Emails & Opinions

Blake DowlingApril 1, 2017

Meeting this week with one of our national security partners, SonicWall, we had a fantastic luncheon with some local media partners, clients and Aegis staff. A big topic of conversation — ransomware. A SonicWall firewall can certainly help minimize risk, but there is no 100 percent protection from the constantly changing landscape of cyber threats. Say […]

Peter SchorschApril 1, 2017

It’s long been a Capitol cliché, but there are few pronouncements on a piece of legislation as inauspicious as calling something “a heavy lift.” Saying a bill is “a heavy, heavy lift” sounds even more portending of defeat. Yet that’s how House Speaker Richard Corcoran referred to the omnibus gambling bills now on their way […]

Peter SchorschMarch 31, 2017

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Hmmm, they don’t seem that provocative. On Thursday, members of the Women’s Legislative Caucus wore purple T-shirts with the slogan, “A Woman’s Place is in the House and the Senate.” Once on the House floor, however, an alarm rose among some: Were they appropriate? Rules Chair Jose Oliva, slated to be Speaker in 2018-20, soon put […]

Guest AuthorMarch 31, 2017

The national Democrat Party stands at a defining crossroads. In the wake of an epic fail over health care on the part of Republicans in Congress and the dilettantes in the White House, Democrats have a choice to make: either become a reprehensible copycat “Party of No” or embark on a nobler path for the common […]

Guest AuthorMarch 31, 2017

In my previous role as Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, it wasn’t often I would find consensus on issues involving local water management districts, the state and federal government. But after years of studying the options to best reduce the occurrence of discharges used to lower Lake Okeechobee, those involved in these three […]

Guest AuthorMarch 31, 2017

The alphabet of American culture – the NEA, NEH and NPR – won’t lose public funding. No, the president and Congress didn’t have a Eureka moment and realize art and cultural and the capacity for creative expression differentiate us from the primordial slime from which we came. And, it’s not because lawmakers got all warm […]

Peter SchorschMarch 31, 2017

Telecommunications giant AT&T, partnering with Motorola Solutions, received some exciting news Thursday. The U.S. Department of Commerce and the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) has announced AT&T was chosen to build and manage the first nationwide wireless broadband network for America’s police, firefighters and emergency medical services. FirstNet is a federal initiative to create a single platform […]

Peter SchorschMarch 31, 2017

Sunburn – The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster, Mitch Perry and Jim Rosica. FLORIDIANS HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT THE SUNSHINE STATE A new poll from Public Opinion Strategies found Florida voters are feeling the most optimistic about the direction of the state than they […]

Peter SchorschMarch 30, 2017

In a sense, Jacksonville is the cradle of Republicanism. The city has a politically active Republican mayor. The City Council: majority Republican. Republican Governor. Republican Legislature. What could go wrong? How about the imminent end of the economic boom? Look at what’s happening to CSX. Hunter Harrison, 72, was brought in to run the operation, […]

Guest AuthorMarch 30, 2017

Among Thomas Jefferson’s many famous sayings is this: “The government closest to the people, serves the people best.” Across our state and nation, that sentiment holds true for all who favor local control, whenever possible. But it seems as though our state lawmakers have forgotten this. For the past few years, state legislators in Tallahassee […]

Emails & Opinions

Blake Dowling: New ransomware kicks it up a notch

Takeaways from Tallahassee — Will lawmakers ‘walk away’ from gambling?

T-shirts cause clothing kerfuffle in House

Michael Richardson: Is there an adult in the room?

Herschel Vinyard Jr.: Listen to water experts in Lake Okeechobee debate

Donato (Danny) Pietrodangelo: It won’t happen

AT&T, Motorola chosen for FirstNet, nationwide public safety comms network

Sunburn for 3.31.17 – Poll shows Fla. voters optimistic; Meat-ax budgeting; fracking bill dead; Joe Redner’s pot suit

Jacksonville Bold 3.31.17 — Too much of a good thing

Andrew Gillum, Mayors: State preemption hurts local values