First Coast Connect

Each Friday, our media roundtable dives into the biggest stories of the week. Among our topics this week:

• State House candidate Diana Jordan-Baldwin says an opposition voter physically attacked her at a polling site.
• Concerns grow over the expanding role of the City Council’s in-house lawyer, Jason Teal.
• Two shootings following 911 calls raise fresh questions about police response to mental health crises.

Guests:

• David Bauerlein, metro reporter at the Florida Times-Union
• Christina Burgess, reporter at First Coast News
• Randy DeFoor, corporate attorney, former Jacksonville City Council member
• Jim Piggott, former City Hall reporter at News4Jax

A stage production that tackles mental health, grief and drug addiction may not seem a likely candidate for a rock musical, but the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal proves that there is plenty of creative space to accommodate the ambitious subject. We talk to the First Coast dentist-turned-thespian behind the local production about what conversations he hopes the Limelight Theatre staging will generate and why he wanted to bring the Broadway hit to local audiences.

Guests:

• Jimmy Alexander, producer of Next to Normal at Limelight Theatre and actor playing Dan Goodman
• Ella Escamilla, actress playing Natalie

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be back in action this week against the New Orleans Saints for the team’s first preseason game of the year. The Jags had an impressive run last season, securing a 13-4 record and placing first in the AFC South division under rookie head coach Liam Coen. After a heartbreaking 27-24 loss against the Buffalo Bills back in January, fans are eager to see how the Big Cats return to the playing field. We sit down with First Coast News sports reporter Rachel Phillips, our new Jags season correspondent, to talk ball and get a preview of what to expect for the coming season.

Guest: Rachel Phillips, sports reporter and anchor, First Coast News

“The air and sea of this ancient, fortified, dilapidated sand-bank of a town are really delicious” — a little-known appraisal of St. Augustine by Ralph Waldo Emerson — is among the treasures unearthed in Rachel Knox’s new book of essays, which simultaneously skewers and venerates the state of Florida. Both a naked examination of personal history and collective trauma, and a paean to the flora, fauna and cultural timbre of the state, Anywhere Else brings native Floridians (and true converts) on a harrowing road trip to the final chapter and the question it poses: “My god, Rachel, how can you live here?” We ask the author what it means to love a place enough to hate it and why she finds a perfect metaphor for state residents in the broken, regenerative claw of a stone crab.

Guest: Rachel Knox, author of Anywhere Else: Essays on Florida

A plan to oust the Republican incumbent of Florida’s 4th Congressional District will first require winning the primary Tuesday. Eleven months after he announced his candidacy on First Coast Connect, local attorney and civic leader Michel Kirwan returns just five days ahead of Tuesday’s decisive Democratic primary. We ask him about recent polling that puts him behind opponent LaShonda Holloway despite his significant financial advantage and how he plans to use the final days to convince voters he’s the best qualified opponent to challenge Republican incumbent Aaron Bean. First Coast Connect is covering a range of local races and election-related topics between now and Nov. 3. You can find all of our election coverage here and detailed information about upcoming elections, including information about candidates and ballot initiatives in your district, at the nonpartisan League of Women Voters website Vote411.org. Additional candidate coverage is featured in Jacksonville Today’s political section.

Guest: Michael Kirwan, Democratic candidate for Florida’s 4th Congressional District

A known quantity in the pro bono legal arena and the nonprofit community, attorney and community advocate Leslie Jean-Bart is less familiar as a political entity, though she has run for office before. We ask the candidate about her endorsement from current District 13 Rep. Angie Nixon, her plans for the district if elected and what differentiates her from her Democratic opponent, Audrey Gibson. First Coast Connect is covering a range of local races and election-related topics between now and Nov. 3. You can find all of our election coverage here, and you can find detailed information about upcoming elections, including information about candidates and ballot initiatives in your district, at the nonpartisan League of Women Voters website Vote411.org. Additional candidate coverage is featured in Jacksonville Today’s political section.

Guest: Leslie Jean-Bart, Democratic candidate for Florida House District 13

Florida gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner returns to WJCT’s Studio 2 to discuss what has become an increasingly ugly Republican primary. Though Renner has largely remained above the fray, he is seriously underwater in fundraising and in recent polls, lagging well behind frontrunner Byron Donalds, but even behind increasingly longshot candidates like investor James Fishback and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins. We ask the former speaker of the Florida House what keeps him running just one week out from the Aug. 18 Republican primary, and whether an apparent nod from Gov. Ron DeSantis might help fill his political sails.

