advance from Mayor Curry that a prior family commitment would keep him from being there.

Per the Jacksonville Historical Society

"Yes, we received notice well in advance that a prior family commitment regretfully prevented the Mayor from attending the commemoration ceremony. Additionally, we are appreciative of the City of Jacksonville’s support of the Bicentennial festival and want to note the City was the first to fund the celebration with $100,000 more than a year ago when planning was first underway."

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mark your calendars: Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, is on Sunday.

Juneteenth celebrates the official end of slavery in the United States.

Despite the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation’s freeing of enslaved people, slavery persisted in slave-holding border states and rebel areas until federal troops took control of the regions. Texas was the last state to welcome proclamation-enforcing federal troops -- until this day, June 19, 1865, when General Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with the famous statement: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

Here is a county-by-county list of celebrations and events in our area over the next couple of days:

Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie celebrate Juneteenth with North Florida Customers: Four Jacksonville-area Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie locations will host Juneteenth celebrations for customers and their communities to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States.

The free celebrations, held on Saturday, June 18 from noon to 2 p.m., include live entertainment and cooking demonstrations featuring Juneteenth-inspired recipes, along with store and vendor giveaways. Locations: Winn-Dixie (Lakewood Prominade) at 1520 W. University Blvd. | Harveys Supermarket at 5250 Moncrief Road W. | Winn-Dixie (Gateway Town Center) at 5210 Norwood Ave. | Harveys Supermarket (Edgewood Square) at 2261 Edgewood Ave. W.

Jacksonville Juneteenth City Event: Come out to Daily’s Place on June 18 from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. to enjoy music performed by Gospel Artists such as Tasha Cobbs-Leonard, Maranda Curtis, Todd Dulaney and JJ Hairston. The event will feature more than 50 vendors. Tickets begin at $85. Click here to read more details about the event.

Juneteenth Melanin Market: This free event will feature local singers, bands, DJs, and dancers, headlined by Jacksonville’s very own 95 South, and the 69 Boyz, two legendary rap groups that put Duval on the map in the 90s. More than 250 black-owned businesses and nonprofits will be selling products. When: Saturday, June 18 at A Philip Randolph Blvd.

Father’s Day Comedy Classic/Juneteenth Celebration: Celebrate Father’s Day and Juneteenth at the same time! The Father’s Day Comedy Classic begins at 7 p.m. at 510 Lane Avenue South. After the “show” it’s a Juneteenth Celebration! Classy Attire: No Shorts, No Ball Caps (casual and dressy hats excepted), No Athletic Gear, No Plain Tees, No Tennis Shoes (designer and casual sneakers are excepted )

Juneteenth Bitcoin Block Party in Jacksonville at Bethel Baptist Church: June 20 from noon to 4 p.m. at 215 Bethel Baptist Street “The mission of the tour is to educate disenfranchised minority communities about Cryptocurrency, financial literacy, and how we have the potential to close generational wealth gaps to create financial sovereignty. It will be a free community event, and we would be honored to have the black and brown community represented.” When you RSVP and attend this event you will receive free Satoshi Bitcoin. Click here for details.

Move For Change 5K: Juneteenth Celebration: The 3rd Annual Move For Change 5K event is located in Jacksonville Beach on June 17-19. This year’s event will include live music, food trucks, vendors, family attractions, and end with a 5K on Juneteenth. The event will be hosted at 6th Avenue North Venue on June 17th, and 18th. The 5K will be held on the beach on June 19. Click here to RSVP and for more details.

Juneteenth Fest at Memorial Park: Get ready for a day of family, food, vendors, trivia, games, bounce houses, and a whole lot more! The event will be held on June 18 from noon to 4 p.m. at 1620 Riverside Avenue. This event is free to attend. Click here for more details.

Jax Juneteenth Rooftop Celebration: Jax Juneteenth Rooftop Celebration is happening on Sunday, June 19 at 4 p.m. at Riverplace Tower with tickets starting at $45.00. The event will feature DJs, live music, our Black art exhibit, vendors and more. You must be over 21 to attend. Classy Day Party Attire: No Shorts, No Ball Caps (casual and dressy hats excepted), No Athletic Gear, No Plain Tees, No Tennis Shoes (designer and casual sneakers are excepted) Click here for more details.

Juneteenth Trap Yoga: It’s a Yoga + art dance class kick-off on June 17 at 6:30 p.m. “Come join us as we experience a moment of healing and flowing to upbeat music,” the event said. Click here for tickets.

