Jax

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 8, 2018

Empower Jacksonville, a group seeking to allow referendums to change Jacksonville’s charter, received a major, perhaps fatal, setback Thursday from the city’s Office of General Counsel. Empower Jacksonville, associated with the Liberty Counsel, wanted two ballot items voted on in August 2018. The first: a referendum to change the city’s charter to allow citizens to challenge […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 8, 2018

As Jacksonville considers the increasingly less hypothetical question of whether or not to sell its public utility, JEA, a bill (2018-101) filed this week would earmark any proceeds. The bill, filed by Republican City Councilman Matt Schellenberg, would set up a restricted reserve account, which would require a two-thirds vote to access funds therein. In a conversation Thursday […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 8, 2018

The news never slows down in the Democratic primary battle in Florida’s 5th Congressional District. Just one day after former Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown touted a swath of Jacksonville endorsements that included that of Lisa King, the chair of the Duval County Democrats, an NPR host from Jacksonville pilloried former Mayor Brown. “For example: let’s say you […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 8, 2018

Rontel Batie is not the incumbent in the Democratic primary in Florida’s 5th Congressional District; that’s Al Lawson. Nor is he the former mayor of the biggest city in the district: that’s Alvin Brown. Nonetheless, Batie (who carried a meager $4,314 cash on hand out of 2017, compared to Lawson’s $100,531), asserts that “this race is far […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 8, 2018

It appears that Jacksonville may get state money for a priority project after all, money it has pursued since 2016. On Wednesday, Sen. Aaron Bean got $1 million into the Senate budget for the Talleyrand Connector, This project was originally pitched as a $50 million ask from the state ahead of the 2017 Legislative Session. Back then, the […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 7, 2018

Public Financial Management is developing a valuation report for JEA, and a draft released to media makes the case that Jacksonville’s utility may have a “new answer to the old question of whether the city should sell JEA.” The most telling paragraph in the 25-page draft of the potential sale comes at its close. “In […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 7, 2018

Senate Minority Leader-Designate Audrey Gibson, a Jacksonville Democrat, extensively questioned Gov. Rick Scott‘s job growth fund Wednesday on the Senate floor. The Governor and Republican lawmakers want to see another $85 million appropriated to the fund in the next budget. Gibson’s hard stand against the spend is notable, as Scott chose Jacksonville on Wednesday to message on the […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 7, 2018

Duval County Democratic Party chair Lisa King leads a wave of Jacksonville endorsements for Alvin Brown for Congress. The endorsement of King, appointed to Jacksonville’s Planning Commission during former Mayor Brown’s tenure, and other prominent local Democrats signals that Brown’s implicit desire to make the Democratic primary race with Al Lawson in Florida’s 5th Congressional District a matter […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 6, 2018

On Tuesday, Jacksonville City Councilmembers struggled, in a meeting in a packed Council chambers, with the idea of a sale of the JEA to a private company. This was the second straight day on which Council members did a deep dive into JEA operations, with Monday offering Council calling for underground power lines. The office […]

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 6, 2018

Another week brings another brutal news cycle for the re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Al Lawson in Florida’s 5th Congressional District. This week saw Lawson singled out for praise by none other than President Donald Trump. Lawson was the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus to applaud Trump during the State of the Union last week. […]

Jax

‘Legally defective & fatally misleading’ – ballot access DQ for Jax anti-LGBT rights group

Jacksonville to mull ‘lockbox’ for JEA sale proceeds

NPR host Al Letson blasts Congressional candidate Alvin Brown

Congressional candidate Rontel Batie: ‘This race is far from over’

Jacksonville ‘Talleyrand Connector’ money slides into Senate budget

JEA draft valuation report lays out benefits of sale

Audrey Gibson questions job growth fund after big Jacksonville spend

Duval Democratic Party chair endorses Alvin Brown for Congress

Jacksonville City Councilmembers want answers before selling JEA to private investor

Alvin Brown messages on Donald Trump praise for Al Lawson