First Coast Connect

Wednesday on First Coast Connect, with Jacksonville again reeling from multiple homicides, including the shooting of an 11-month old, we spoke with local pastors John Guns and John Allen Newman as the city, once again looks for solutions to the violence. Rotary District Governor Marshall Butler joined the program to talk about the organization’s project to eradicate polio worldwide. Julie Handley, fundraiser chair of the Downtown Ecumenical Services Council, talked about the return of their

Tuesday on First Coast Connect, we hosted a conversation about the Electoral College with Jacksonville University political science professor Stephen Baker and visiting professor of history at the University of North Florida Yanek Mieczkowski . We were also joined by Sen. Aaron Bean and pastor Lance Jones, who spoke about the new Outreach Center of the Journey Church in Yulee that helps feed those in need. Former pro golfer Jeff Klauk then joined host Melissa Ross to talk about Perfect Golf

Monday on First Coast Connect, we spoke with Diallo-Sekou, chairman of The Kemetic Empire, a First Coast human rights organization, about the election of Donald Trump and the protests across the country. It’s World Diabetes Day, and we were joined in studio by Brooks Biagini, the executive director of the local chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation along with Melody Van Zant and her 17 year old daughter Aria, who is living with diabetes.

Our Friday Media Roundtable included Florida Times-Union columnist Ron Littlepage, Folio Weekly editor Claire Goforth, Tim Gibbons of the Jacksonville Business Journal and WJCT reporter Ryan Benk. We were also joined by Stacy Goldring and Molly Kushner about the upcoming “Voices of the Second Gen” that explores the experiences of second generation Holocaust survivors. In observance of Veterans Day, we wrapped up our series of segments during Jacksonville’s Week of Valor by hearing from Operation

Most pollsters dropped the ball on Election Day predicting Hillary Clinton would be elected President. Thursday on First Coast Connect we were joined by Dr. Michael Binder, Public Opinion Research Lab director at the University of North Florida to talk what pollsters got wrong and why. We also spoke with John Fails and Nathan Crocker from Bunker Labs of Jacksonville, which helps local veterans who want to start their own business. Jax Sports Council director Alan Verlander joined us to talk

Florida Politics reporter AG Gancarski joined First Coast Connect Wednesday to talk about President-elect Donald Trump’s upset win and other races around Florida and the First Coast. We also heard from poet Andy Rojas and writer Tim Gilmore about the upcoming Jax by Jax Literary Arts Festival.

It’s Election Day. We spoke to St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Vicki Oakes about what voters need to know as they head to the polls. We also spoke with WJCT reporter Ryan Benk about a story he broke about racial discrimination charges filed by five employees at JEA. First Coast Connect Book Club blogger Stacey Goldring joined us for this month’s segment, and Lutheran Social Services President and CEO Mary Strickland talked about this weekend’s RedTie Affair fundraiser to benefit local

We heard from reporter Amy Walters of Reveal, which airs Thursday and Saturday on WJCT. She is in Jacksonville working on a story about the future of the Black Lives Matter movement after the election. Baptist AgeWell’s annual conference is coming up Saturday at University of North Florida. We spoke by phone with keynote speaker Dr. Diane Meier, director of Palliative Medicine from Mount Sinai hospital in New York, and Dr. Andrew Daigle from Baptist Health joined us in studio. We also spoke with

Our weekly Media Roundtable featured Andrew Pantazi of the Florida Times-Union; Claire Goforth, editor of Folio Weekly; Tim Gibbons, editor of the Jacksonville Business Journal; and Fred Matthews, formerly of the Examiner. We then heard from Museum spokesman Joe Snowberger and Michael Rothfeld with the Veterans Council of St. Johns County about several events next week heading into Veterans Day to honor First Coast Veterans..We were also joined by spokeswomen Tracy Aquila and Sarah Christian to

On First Coast Connect Thursday we spoke with the owner of Jacksonville’s minor league baseball team Ken Babby about the team’s controversial name change. We also spoke with North Florida Land Trust Executive Director Jim McCarthy about a way landowners can receive an additional tax deduction for 2016.