United Era Inc.’s Juneteenth Festival: June 19 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. will be a fun-filled day of food trucks, performances, kids park play area, and more from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. Don’t forget your picnic blankets and chairs so your family can enjoy the grassy areas! This is a FREE event but registration is required so sign up your family today at JuneteenthJacksonville.com

We could not find any Juneteenth celebrations in Clay County

Duchess Juneteenth Kickoff: Duchess Juneteenth Kickoff is happening on Friday, June 17 at 07:30 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center with tickets starting at $35.00. Juneteenth Kick-Off Celebration in Fernandina Beach, Fl. 32034.

Juneteenth Jumpoff: Saturday, June 18, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Peck/Charles Eugene Richo Field “This is a family-friendly, community celebration committed to encouraging improved community interactions, educating, and bringing a sense of pride to the community as a whole. The event will include activities for children, contests, family tents (must register online), food trucks, informational booths, and a vendor market. This is a non-alcoholic event.” Click here for more details,

Juneteenth Dedication Ceremony: Saturday, June 18 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center. Join the LMCC this Juneteenth weekend on June 18th to commemorate the sacrifices that local Civil Rights activists made in St. Augustine and celebrate the emancipation of enslaved peoples across America. The dedication ceremony will include a public unveiling of the F.W. Woolworth counter, currently on display at the LMCC, and a formal proclamation from the city. After the ceremony, guests are welcome to visit the museum’s exhibits. Click here for more details. A Heritage Luncheon will follow. Tickets to the luncheon are $150 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

SAMF Celebrates Juneteenth at New Saint James Missionary Baptist Church: Saturday, June 18, at 2:30 p.m. Tickets not required. Admittance is first-come, first-serve.

More events can be found below in our community calendar. Do you have an event planned that we missed? Email [email protected] to have your event added to our list.

The Hope Lodge, a non-profit in Jacksonville, is a comforting and free place for cancer patients to stay during treatment. Now they need basic items donated.

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Carolyn Greer's face lights up when she talks about her granddaughter, Avery.

"Oh, gosh," she says. "She's my only granddaughter. She's adorable. But I'm prejudiced."

Avery calls her Nana. And, for Nana, Avery is the perfect motivation to keep her fighting against breast cancer.

It's a hard fight. Greer doesn't just have to worry about beating breast cancer, but also getting to her treatments. She lives in Georgia, and driving back and forth was not possible.

How many treatments every day was she facing?

"Sixteen of them. That's a lot for me," she says.

But Greer's stay at the Hope Lodge behind Mayo Clinic Jacksonville was a true blessing.

"I don't know if there are words to express it. When you are talking about your life....how do you say that?"

Greer was getting cancer treatment at Baptist/MD Anderson downtown. The Hope Lodge provided free transportation back and forth all that distance for Greer.

The Hope Lodge, supported by the American Cancer Society, has 30 cancer patients staying at no charge in their building, which looks brand new.

Michelle Lawrence, senior manager at the Hope Lodge, says, "We don't want it to feel like a hotel." And so the details are carefully planned to take the pressure of daily life off the cancer patients.

Greer was impressed. She says, "There was a welcome note with gifts on the bed." Laundry facilities are provided. Each patient has a personal pantry and space in a large kitchen to cook. Volunteers make handmade items and leave special messages.

The challenge, however, is keeping supplied with items offered free to the cancer patients, who come from around the U.S. and other countries, such as Australia and Vietnam, Lawrence explains.

Top of the list of items which are used up quickly: toilet paper.

Lawrence is hoping people will donate some basic items. That can include gas cards because the Hope Lodge, due to Covid, transports only one patient at a time. That means extra trips back and forth to various cancer treatment centers around Jacksonville.

Examples of items on the Hope Lodge wish list:

The Hope Lodge is located on 4583 Worrall Way, Jacksonville, FL 32224

According to the Hope Lodge, these opportunities to help are also available:

Lots of laughs are coming to Northeast Florida in the months ahead, with Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan and the Smothers Brothers adding shows to an already-crowded comedy calendar.

Here are a baker's dozen of big comedy shows heading our way.

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes

7 p.m. Sunday, June 19, at the Florida Theatre. $39.75-$59.75. Standup comic/movie star/"MadTV" alum brings her Who Do I Think I Am Tour to Jacksonville.

Celeste Barber

7 p.m. Wednesday, July 13, at the Times-Union Center. $51.59-$140. Barber, a huge star in her native Australia, is hoping to break big in America on her Fine, Thanks Tour.

