Arrested in 2022 for his vocal opposition to the Russian war against Ukraine, dissident scholar Vladimir Kara-Murza was sent to one his country’s harshest prisons and placed in solitary confinement. His scheduled release date: April 21, 2047. That sentence was cut short in August 2024, however, when he became part of the largest East-West prisoner exchange since the Cold War — a deal that included the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Kara-Murza’s release came just a few months after he won a Pulitzer Prize for columns he wrote for The Washington Post while behind bars. He will talk about advocacy, democracy and human rights as part of the Florida Forum Speaker Series on Tuesday at the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts. The event is hosted by The Women's Board benefiting Wolfson Children's Hospital. Money raised will go to create an enclosed outdoor space for children receiving behavioral health care

Guest: Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian political prisoner, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist

Presidential power: Politics as usual or too far gone? 

From congressional fealty to Supreme Court deference to dispatching military-style deployments to American cities, President Trump has upended norms, constitutional law and the bounds of traditional governance. But is his amassing of executive power and privilege truly unprecedented, or does it have its roots in decades of legal and political groundwork? Four Jacksonville University scholars examine the historical roots of the current presidency. Matthew Corrigan, professor of political science; Rick Mullaney, director of the Haskell Institute of Public Policy; Jacksonville University School of Law Associate Dean Courtney Barclay; and Collin Schumock, assistant professor and lead researcher of the Haskell Public Policy Institute, discuss and debate the issue, President Trump and Executive Power: Too Far or Historical Artifact?, on Wednesday in JU’s Gooding Auditorium.

Guest: Matthew Corrigan, professor of political science at Jacksonville University