Mayor John Peyton’s plan to shore up Jacksonville city finances is based heavily on getting some help from the unions.

But if he doesn’t get the help, he has other options — as he showed Thursday with the city’s largest union.

The chances of reaching agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police dimmed significantly when the city declared an impasse with the 2,400-member union of police and corrections officers.

“We came to the conclusion we were not moving forward,” Peyton said.

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It took a Jacksonville jury about an hour to sent Rasheem Dubose to death in the murder of DreShawna Davis.

The vote was 8-4 in favor of execution.

Moments after the verdict was read, Dubose looked over at his family, then kicked his chair and was escorted from the courtroom.

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Bacteria levels in some Duval County waterways could be cut in half within five years, says a cleanup plan targeting a chronic water pollution problem.

But getting there could cost more than $50 million for big-ticket projects like sewer repairs and flood control, and special efforts to control everything from trash to pet poop.

State and local officials want to sign an agreement within months to clean 14 waterways, including the Trout River and Pottsburg, Moncrief and McCoys creeks, that carry fecal coliform bacteria from human and animal waste.

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A tour of the local architectural designs of a man who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright will be part of a Saturday symposium honoring modern architects and their works.

Presented by the Jacksonville Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and a national group that documents historic buildings, the 9 a.m. symposium highlights the achievements of architecture from the recent past in Northeast Florida. That includes hearing from architect Robert C. Broward, then a bus tour of five of his buildings after lunch.

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The mother of 2-year-old girl shot at a party Saturday has been charged with giving a false police report after telling police there was no drive-by shooting at the house.

Another child at the party Saturday accidently shot Jontasia Marielle Miller, said Lt. Tom Hackney of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. The wounded child's mother, Whitney Shamone Toliver, 22, told police today that she made up the story, Hackney said.

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A Duval high school's FCAT celebration ended abruptly Wednesday when fights among students forced employees at a Clay County skating ring to call police.

About 500 students from Raines High School celebrated their Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test attendance rate by visiting Skate Station. 

Fights between students prompted the business to call the Clay County Sheriff's Office.  Three students were place in handcuffs after the situation was quelled but no arrests were made, according to the Sheriff's Office.

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Five Clay County residents were arrested Wednesday after police executing search warrants discovered methamphetamine laboratories in three separate locations.

In two of the locations, children were present, one of them five months old, according to Clay County Sheriff’s Office reports.

The “one-pot” method of methamphetamine production is “extremely volatile and flammable,” according to one of the reports.

Both parents of the infant were among those arrested; the Florida Department of Children and Families took custody of the child.

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A charity basketball game scheduled for Saturday at the University of North Florida featuring rappers Nelly and Bow Wow has been canceled, the school said this afternoon.

The game was canceled by event promoters, not the school. It hasn't been rescheduled.

Refunds are available through Ticketmaster by calling 1-800-745-3000 or 1-877-455-2762. The Web site for the event is nellyvsbowwow.com.

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A 15-month state investigation into allegations of decades-old abuse at a Florida reform school has found "insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges" against school officials, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said today.

"With the passage of over fifty years, no tangible physical evidence was found to either support or refute the allegations of physical or sexual abuse," the FDLE report concluded.

Read: FDLE's investigative summary

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The Florida Supreme Court this morning unanimously affirmed the death sentences of Tiffany Ann Cole, convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of a disabled Jacksonville couple who were buried alive.

Cole, 28, remains the only woman on Death Row in Florida. She was sentenced to death for the 2005 murders of Reggie and Carol Sumner, both 61, who were kidnapped from their St. Nicholas home, robbed of their bank cards and driven bound and gagged to a pre-dug grave in Charlton County, Ga.

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One man is dead and another is in serious condition after a shooting this morning on Jacksonville's Northside.

Officers responded to the 3700 block of Stuart Street about 10 a.m. this morning in response to a double shooting. Both men, in their late 20s or their early 30s, were transported to Shands Jacksonville, where one was pronounced dead. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office would not release the identity of either man.

There was no known motive for the shooting, police said.

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After little to no response from the police union on proposed salary cuts and pension reform, Jacksonville declared impasse this morning with the Fraternal Order of Police.

The move paves the way for the contract talks to eventually end up before the Jacksonville City Council.

"The FOP shows no reasonable intention of negotiating further over the City's proposals," city negotiator Leonard Carson wrote in the letter declaring impasse.

Local police union president Nelson Cuba said he was surprised by the city's move.

"I thought we were making progress," Cuba said.

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A 25-year-old Jacksonville man was arrested early today on two counts of soliciting a child via computer and two more of computer pornography after obscene material was sent over the Internet to someone posing as a young girl, according to the Florida Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit.

Jason Richard Andes of the 4000 block of Sunbeam Road was booked into the Duval County jail at 9:25 a.m., and is not eligible for bond yet according to jail records.

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A second man sought in connection with the March 2 murder of Brian Christopher Seymore in Crescent City was found earlier today in Volusia County.

Kelly William Anderson III, 47, was taken into custody at 5:30 a.m. after a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Volusia County, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. He has been charged with murder, and is being held on no bail. Another man wanted in the case, Richard Edward Harris, 41, has already been captured according to the sheriff’s office.

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A scheme that used a tugboat as the transport for drugs between Puerto Rico and Jacksonville was busted Monday with the seizure of three kilograms of cocaine in the 1800 block of Talleyrang Avenue, police said.

A few hours later, a 29-year-old North Jacksonville man was arrested on a charge of trafficking in cocaine after he arrived in Jacksonville by plane, police said.

Jamar Leveal Reed, of the 300 block of West 60th Street, has his first appearance in a Duval County courtroom this morning on the charge and was jailed on $250,000 bail, according to jail records.

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