Malcolm Hall

8 p.m. Saturday, July 23, at the Thrasher-Horne Center Studio Theater in Orange Park. $30-$50. The Middleburg High grad returns for a hometown show that will be recorded for a live album.

Darrell Hammond

Aug. 4-6 at the Comedy Zone. $25-$35. "Saturday Night Live" veteran and native Floridian brings his act to an intimate club setting.

Randy Rainbow

8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Florida Theatre. $35-$75. There aren't a lot of musical parody comedy artists out there, because it's hard to do right. Rainbow does it right. This show was twice postponed by the pandemic.

Jim Gaffigan

7 p.m. Sept. 8-10 at the Florida Theatre. $39.75-$99.75. Gaffigan is a best-selling author, an Emmy winner and one of the hardest touring comics in the business. He sold out the first two shows in Jacksonville, so a third was added.

Jerry Seinfeld

7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Times-Union Center. Ticket prices unavailable. Is it possible that it's been 24 years since "Seinfeld" went off the air? Jerry has pretty much been on the road since.

Weird Al Yankovic

7:30 p.m. Oct. 17, at the Thrasher-Horne Center. $39-$329. Is he a musician? Is he a comedian? Yes to both.

Jo Koy

8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. $40-$70. Koy played at the Times-Union Center in 2021, one of Jacksonville's first post-pandemic shows. He's moved up to the arena this year.

Bill Burr

8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. $51.59-$310. He's been in "Breaking Bad" and "The Mandalorian," hosts a weekly podcast and has done a half-dozen TV comedy specials.

Kevin Hart

7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. $37-$87. Not many comics sell out arenas these days, but Hart does it routinely. Fans at his Jacksonville show will have to put their cell phones in a Yondr bag that makes them inoperable during the show.

Paul Reiser

8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall. $45.50-$63.50. From "Mad About You" to "Aliens" to "Stranger Things," Reiser has been in the public eye for decades.

The Smothers Brothers

7 p.m. Thursday, March 23, at the Florida Theatre. $45-$69.50. Dick and Tommy Smothers earned big respect in the comedy world by thumbing their noses at TV critics. They'll share stories, answer questions and show clips of their groundbreaking show.

Wedding Party Hair & Makeup

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., June 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WarPaint International is a new local company providing convenient, on-site hair and makeup services for weddings, events, photoshoots, commercial projects and editorial applications.

Residents in Jacksonville and Northeast Florida can now take advantage of on-site beauty services in their home, office or event venue through WarPaint International - an on-site beauty agency offering professionally managed hair and makeup Artisans.

The beauty agency is largely servicing Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach and the greater Northeast Florida area. Clients utilizing WPI Beauty's service can expect to meet hairstylists and makeup artists who have been interviewed, technically tested and criminally background checked for the safety of their wedding parties and personal spaces. In addition, each WPI Artisan has acquired the required education and licenses in the state of Florida as well as carrying applicable liability insurance for working on-site in venues and event centers.

"After building a successful on-site beauty agency in other cities, we decided to expand our team's offerings in order to meet the growing demand in Northeast Florida. The need for professional, skilled artists to perform beauty services for weddings, promotional photoshoots, celebrity appearances, and corporate events is ever-growing in the Jacksonville area. WarPaint International is positioned to deliver timely, professional experiences to these clients," said Jessica Mae, Founder of WarPaint International.

The expansion of WarPaint International to Jacksonville offers benefits to both residents and destination travelers in the Northeast Florida area. Local residents can book hair and makeup in their home for family events or nights on the town through the online booking system. Brides-to-be, PR companies, media companies and other clients needing on-site hair and makeup services when traveling to the area can contract professionally managed Artisans for their events with ease. WarPaint International Artisans also work in the local hotel rooms, venue “get-ready” rooms and bridal suites.

WPI Beauty prides itself on its customer response time, it’s level of engagement, it's artisan on-boarding process and its client care. When customers of WarPaint International have inquiries they speak to a family-owned and operated business that has over a decade of experience in multiple cities. WarPaint International Jax is a locally owned and operated business and has established a relationship with for bridal offerings in Northeast Florida. Premier Bride Magazine is the local authority in wedding day vendors in Jacksonville and St. Augustine Florida.

WarPaint International is a privately owned providing professionally managed beauty services for the bridal, consumer, editorial, and commercial beauty markets. The company is based in Minneapolis and operates on-site beauty teams in Manhattan New York, Chicago, Jacksonville Florida as well contracting work nationally. WPI Beauty also contracts hair and makeup artists for destination weddings globally.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at