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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It has been a bumpy start for some school bus riders in Duval County.

Right now there’s a shortage of bus drivers and Duval Schools asked parents to have a backup plan and be patient as it works with bus contractors to fill those roles.

News4JAX has heard from multiple parents who said they’ve had issues since Monday, and one group said a bus driver dropped off five children on the opposite side of town from where they were supposed to be this week.

News4JAX spoke to a mother and a grandmother of two of the children on the bus and they asked not to be identified but are demanding action from the school district.

“It’s a parent’s fear not knowing where your child is,” the mother said. “Everybody’s scared everybody is freaking out. We don’t know where our children are at.”

They said the second day back to school felt like a scene out of a movie.

Five children who attend Bridge to Success Academy didn’t make it home from school until close to 8 p.m.

Their parents claim a teacher put them on the wrong school bus and that the bus driver dropped them off at a school that was closed at the time on the Eastside.

“So you dropped not one, not two, but five kids off to a school that was closed for the day without a parent having an inkling or location of their kids,” the frustrated grandparent said.

“You could have just took our kids back to their home school or wherever but not just abandon them on the side of the road and expect them to know where they’re going and expect them to know where they’re at,” the parent said.

The parents said one of the students on the bus had a phone and told them they were dropped off 16 miles from where they should’ve been dropped off.

“Four of them were young ladies and my grandson was the only young man there,” the parent said. “So you have four young ladies plus a young man on the Eastside of Jacksonville in an area they are unfamiliar with out there in limbo.”

Between the Duval school district’s two bus contractors, there are 130 vacancies out of 800 total positions.

Parents still believe this isn’t an excuse.

“I understand that they’re having a problem with the school bus, they’re having a problem with people driving the bus but if you can’t instill to us that our children are going to be taken to school and brought back home safe let us know to find another arrangement for our kids to go to school,” the parent said.

News4JAX reached out to DCPS for comment on the incident and it said it is looking into it.

One of the parents said she plans to take legal action and has withdrawn her daughter from school.

Copyright 2023 by WJXT News4JAX - All rights reserved.

This story first appeared in Dining Notes, the free weekly restaurant newsletter from the Times-Union's Gary Mills delivered to your email inbox each Wednesday. Subscribe now.

Nearly a year after plans first surfaced for a new Five Points restaurant from the team behind The Local, work is set to begin on The Lomax Restaurant.

The new, 8,877-square-foot restaurant will take over the former Wells Fargo bank branch at Lomax and Oak streets. There, the existing bank building will be renovated and joined by a new, two-story building where the bank’s drive-thru lanes canopy once stood.

Construction on the building marks a milestone for restaurant developers Ted Stein and J.C. Demetree, whose pursuit to open a restaurant in the historic Riverside neighborhood dates to 2015, when the pair incorporated Roost Restaurants, LLC, and proposed The Roost at the former Deluxe Laundry and Dry Cleaners in the 2200 block of Oak Street in the former Deluxe Laundry and Dry Cleaners and Deluxe Launderette buildings.

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That project — now proposed as the third location of their popular The Local concept — faced notable opposition then — and again, now — from some area residents concerned about the impact of traffic and noise on the quiet street located two blocks from Publix.

Although The Roost never took root in Riverside, Stein and Demetree went on to open two locations of The Local, a restaurant concept — as its name suggests — of a neighborhood spot to gather for good food, booze and caffeine and to enjoy it all with friends. The restaurant debuted in 2017 at 4578 San Jose Blvd. in Miramar. A second location opened in 2019 at 301 Atlantic Blvd. in Neptune Beach.

In early 2021, Stein and Demetree launched Wonderbird, a fast-food restaurant in Jacksonville Beach based on the popular chicken sandwich from The Local menu. That restaurant closed earlier this year.

The Lomax is the next concept from Roost Restaurants.

According to a food service plan submitted to the state in late July, The Lomax will have seating for about 160 guests in multiple dining areas.

