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…

Featured image for “PHOTO ESSAY | Hauling It”
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,…

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 | 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 | Polson’s problem”
December 12, 2021

OPINION | Polson’s problem

The First Election of the Jacksonville City Council At Large Group 3 race is in the books, and nobody won.…

Featured image for “OPINION | Voting is the price of freedom”
Signs in front of an early voting site | Claire Heddles, WJCT News
December 6, 2021

OPINION | Voting is the price of freedom

Today is election day. Albeit it’s a small election, a special election to fill the seat of the late at-large…

Featured image for “OPINION | What are we teaching our children?”
A Confederate monument in Springfield Park is covered with a tarp to prevent vandalism.
November 15, 2021

OPINION | What are we teaching our children?

City Council has withdrawn the Confederate monument legislation and may never take it up again —  an act of cowardice…

Featured image for “OPINION | Can Donna Deegan win?”
Deegan announced her candidacy for mayor on First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross.
November 14, 2021

OPINION | Can Donna Deegan win?

Fundraising isn’t everything. That is what every underfinanced candidate has said since the beginning of time. And that is also…

Featured image for “OPINION | Confederate Cowards”
November 7, 2021

OPINION | Confederate Cowards

The wisdom of the Jacksonville City Council has always been a matter of debate.  This is the same group that…

Featured image for “OPINION | Stop prosecuting Corrine Brown”
Corrine Brown is pictured walking into a Oct. 2020 court appearance. | News4Jax
October 31, 2021

OPINION | Stop prosecuting Corrine Brown

Former Congresswoman Corrine Brown, who long represented part of the Jacksonville area until 2017, is set to stand trial for…