First Coast Connect

Bicycle Safety The recent death of former Times-Union editorial writer Wayne Ezell shocked and saddened many in Jacksonville. The 72-year-old Ezell died last week after his bicycle was struck by a pickup truck in Iowa. He was taking part in an annual seven-day Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, the oldest, largest and longest bicycle touring event in the world. Tragically and ironically, Ezell was struck and killed just as riders in the 43rd annual event were preparing for their

Donald Trump Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visits Jacksonville Wednesday night for a campaign rally at Veterans Memorial Arena. Trump’s return to the First Coast comes on the heels of a series of controversies and withering scrutiny over his comments about the family of a slain soldier, the issue of workplace harassment, and more. We examine these controversies and the current state of the election with two representatives from the Jax Young Voters Coalition, Walker Ellison and

State of Downtown The latest "State of Downtown" report from Downtown Vision, Inc. details how Jacksonville's city center has fared over the last year. The last 18 months have seen new development projects, retail recruitment, changing demographics, and more in the urban core. Downtown Vision, Inc. executive director Jake Gordon joins us to discuss the report and what the future could look like for downtown Jacksonville.

'Just Vote No' A new lawsuit has been filed that seeks to knock that half-cent sales tax proposal for Jacksonville off the ballot in the upcoming August 30 primary election. The lawsuit says the ballot language is too confusing and misleading, even illegal. Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry is leading the charge to get Duval County residents to vote “yes” on the measure to pay down the city’s massive pension debt. The mayor’s office says the referendum’s language meets all the requirements of state

We discuss the week's top news stories for the full hour with our roundtable of local journalists. Joining us are: Tonyaa Weathersbee, Florida Times-Union columnistA.G. Gancarski, Florida Politics writerLindsey Kilbride, WJCT News reporterTim Gibbons, Jacksonville Business Journal editorTopics include the Democratic National Convention, a new study about the effect of climate change on Florida's coastal military installation, and more.

Al Lawson Corrine Brown’s indictment on 24 charges of fraud may provide a political opening for her biggest challenger, former state Sen. Al Lawson of Tallahassee. Lawson is the most high-profile contender to replace Brown in the District 5 Congressional seat she’s held for more than two decades. He joins us to discuss his platform. Cindy Landham It’s a simple piece of advice for anyone who’s struggled with their weight: we are all born with innate wisdom about how to eat, but dieting leads us

Florida Creamery We begin the hour with a discussion about the controversy surrounding Angela Wilcox, owner of the Florida Creamery ice cream shop in Avondale. In a recent Facebook exchange with another local business owner, Wilcox vented about everything from liberals, to ISIS, to people who don’t sign paychecks. The posts have since been taken down, but not before they went viral, and were viewed more than 30,000 times. People around the country then used Yelp and Google reviews to voice their

Dave Bruderly The Democratic National Convention heads into day two Tuesday, following a series of rousing speeches designed to unify the party after a fractious first day. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders closed out the convention’s first night with a forceful plea for his supporters to get behind nominee Hillary Clinton. Can the Democrats unite behind the common goal of beating Donald Trump? Dave Bruderly, Democratic candidate for the District 4 Congressional seat, joins us to discuss the

Democratic National Convention As the Democratic National Convention kicks off in Philadelphia, an unusual question is capturing the attention of cyberspecialists, Russia experts and Democratic Party leaders: Is Vladimir Putin trying to meddle in the American presidential election? A Wikileaks release on Friday of some 20,000 stolen emails from DNC computer servers has intensified discussion of the potential role of Russian intelligence agencies in disrupting the 2016 campaign. The emails have

Media Roundtable We discuss the week's biggest news stories with our roundtable of local journalists: Sebastian Kitchen, Florida Times-Union reporter; Claire Goforth, Folio Weekly editor; Mark Judson, UNF Spinnaker editor; and blogger Fred Matthews. Topics include the Republic National Convention, the federal investigation into Rep. Corrine Brown, and more.