Full Edition: June 29, 2026

the

Island Brief

Amelia Island • Nassau County • First Coast

Good Morning, Nassau County! Welcome to the last Monday of June, and the doorstep of a long holiday weekend. The civic calendar is winding down with the county's final two data-center listening sessions tonight and tomorrow, and downtown is finally getting one of its dug-up streets back. Mostly, though, this is a week to keep an eye on the sky. A Heat Advisory is up through this evening, and the Fourth of July is Saturday. Stay cool out there, and pace yourself.

Fernandina ☀️ 93°/77°

Yulee ☀️ 94°/76°

Callahan ⛅ 95°/74°

Hilliard ⛅ 95°/74°

📰	Top Stories

Nassau County's fact-finding committee on data centers holds its last two public workshops tonight and Tuesday, both starting at 5 PM in the Board of County Commissioners chambers in Yulee. These sessions are the listening phase that came with the twelve-month moratorium commissioners approved in early June, a pause on any new data-center applications while the county figures out where it stands. Tuesday's meeting brings in an outside land-use attorney to walk through what Florida law actually allows local governments to do here. If you have watched this issue build all month, this is the last scheduled chance to hear the staff's findings and add public comment before it heads back to the commission.

Read More → Nassau County

The long-running Ash Street drainage work is about 99 percent done between South Second and South Fourth streets, and the city has restored traffic there on temporary asphalt. Crews have shifted to the last stretch toward the waterfront, between South Second and Front, where they are installing a new stormwater pump station. That final block stays closed until the work wraps. The project upgrades a system that drains roughly 32 acres of downtown, pulling runoff from as far west as Central Park, and the city added a fix for a failing pipe near The Patio along the way. Once it is finished, Ash Street will be repaved from South Eighth all the way to Front.

Read More → Fernandina Observer

Independence Day falls on a Saturday this year, which means a full evening for the Hometown Fourth of July celebration on the downtown harborfront. The party runs roughly 6 to 9 PM with live music and family activities along the river, and the fireworks go up over the water around 9 PM. Early risers can start the day with the Firecracker 5K. A reminder worth repeating, though: Nassau County is under Phase III water-shortage conditions and a burn ban remains in place, so leave the backyard fireworks to the professionals downtown. Get there early, bring water, and stake out a spot with a clear view of the Amelia River.

📍	Around Nassau County

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Fernandina Beach: The community is mourning John "Jack" Heard, who ran Oxley-Heard Funeral Directors for more than 50 years and stewarded the historic 1891 Palmer House downtown. Beyond Fernandina, he was known nationally as the owner of the Georgia 300, a 1930 Pullman rail car that carried presidents and candidates from George H.W. Bush to Barack Obama. (More)

➤	Amelia Island: A new "Water Quality 101" column from Angela Ray walks through how and why our local waterways get tested, a timely primer with so many of us swimming, fishing, and boating through the summer. (More)

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Yulee: After a month of workshops, the data-center fact-finding committee wraps up its public sessions this week, with the county's findings due back to commissioners as the twelve-month moratorium continues. Tuesday's session focuses on the legal limits of what Florida law lets local governments regulate.

📌	Briefly Noted

🗓️	This Week on the Island

MON 29

Data-Center Fact-Finding Sessions BOCC Chambers, Yulee • Mon June 29 & Tue June 30, 5 PM • Final two public workshops, public comment welcome

SAT 4

Hometown Fourth of July & Fireworks Downtown harborfront, Fernandina Beach • Sat July 4, 6 to 9 PM • Live music and family fun, fireworks over the river around 9 PM

SAT 4

Fernandina Beach Farmers Market North 7th Street, historic downtown • Sat July 4, 9 AM to 1 PM • Local produce, seafood, and makers, rain or shine

SAT 4

Wildlight Market Place 123 Tinker Street, Wildlight, Yulee • Sat July 4, 9 AM to 1 PM • First-Saturday mainland market with vendors and local goods

The Fourth is almost here. Where is your favorite spot on the island to watch the fireworks, and is it a downtown-on-the-harbor crowd or a quiet-blanket-on-the-beach kind of night for you? Hit reply and let us know. We read every response.

The town of Yulee and Nassau County's railroad roots both trace back to one 19th-century figure who built Florida's first cross-state railroad. Who was this "Father of Florida Railroads," also the first person of Jewish heritage to serve in the U.S. Senate?

Answer: David Levy Yulee. His Florida Railroad linked Fernandina on the Atlantic to Cedar Key on the Gulf in 1861, and the Nassau County town of Yulee carries his name.

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