Featured image for “PHOTO ESSAY | ‘Take them down!’”
Jacksonville activists Ben Frazier, center, and Bob Rutter, right, are removed from the chambers by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Tuesday night. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
December 14, 2022

PHOTO ESSAY | ‘Take them down!’

Activists with the Northside Coalition and other civil rights groups implored the Jacksonville City Council Tuesday to remove the Confederate…

Featured image for “Jacksonville redistricting process raises questions of Sunshine Law violations”
Redistricting maps presented at a Jacksonville City Council meeting. | The Tributary
December 12, 2022

Jacksonville redistricting process raises questions of Sunshine Law violations

According to the version of events that Jacksonville’s city lawyers told a federal court, the City Council passed a redistricting…

Featured image for “How should Jax address housing and health care? Ideas head to City Council”
City Council President Terrance Freeman | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
December 11, 2022

How should Jax address housing and health care? Ideas head to City Council

Jacksonville could soon take steps to address homelessness, a lack of affordable housing and inequitable access to healthcare.  That’s after…

Featured image for “OPINION | The ‘resign to run’ trap”
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, center, and Jax Chamber of Commerce CEO Daniel Davis, left, rub shoulders in 2018. | WJCT News
November 20, 2022

OPINION | The ‘resign to run’ trap

I’ve written about politics in this town for many years and expressed my share of frustrations, including with candidates running…

Featured image for “OPINION | What redistricting reveals about the Jacksonville City Council”
The new map Council passed on Friday | City of Jacksonville
November 6, 2022

OPINION | What redistricting reveals about the Jacksonville City Council

Anyone from a dysfunctional family would have felt at home during Friday’s redistricting schmozz on the Jacksonville City Council.  Proving…

Featured image for “OPINION | Mayor’s race should be about Jax, not parties”
Photo: Brendan Rivers
October 31, 2022

OPINION | Mayor’s race should be about Jax, not parties

While the political world is hyper-focused on the midterm elections, the day after next Tuesday’s voting opens another chapter in…

Featured image for “OPINION | Molly against the machine”
Duval County sheriff candidates T.K. Waters, right, and Lakesha Burton, left, participated last month in a debate hosted by Jacksonville Today. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
October 23, 2022

OPINION | Molly against the machine

Dozens of endorsements are flying, and most of them are of the “Well, it would be news if they didn’t…

Featured image for “Taking a page from Orlando’s book, Jax advocates call for a housing emergency declaration”
This home in the College Gardens neighborhood went up for rent in May 2022. Rent in the 32209 ZIP code, where the home is located, has increased 31.9 % during the pandemic. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
September 26, 2022

Taking a page from Orlando’s book, Jax advocates call for a housing emergency declaration

Jacksonville’s $1.5 billion budget is going to be finalized on Tuesday night. Though it will include funding aimed at helping…

Featured image for “OPINION | Jax’s next sheriff should build bridge with City Hall”
Photo: Claire Heddles, Jacksonville Today
September 14, 2022

OPINION | Jax’s next sheriff should build bridge with City Hall

It’s September in Jacksonville, which brings some potential relief from brutal summer heat, a heightened focus on tropical weather activity,…

Featured image for “Waters, Burton advance to sheriff runoff; Clark-Murray clinches council seat; Gaffney Jr. favored in November race”
Lakesha Burton and T.K. Waters will face off for Jacksonville Sheriff on November 8.
August 23, 2022

Waters, Burton advance to sheriff runoff; Clark-Murray clinches council seat; Gaffney Jr. favored in November race

Tuesday’s municipal special elections narrowed the field in races for sheriff city council and decided another council seat.…

Featured image for “OPINION | Have Democrats lost the Jax mayoral race already?”
Donna Deegan announced her candidacy for Jacksonville mayor last year on WJCT News 89.9's First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross. | Heather Schatz
July 10, 2022

OPINION | Have Democrats lost the Jax mayoral race already?