Plans show four bars, with counter seating ranging from four to 11 seats, and lounge and/or dining areas seating dozens more at tables and banquettes. The largest will be to the right of the restaurant’s main entry on Oak Street, located in the two-story building addition. There, in addition to the 11-seat bar and table seating for 58, the area includes a platform, presumably for live entertainment.

Two other bars, lounge/dining seating, a large kitchen and restrooms comprise the remainder of the main floor.

The restaurant’s second floor — much of which is open to the area below — includes a small bar, a lounge area with sofas and seating for up to 30 diners at five banquettes, plans show.

An Aug. 3 building permit for the two-story addition estimates construction costs at $2.215 million. A building permit pending for renovation work of the existing bank building estimates work at $600,000.

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The second-year linebacker through three weeks of Jaguars 2023 Training Camp increasingly is playing more like a second-year player – which means playing with more confidence, more speed, more awareness and more ease.

That also has meant more plays, which was the case again on Wednesday on Day 16 of '23 camp.

"It's so much more fun," Lloyd said.

Lloyd, the No. 27 overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft and a starting inside linebacker next to Foye Oluokun in the Jaguars' 3-4 defense, was among the standouts Wednesday in the first of two consecutive days of joint practices against the Detroit Lions. He not only had an early one-handed interception, he had a near interception late in practice and a would-be sack on a pass rush.

Jaguars veteran outside linebacker Josh Allen said days such as Wednesday are unsurprising, and said he expects Lloyd to be an All-Pro Player "within the next year."

"I thought last year he was a hell of a linebacker for us," Allen said. "He went through his little rookie flows or whatever, but I think now he's starting to put it all together."

Lloyd was the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Month for September before struggling at times with recognition and awareness. He spent two weeks in November and December backing up fellow rookie Chad Muma before returning to the starting lineup for the last five regular-season games and two postseason games.

"The speed sticks out with him," Allen said. "The ball IQ sticks out with him, the tackling, the physicality … everything sticks out with him. He has all the pieces. Now we just have to keep him on the field, keep him healthy and let him go."

Lloyd said if football is more fun than a year ago, it's because increased knowledge and experienced has increased his comfort level.

"Now, it's knowing where to fit at all times, knowing who's with me – and knowing where I can take shots," he said. "That's a big thing as well: Knowing what to do, how to do it, just going out and doing it and playing ball and having fun versus having to worry about, 'OK, I'm sure I'm on top of this play.'

"Before, you get outside [the huddle] and you kind of want to look at a call sheet to make sure. Now, he tells me the play and I'm, 'OK, cool.' I'm not even worried about it. I'm just worried about playing faster."

And that should mean more impact plays this season for Lloyd, who last season finished second on the Jaguars with 115 tackles and tied for the team lead with three interceptions while also defensing eight passes.

"The expectation is to get to the ball, get my hands on the football or just be disruptive in the pass game," he said. "Even in the run game, being around the ball, always. That's kind of my M.O., is I'm going to be around the ball.

"One thing I learned is it's just an uphill climb, from the start of my career to the end of my career. I definitely see that I took a lot of steps forward, but it's an uphill climb and I'm looking forward to it."

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In the first official move looking into moving the Duval County jail, a city council committee met Wednesday to talk about the possibility of putting the jail somewhere else after 31 years at the current site.

There has been talk over the past four years of putting the jail somewhere else instead of along the riverfront.

And the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office headquarters could be on the move, too.

Officials say the jail and the JSO complex are a mess, and they need some changes.

The jail first opened in 1991 and at the time the city was under a federal court order to fix problems of housing inmates in Jacksonville. It cost $70 million at the time to build a new jail and once they moved the inmates in from the old facilities it was 80% full.

The special committee of council members who met Wednesday heard from jail officials who pointed out problems that are now occurring at the jail.

A JSO director said the jail could be expanded but not in its current state.

