Five years ago, 2020

• Since Florida is a closed primary state, Supervisor of Elections Chris Chambless said nearly 2,000 registered voters changed their political parties so they could vote in the Republican Party primary for sheriff, tax collector and superintendent of schools.

• The school board reports it’s finally built back a 5% emergency fund required by the state as part of its $460 million budget.

• The Orange Park Town Council proposes a 4.4% millage rate increase.

10 years ago, 2015

• California-based Calavo Growers Inc. announced it will lease the 208,000-square-foot former Food Lion center on J.P. Hall Boulevard in Green Cove Springs.

• Florida TaxWatch urges the Florida Legislature to save $2 billion and consider other ways to punish lawbreakers after President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 13 Floridians, including an Orange Park man who received the maximum for a non-violent drug offense.

• A year after cutting 80 teaching positions to meet budget demand, the school board learns revenues will fall short of balancing the new budget.

20 years ago, 2005

• Florida Department of Agriculture officials meet in Clay County after discovering a case of citrus canker.

• The Jesse Ball DuPont Fund donated $25,000 to the Salvation Army of Clay County to help its disaster relief operations program.

• The Clay County Sheriff’s Office charged Joshua Allen Palin with nine counts of lewd and lascivious behavior after it said he played a “truth or dare” sex game with children under his care at Kids Palace and Kids Palace II.

30 years ago, 1995

• The County Commission asked the Planning Commission to hold a series of public meetings to see if the public wants to change the Comprehensive Plan regarding where it should locate housing for seniors.

• Green Cove Springs’ Judith Cobbert was ordered to perform 500 hours of community service at Clay Animal Control after she left her Rottweiler chained to a tree for several weeks without water or food.

• Joseph Frank Califano, 82, suffered second and third-degree burns after setting his garage on Old Orange Park Road on fire, police said.

40 years ago, 1985

• The Orange Park Town Council approved a one-year moratorium on new water and sewer hookups until a $1.5 million upgrade is completed.

• The County Commission decided to spend $250,000 from local gas taxes to pave the two-lane Branan Field Road.

• The Clay County School Board approved a tentative $70 million budget, including funding for a new elementary school in Lake Asbury.