Guest: Paul Renner, Republican candidate for Florida governor

In presenting her $2 billion budget proposal, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan repeatedly stressed the return on investment the city derives from every dollar spent. In her July 20 speech to City Council, she estimated returns of 3 to 1 (from the the physical activity engendered by city parks) to 20 to 1 (from investment in arts and culture). We ask the mayor about subsequent critiques of the administration’s math, as well as first responder pushback to a proposed property tax cut.

Guest: Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan

A highway patrolman credited with preventing more than 200 suicides during his time patrolling the Golden Gate Bridge speaks on the First Coast on Wednesday as part of the Zero Suicide Summit in St. Johns County. After spending 23 years in the role, now-retired Sgt. Kevin Briggs travels the country as an advocate for suicide prevention. One of Briggs’ most well-known interventions was in 2005 when he talked 22-year-old Kevin Berthia from the ledge. Berthia now serves as a mental health and suicide prevention advocate and speaker himself. We sit down with the former patrolman to discuss why he thinks his words have saved so many lives. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, you can call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Guest: Sgt. Kevin Briggs, retired California highway patrolman and suicide prevention advocate

The world’s bestselling murder mystery of all time gets new life on stage in Amelia Island. Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None tells the macabre and mystifying tale of 10 people summoned to a remote island, where they begin being killed, one by one, in accordance with the words of a chilling nursery rhyme. As with all Christie crime novels, everyone is a suspect, but unlike the others, everyone also ends up dead — making finding the true culprit a sleuthing master class. Amelia Community Theatre presents its take on the classic from Aug. 14-29. We talk to the director and three principal actors about why the story remains vibrant nearly a century after it was published.

Guests:

• Melissa Coon, actor playing Vera Claythorne
• Anthony Pierce, actor playing William Henry Blore
• Carlos Semidei, actor playing Dr. Edward Armstrong

From her first election in 2002, to her years in the state House and Senate, to her unsuccessful bids for Jacksonville mayor and City Council, Audrey Gibson has acquired more campaign experience over three decades than almost anyone in state politics. We ask her what she hopes to bring to the District 13 House seat and what distinguishes her from her fellow Democratic opponent in the Aug. 18 primary, attorney Leslie Jean-Bart. First Coast Connect is covering a range of local races and election-related topics between now and Nov. 3. Jean-Bart will appear on the program Aug. 12. You can find all of our election coverage here, and you can find detailed information about upcoming elections, including information about candidates and ballot initiatives in your district, at the nonpartisan League of Women Voters website Vote411.org. Additional candidate coverage is featured in Jacksonville Today’s political section.

Guest: Audrey Gibson, Democratic candidate for Florida House District 13

A 40-year-old chorus gets a new leader — one who literally wrote the book on how to succeed as a choral singer: The Choral Singer's Survival Guide. Ahead of both a new season and regional auditions for vocalists, we sit down with incoming director of the Jacksonville Symphony Chorus to discuss what it means to start anew after his predecessor’s decade and a half tenure and how his own musical experience, from Europe to Carnegie Hall, brought him to the First Coast.

Guest: Tony Thornton, director, Jacksonville Symphony Chorus

For nearly four decades, the names Charlotte Mabry and Robert Arliegh White were as synched as their eclectic performances — a duo known for pushing the bounds of performance art, verbal percussion and sheer absurdity. Mabry’s death last year put an end to that collaboration, but White is continuing his work on stage. An upcoming show at Babs’Lab is his first as a solo performer without Mabry (principal percussionist for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and music instructor at UNF). We preview his upcoming RAWtalk as he reflects on his 40 years of Jacksonville performance and 70 years circling the sun.

Guest: Robert Arleigh White, actor, storyteller and arts advocate

Each Friday, our media roundtable dives into the biggest stories of the week. Among our topics this week:

• First responders sound the alarm over a proposed property tax cut, even as a court ordered change to ballot language could impact its chance of success.
• A man accused of a sexually explicit act in public will not be punished by police, leaving the victim calling for a change to the law.
• Jacksonville police respond to community outcry over the controversial arrest of a 14-year-old using a police K-9.
  