“I don’t think it’s feasible to expand with the current state of the facility with the pipes and the plumbing and HVAC, I don’t think expanding it would be a feasible option,” JSO Director Kevin Goff said.

According to a report presented to the committee, $3 million has been spent annually for repairs to the jail since 2017.

The committee also heard there was concern the city could end up under another court order to fix the problems. Members were also told about similar problems next door at JSO headquarters with overcrowding. Legislation is being considered to move some of the sheriff’s office staff to the Florida Blue building in Riverside.

There are questions about if city leaders want to move the jail away from the riverfront to make way for redevelopment in the area that is changing quickly, with several new projects in the works.

“I’ve had no conversation from anybody about the external pressures of moving this jail. And I understand, I appreciate the fact that there are players out there who are interested in seeing that jail moved. I fully expect that this is a precursor to that process. But my focus is on what kind of facility or facilities do we need to best serve the processes of detention,” Councilman Michael Boylan said.

If the jail and the sheriff’s office were to be moved, it would cost the city hundreds of millions to do so, but there is also the question of where it would go. And it seemed a general consensus could be somewhere near the courthouse.

“Yes, it’s about moving the jail. But as we look at moving it, what’s going to be there? Do we need more land? Is it better? I think one of the lessons that we learned is that it’s probably better to go horizontal as opposed to vertical,” Councilman Rahman Johnson said.

The committee is going to meet many times to discuss the options and what could actually happen with the jail in the coming weeks. And then when they make their recommendations, the council will vote and then the Deegan administration will decide what’s going to happen next.

Copyright 2023 by WJXT News4JAX - All rights reserved.

Detroit Lions defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson has been known to get in the head of the opponent on the field, but even after Wednesday’s practice with the Jacksonville Jaguars was long over, Gardner-Johnson lingered in the mind of receiver Calvin Ridley. During Gardner-Johnson’s media session after practice, Ridley interrupted.

“He’s a good player, man, but he talks too damn much,” Ridley said.

To be clear, Ridley was joking. He and Gardner-Johnson go way back to high school days as young talents growing up in Florida. There is very much a game-recognize-game relationship between the two.

But it would be impossible to talk about the opening joint practice between the Lions and Jaguars without mentioning how big of an impact Gardner-Johnson had, both physically and mentally. He came crashing down to blow up Jaguars running back Travis Etienne for a big hit that caused a scuffle between the two teams. A little later, he reportedly did the same to receiver Jamal Agnew, jarring the ball loose.

“To be the most feared DB in the league, you’ve got to be able to tackle,” Gardner-Johnson said after practice.

Team rules and general decency prevent me from reporting on what he was saying to the Jaguars skill position players, but he certainly was talking... a lot—a right he believe he’s earned through his play.

“Everyone knows we can talk, but when you back it up, you can talk as much crap as you want to,” Gardner-Johnson said. “I think when I play at a high level, it feed into my teammates.”

Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson can attest to that.

“He’s one of a kind, man. I’m glad he’s on my team,” Hutchinson said. “Even today, he shows why we brought him here. He’s a hard-hitter, man. He’s willing to come down and bring the juice. When practice might be a little lackadaisical, he’s going to come up and make a play and get the boys going.”

According to the man himself, there’s only one time of the day in which Gardner-Johnson turns off the intensity and trash talking.

“Sleep. Until I wake up. (Then it’s) like I’m cutting the car on. You’ve just got to keep going until the car run on empty. But this (facility) is the gas station, so I guess I’m fueled up everyday.”

The Jaguars receivers did get their own during Wednesday’s. Ridley scored at least two touchdowns ons the day, including an absolute bomb in which there was a communication problem in the secondary. Tight end Evan Engram and Zay Jones also scored during red zone drills. But the Lions defensive backs bounced back nicely, with Brian Branch recording a couple of pass deflections, and both Cameron Sutton and Malcolm Rodriguez notching interceptions.

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