To reflect on the news of the day, Jacksonville Today seeks to include a diverse set of perspectives that add context or unique insight. Regular opinion columnists are independent contractors who are paid for their contribution and are not involved in news decisions. We also welcome guest contributors to submit on matters of public interest. Email column pitches to Editor Jessica Palombo at jessica@jaxtoday.org.
Featured image for “OPINION | House redistricting map creates Jax-only CD5…lands with a thud”
The proposed Congressional District 5 would be entirely within Duval County | House of Representatives
February 27, 2022

OPINION | House redistricting map creates Jax-only CD5…lands with a thud

The intramural pissing match between Republicans in Tallahassee continues, and no clear resolution is at hand as they try to…

Featured image for “OPINION | Leave university funding alone ”
The University of Florida (seen in this 2011 file photo) is now a top 5 public university. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
February 23, 2022

OPINION | Leave university funding alone 

In Florida’s state government, the Legislature is required to produce a balanced budget every year. This is very different than…

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | 5 Gullah Geechee dishes to try in Jacksonville”
February 22, 2022

THE JAXSON | 5 Gullah Geechee dishes to try in Jacksonville

The Gullah Geechee descended from enslaved Central and West Africans who worked the plantations of the Lowcountry in the coastal…

Featured image for “OPINION | What are you so afraid of?”
Jacksonville's director of planning and development, Bill Killingsworth, and councilman Al Ferraro discussing proposed voting maps | Claire Heddles, WJCT News
February 21, 2022

OPINION | What are you so afraid of?

The definition of democracy is “government by the people.” It’s “a form of government in which the supreme power is…

Featured image for “OPINION | Drama on Florida House floor reflects Duval’s racial divide”
Reps. Cord Byrd and Angie Nixon | Photos: Florida House of Representatives
February 20, 2022

OPINION | Drama on Florida House floor reflects Duval’s racial divide

Duval County legislators were at the center of drama in the Florida Legislature last week, and the confrontation spoke to…

Featured image for “OPINION | 7 big projects that moved Downtown forward (and how they did it)”
February 15, 2022

OPINION | 7 big projects that moved Downtown forward (and how they did it)

Downtown Jacksonville has its fair share of “gamechanger” developments that have failed to deliver, but when done right, major projects…

Featured image for “OPINION | History is happening now”
Memorial to Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky | FloNight, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
February 14, 2022

OPINION | History is happening now

Tomorrow would have been Jordan Davis’s 27th birthday. Trayvon Martin would have made 27 on February 5th. Instead, we remember…

Featured image for “OPINION | Ron DeSantis isn’t bluffing about his map”
February 13, 2022

OPINION | Ron DeSantis isn’t bluffing about his map

Many of those reading this rejoiced last week when the Florida Supreme Court rebuffed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ unprecedented ask for…

Featured image for “OPINION | Florida’s surgeon general fight is a preview of 2024”
Florida Surgeon Gen. Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, left, speaks at a news conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, right, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
February 9, 2022

OPINION | Florida’s surgeon general fight is a preview of 2024

Before the 2000 Bush/Gore election, Tim Russert, the late Meet the Press host, was asked what he would be watching…

Featured image for “OPINION | The value of being”
Byron Leftwich, left, and Alton Brown, right. Photo attribution: All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; JaxStrong, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
February 7, 2022

OPINION | The value of being

There’s a notion that has circulated in the Black community for generations: Black people have to be twice as good…

Featured image for “OPINION | Lawson for Lt. Gov?”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, poses during a ceremonial swearing-in with Rep. Al Lawson, D-Fla., right, on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019 in Washington, during the opening session of the 116th Congress. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
February 6, 2022

OPINION | Lawson for Lt. Gov?

