• After receiving dialysis for more than six years, Eddie Farhat receives a kidney after Roger Higginbotham read a post about Farhat’s condition on Facebook. 

• As many as 1,500 children receive bags of toys and bicycles at the J.P. Hall Children’s Charities Christmas Party at the Clay County Fairgrounds. 

• The Way Free Medical Clinic and Clay Chamber join forces to provide healthcare to uninsured local workers. 

• The Roadway Inn and Conference Center is ordered to close by the Orange Park Nuisance Abatement Board after the police department said it made another crack cocaine arrest after the board issued strict guidelines to clean up the property. 

• The Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Fire Marshals Office continue to investigate a car fire in Middleburg and learn the identity of a person found inside the car. 

• Residents get a chance to see the plans for the southern route of the First Coast Expressway that eventually will make its way from Interstate 10 to Interstate 95. 

• State Fire Marshals and investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms say preliminary results point to a dryer vent as the cause of a blaze valued at $1 million in damages at a strip mall at 1871 Wells Road. 

• The Clay County Sheriff’s Office officially charges Cecil Bradley Matthews, 36, with the murder of his wife, Natalie, after police said evidence showed she was shot in the neck and chest with a .22-caliber revolver. 

• Continental Properties withdrew its controversial application to build an apartment community in front of the Bear Run subdivision along Blanding Boulevard. 

30 Years Ago, 1995

• Clay County District Schools officials adopt acceptable use guidelines for Internet users as the district prepped to offer each school web access via FIRN, the Florida Information Resource Network. 

• The Clay County Health Department investigate two cases of septicemia that struck two Orange Park girls who were exposed to meningococcus bacteria. 

• Federal agents charge Clay County Sheriff’s Deputy Edwin Creamer with growing 500 marijuana plants at a hunting club in Baker County. 

• The Clay County Board of County Commissioners approve a contract with solid waste consultant Vincent Prothroe of Gainesville, who was tasked with setting up a fee service program for the county’s landfills. 

• Orange Park Fire Capt. Lanny Keith Wilson, 30, of Orange Park, is arrested by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office on charges he allegedly tried to steal $100 worth of merchandise from Sears at the Orange Park Mall. 

• Jury selection got underway in the murder trial of James W. Ortagus, who was accused of shooting and killing Ellis Fowler after arguing over a parking spot at a shopping center at 2688 Blanding Blvd.