For the first time in many years, two serious Democratic candidates are running for Jacksonville mayor. And for backers of…

Featured image for “OPINION | ‘Discipline and punish’: the Duval way”
Photo: Claire Heddles, Jacksonville Today
June 26, 2022

OPINION | ‘Discipline and punish’: the Duval way

To the best of my knowledge, French philosopher Michel Foucault never made it to Duval County. And he likely never…

Featured image for “OPINION | Resolving the Downtown self-storage wars”
The Shops at 300 Needham Street/EZ Storage development in Newton, Massachusetts, are an example of a mixed-use storage center. | Avison Young.
June 21, 2022

OPINION | Resolving the Downtown self-storage wars

Developers want to lift a ban on self-storage facilities in Downtown Jacksonville, but building such facilities could stifle streets and…

Featured image for “OPINION | Bet on Black women”
Longtime state legislator Audrey Gibson is running for Jacksonville mayor. | News Service of Florida
June 13, 2022

OPINION | Bet on Black women

My heart was glad when I saw the announcement that term-limited Democratic state Sen. Audrey Gibson was entering the Jacksonville…

Featured image for “To fight violent crime, Jacksonville offering Rise Up grants for nonprofits”
Arnisha Johnson, right, and Shontae Jackson, center, listen to city officials discuss the criteria for the Jacksonville Rise Up Mini Grant program that will be allocated through the Safety and Crime Reduction Commission. The $336,000 program will award up to $9,000 to local nonprofits to prevent violent crime. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
June 12, 2022

To fight violent crime, Jacksonville offering Rise Up grants for nonprofits

Shontae Jackson does not need to be told how devastating it can be when a family member’s life is shockingly…

Featured image for “OPINION | Where the sheriff lives matters”
A.G. Gancarski (center-right) walks behind Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams in this photo from 2020 | WJCT News
June 1, 2022

OPINION | Where the sheriff lives matters

One of my least favorite fictions about our region is that Jacksonville and the rest of Northeast Florida are the…

Featured image for “OPINION | Corrine Brown’s pyrrhic victory”
May 22, 2022

OPINION | Corrine Brown’s pyrrhic victory

Months back, I pleaded to the federal government in this column space to stop prosecuting Corrine Brown. Last week, they…

Featured image for “EXPLORE: How much did rent go up in your neighborhood?”
Rent in the 32210 ZIP code, where this Fishweir Creek studio rental is, has increased 32% since the start of the pandemic.
May 12, 2022

EXPLORE: How much did rent go up in your neighborhood?

Rent prices  in the Jacksonville metro area have increased by more than 30% since the start of the pandemic —…

Featured image for “OPINION | ‘Ain’t nothin’ goin’ on but the rent’”
Rents are rising faster in Jacksonville than most places in the U.S. | AP
May 8, 2022

OPINION | ‘Ain’t nothin’ goin’ on but the rent’

Not too many years ago, it was possible to eke out a living on the fringes of society and maintain…

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May 3, 2022

PHOTO ESSAY | Hauling It

A driver shortage in Jacksonville triggered missed garbage pickups by the thousands. Through it all, the men and women who…

Featured image for “OPINION | Al Ferraro is driving the narrative”
May 1, 2022

OPINION | Al Ferraro is driving the narrative

Al Ferraro knows how to read a room. People should finally realize that much and give him the credit he’s…

Featured image for “OPINION | Confederacy of dunces”
Mayoral candidate Al Ferraro is proposing a Confederate monument voter referendum | Photo: Al Ferraro for Mayor via Facebook
April 10, 2022

OPINION | Confederacy of dunces

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”  That’s a line from William Faulkner, but it’s also an apt…

Featured image for “OPINION | Confederate monuments are here to stay ”
The Women of the Southland monument in Springfield Park, as seen in November 2021.
March 20, 2022

OPINION | Confederate monuments are here to stay 

The Jacksonville City Council is set for yet another of its masochistic explorations of what would, in a 21st Century…

Featured image for “EXPLORE: Is your voting precinct one of Jax’s highest-turnout? Or the lowest?”
A voting precinct in Jacksonville's Lakewood neighborhood. | Claire Heddles, Jacksonville Today
February 27, 2022

EXPLORE: Is your voting precinct one of Jax’s highest-turnout? Or the lowest?

Plus, 5 takeaways from the City Council election Republican Nick Howland will be sworn in on Jacksonville’s City Council Wednesday,…