Will Florida’s 5th Congressional District, which connects Jacksonville’s Urban Core to Gadsden County while hugging the Georgia border, become a…

Featured image for “OPINION | Erasing Black history does not erase Black people”
Quarters for enslaved people at Jacksonville's Kingsley Plantation.
January 31, 2022

OPINION | Erasing Black history does not erase Black people

In my other life, I write books and host a podcast. I am unabashed about centering the point of view…

Featured image for “OPINION | Bring Byron home”
Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich after a NFL wild-card playoff football game, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Don Montague)
January 30, 2022

OPINION | Bring Byron home

It’s hard for me to understand, as a longtime observer of the Jacksonville Jaguars franchise, why it’s taken the team…

Featured image for “OPINION | A sad lesson from Broad Street’s past”
January 25, 2022

OPINION | A sad lesson from Broad Street’s past

If you travel down Broad Street in Downtown Jacksonville’s LaVilla neighborhood today, you won’t pass by much that’s open. In…

Featured image for “OPINION | I am American”
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky speaking at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Credit Gage Skidmore
January 24, 2022

OPINION | I am American

“African-American voters are voting at just as high a percentage as Americans.”  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made the offhand…

Featured image for “OPINION | Corrine’s revenge? Ron DeSantis goes after Al Lawson”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, poses during a ceremonial swearing-in with Rep. Al Lawson, D-Fla., right, on Capitol Hill in 2019. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
January 23, 2022

OPINION | Corrine’s revenge? Ron DeSantis goes after Al Lawson

Is Gov. DeSantis trying to do what Jacksonville Democrats could not, in removing Al Lawson from Congress? That is one…

Featured image for “SPORTS | What Trevor Lawrence needs from the Jags”
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence high fives fans as he leaves the field after defeating the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, in Jacksonville. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)
January 19, 2022

SPORTS | What Trevor Lawrence needs from the Jags

Former NFL coach Bill Parcells famously said, “You are what your record says you are.” Considering the Jaguars have the…

Featured image for “OPINION | Rethinking Jacksonville’s convention center dilemma”
The 2014 APA Florida Annual Conference at the Prime F. Osborn Convention Center. This 10,000-square-foot meeting room was once the grand lobby for the largest train station in the country south of Washington, D.C.
January 18, 2022

OPINION | Rethinking Jacksonville’s convention center dilemma

A new convention center has been in Jacksonville’s long-term plans for decades, but the Downtown Investment Authority now says it…

Featured image for “OPINION | An open letter to Gov. DeSantis”
January 17, 2022

OPINION | An open letter to Gov. DeSantis

Dear Governor DeSantis,  My daughter has COVID. She’s 7 months. I’m watching her little body battle an invisible bully.  She’s…

Featured image for “OPINION | Rebirth of a nation, state”
Raymon Troncoso, WJCT News | The Florida Channel livestream
January 10, 2022

OPINION | Rebirth of a nation, state

Today marks the first day of the Florida legislative session. A session where our elected legislators will tackle a myriad…

Featured image for “OPINION | Ben Frazier makes his point”
A sheriff's deputy handcuffs Ben Frazier January 4, 2022. | Claire Heddles, WJCT News
January 9, 2022

OPINION | Ben Frazier makes his point

A week ago, the world hadn’t heard of Ben Frazier. The president of the Northside Coalition was known locally, but…

Featured image for “OPINION | 2022 will be a Republican rout in Florida”
Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters in 2018. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
January 5, 2022

OPINION | 2022 will be a Republican rout in Florida

In 2002, Jeb Bush was a runaway political freight train. His first four years in the Governor’s Mansion resulted in…

January 4, 2022

OPINION | Changing the urban landscape in 2022

Jacksonville’s Urban Core is growing again after decades of decline, the Emerald Trail has broken ground, and the Downtown Northbank…

Featured image for “OPINION | Feel free to begin, again”
People stand in Times Square for the annual New Year's Eve ball drop in New York City on Dec. 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
January 3, 2022

OPINION | Feel free to begin, again

Happy New Year! 2021 marked the first time in a long time that I did not set traditional goals for…