DIXIE COUNTY — Two former Dixie County commissioners, John “Big John” Driggers and Alton Land, both of Cross City, and former county building and zoning inspector Billy Keen of Old Town were convicted by a federal jury in Gainesville for accepting bribes and lying to FBI agents. Evidence included video and audio of the men accepting cash payments from an undercover FBI agent in exchange for development approvals.
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GAINESVILLE — The University of Florida announced it would use federal stimulus money to snap up dozens of faculty members who may be leaving other colleges because of the economic crisis. The university plans to spend $10 million to hire a mix of junior and senior faculty. Longer term, their salaries will be funded by the new differential tuition the Legislature approved for universities this year.
» Hampton Inn & Suites opened the first hotel downtown Gainesville has seen in decades, a six-story, 124-room facility with 7,500 feet of retail space.
» UF signed a new, six-year contract with Gators football coach Urban Meyer that will pay him $4 million a year. The deal makes Meyer one of the highest-paid coaches in the SEC.
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JACKSONVILLE — Saft America plans to build a lithium-ion battery plant at Cecil Commerce Center, creating 279 jobs, after a $95.5-million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, part of a federal program to promote the manufacture of high-tech batteries. The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission also approved a $20.2-million package of city and state incentives for the plant. » Vistakon, the Jacksonville-based contact lens subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, plans to lay off 180 local employees.
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SUWANNEE COUNTY — The County Commission approved the purchase of a 100-acre tract west of Live Oak as part of the “Catalyst Project,” a long-range plan to attract manufacturing, warehouse and distribution centers to the area.