Guests:

• A.G. Gancarski, reporter at Florida Politics, columnist for Jacksonville Today
• Deja Mayfield, reporter/weekend anchor, Action News Jax
• Robert Brown, news director at News4Jax
• Tiffany Salameh, anchor and investigative reporter at News4Jax

Revelations that a new state law could open up more than 6,000 acres of agricultural land to intensive new development in St. Johns County has sparked anger among residents already feeling the pressure of uncontrolled growth. It’s just one issue facing incumbent state Rep. Kim Kendall, who voted for SB 686 and is now getting “a lot of questions” about her vote. We talk to her Republican challenger about what she’d do now that the law is in place. (First Coast Connect has reached out to Kendall multiple times to appear on the program, but have not yet received a response.) First Coast Connect is covering a range of local races and election-related topics between now and Nov. 3. You can find all of our election coverage here, and you can find detailed information about upcoming elections, including information about candidates and ballot initiatives in your district, at the nonpartisan League of Women Voters website Vote411.org. Additional candidate coverage is featured in Jacksonville Today’s political section.

Guest: Diana Patrice Jordan-Baldwin, Republican candidate for Florida House District 18

From its sold-out inaugural game last May to its current standing at the top of the upstart UpShot league, Jacksonville’s first-ever pro women's basketball team is definitely making waves. We take a midseason TV timeout with the coach and two players to ask about their 20-6 record, how the First Coast has received the team and what it means to be dominating the new league at a time when women’s basketball is culturally ascendent. We also watch some tape of the Jacksonville Wave’s finest moments in the paint.

Guests:

• Jessica Bogia, head coach, Jacksonville Waves
• Khayla Pointer, point guard, Jacksonville Waves
• Taylor Soule, forward, Jacksonville Waves

As part of our ongoing election coverage, we sit down with the fourth of five candidates seeking to represent Florida’s Congressional District 5. Incumbent congressman John Rutherford, who is seeking his sixth term, has not responded to repeated requests to appear on the program, but we have previously spoken to Democratic candidates Rachel Grage, Mark Heggestad and Republican contender Mark Kaye. On Wednesday, we sit down with 29-year-old first-time candidate Alex Hazen, a video game developer who helps create training software for nurses and other healthcare workers. First Coast Connect is covering a range of local races and election-related topics between now and Nov. 3. You can find all of our election coverage here, and you can find detailed information about upcoming elections, including information about candidates and ballot initiatives in your district, at the nonpartisan League of Women Voters website Vote411.org. Additional candidate coverage is featured in Jacksonville Today’s political section.

Guest: Alex Hazen, Democratic candidate for Florida’s 5th Congressional District

From the groundbreaking and exuberant Stop Making Sense to the beautifully nostalgic Scorsese passion project The Last Waltz, the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall is hosting a free concert film series throughout the month of August. The inaugural Stage to Screen series invites music fans to experience performances in a space built for live music and includes four concert films featuring the Talking Heads, The Band, The Rolling Stones and film composer Hans Zimmer. Audiences can experience improved acoustics in the concert hall, which saw major improvements after a nearly $13 million, 14-month renovation. All screenings are free, but registration is required.

Guests:

• Dianya Markovits, director of public relations and partnerships, SJC Cultural Events Inc.
• Tim Kirkpatrick, director of programming and strategy, SJC Cultural Events Inc.

A recent infusion of cash has upped the ante in the race for the Jacksonville City Council At-Large Group 1 seat. Democrat Moné Holder now leads the pack, having raised more than $300,000 in her bid to alter the political dynamics of a predominately Republican council. The Aug. 18 Special Election also features Libertarian and frequent City Council commenter Addison Patrick, who beat a Republican court challenge to remove her from the ballot and has since filed her own court challenge alleging the Republican candidate, Deborah Wesley, does not live in her district. (Wesley, who previously committed to participating in the roundtable, canceled last week, citing an “unavoidable personal conflict.”) We discuss the unique challenges of the North and Westside Group 1 district and take your calls and questions. First Coast Connect is covering a range of local races and election-related topics between now and Nov. 3. You can find all of our election coverage here, and you can find detailed information about upcoming elections, including information about candidates and ballot initiatives in your district, at the nonpartisan League of Women Voters website Vote411.org. Additional candidate coverage is featured in Jacksonville Today’s political section.

Guests:

• Addison "Liberty” Patrick, Libertarian candidate for Jacksonville City Council At-Large Group 1
• Moné Holder, Democratic candidate for Jacksonville City Council At-Large Group 1

Stephen Jorgensen is a “plank owner,” meaning he was part of the original crew when the USS Jacksonville was christened and launched Nov. 18, 1978. Now, he’s helming an effort to bring the only ship named for the city “home” — at least what’s left of it. As president of Bring The Sail 2 Jax, Jorgensen has worked to display the submarine’s “sail” (the vertical tower located on its topside) next to the USS Orleck and the Jacksonville Naval Museum Downtown. We ask him about the sailors reunion that started the ball rolling and what it will take to make his vision reality.

Guest: Stephen Jorgensen, president, Bring The Sail 2 Jax

In 2014, an injured Navy pilot turned her personal recovery into a nonprofit focused on making physical healing and mental well-being accessible to everyone. More than a decade later, Yoga 4 Change operates in 120-plus locations around the state, reaching a range of military veterans, at-risk youth, incarcerated individuals and people recovering from substance abuse. We speak to the group’s head yogi about the power of mindfulness and Yoga 4 Change’s data-driven approach to providing trauma-informed care to communities often overlooked.

Guest: Kim Simon, executive director, Yoga 4 Change

After four prior attempts at a Florida congressional seat (both Districts 4 and 5), Democrat LaShonda “L.J.” Holloway has again set her sights on Republican incumbent Aaron Bean. In addition to earning an endorsement from civil rights attorney Ben Crump, the fourth generation Jacksonville native and Florida Supreme Court arbitrator has gotten some positive recent polling, suggesting she could be poised for a repeat of her primary upset in 2022. Holloway faces off against well-funded Democratic opponent Michael Kirwan and Democratic Socialist Brit Robinson in the Aug. 18 primary. We ask her about her legislative priorities and take listener calls and emails for the candidate. First Coast Connect is covering a range of local races and election-related topics between now and Nov. 3. You can find detailed information about upcoming elections, including information about candidates and ballot initiatives in your specific district, at the nonpartisan League of Women Voters website Vote411.org. Detailed candidate coverage is also featured in Jacksonville Today’s political section.

Guest: LaShonda “L.J.” Holloway, Democratic candidate for Florida’s 4th Congressional District

Last week, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases pleaded the Fifth 111 times at a contentious Senate committee hearing. Dr. Anthony Fauci has continued to face backlash for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was exacerbated by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s release of Fauci’s private diary ahead of the Republican-led inquiry. Since then, some GOP leaders have called for Fauci's jailing. We discuss how the medical community is reacting to the health leader’s legal quandary, as well as other medical headlines, including setting ethical guardrails for using AI in healthcare settings and addressing physician shortages. Dr. Joe Sirven also answers your healthcare questions on any topic. You can reach the doc on air at 904-549-2937, email [email protected] or visit firstcoastconnect.org to submit a comment.

Guest: Dr. Joe Sirven, Mayo Clinic neurologist and Host of WJCT’s What’s Health Got To Do With It?

The race to replace Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is heating up as the Aug. 18 primary quickly approaches with several candidates eyeing the governor's mansion. Seventeen names will appear on primary ballots for governor, making the selection process as potentially confusing for voters as it is competitive for the contenders. On the GOP side, the saturated candidate pool includes the state’s current lieutenant governor, Jay Collins; former House Speaker Paul Renner; political newcomer James Fishback; Trump-endorsed congressman Byron Donalds; and many others. Former Republican congressman David Jolly is the current frontrunner to win the Democratic nomination. As part of our continuing election coverage, we sit down with Donalds, the GOP frontrunner, to ask why he should be the Sunshine State’s next chief executive.

First Coast Connect will cover a range of local races and election-related topics between now and Nov. 3. You can find detailed information about upcoming elections, including information about candidates and ballot initiatives in your specific district, at the nonpartisan League of Women Voters website Vote411.org.

Guest: Congressman Byron Donalds, Republican candidate for Florida governor

The internet's most entertaining felines head to the big screen. CatVideoFest is an annual production featuring a compilation of viral cat videos from around the world. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Springfield Kitty Cat Shack Rescue, a volunteer-led nonprofit that rescues feral and sick cats too old for traditional shelters. The event takes place Aug. 9 at WJCT Studios with screenings at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Guests:

• Summer Crabtree, event coordinator, Springfield Kitty Cat Shack Rescue
• Kellyn Kelemen, board member, Springfield Kitty Cat Shack Rescue
• Circe LeNoble, director of grant management and community events at WJCT Public Media

A third generation photographer sets the camera aside to produce art from one of the earliest camera-less, photographic printing processes called cyanotype. Kim Hurt, a Jacksonville-based artist with Texas roots, brings a unique intersection of traditional techniques with modern vision to her pieces. Hurts has recently joined the Southlight Collaborative and invites viewers to her new exhibition combining local botanical diversity and purity, with a desire for connection. The exhibition will be featured at the upcoming ArtWalk at Southlight Gallery from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Guest: Kim Hurt, artist, curator and art consultant