First Coast Connect: Rabbinical resistance

More than 60 years after he traveled to St. Augustine in response to a summons from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rabbi Allen Secher returns to town for a special appearance and performance of a play based on his story. When the Rabbis Came to Town is a one-man play by author and activist Roger …

The Morning Report: Florida Governor and U.S. Senate Races Take Shape

The stage is set for Florida’s November general election, with Republican Byron Donalds facing Democrat David Jolly in the governor’s race. Jacksonville Democrat Angie Nixon also won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate and will face Republican Ashley Moody in November. Get more election resul…

First Coast Connect: Black beauty school

At a time when opportunities for female Black entrepreneurs were constrained by gender restrictions and Jim Crow, one Jacksonville businesswoman built a prosperous beauty empire. A new profile of Sophia Nickerson Starks explores how she created the Nickerson’s School of Beauty Culture on Myrtle Ave…

The Morning Report: Primary Election Day is Here

Florida voters head to the polls today for the primary election, with results expected to offer clues about the state’s political direction. Also, Northeast Florida is facing an extreme heat warning today with heat index values reaching as high as 115 degrees.

First Coast Connect: ‘A Land Remembered’

What was required reading for many Sunshine State middle schoolers is now a TV series currently in production, much of it in and around the North Central Florida town of Micanopy. A Land Remembered is a classic of historical fiction, telling the sprawling story of three generations of the MacIveys …

The Morning Report: JEA Board Backs CEO and New Property Tax Amendment Wording Released

The JEA board is backing CEO Vickie Cavey after reviewing investigations into allegations about her leadership, while recommending management training for Cavey and other executives. Also, Florida’s proposed property tax amendment has a new ballot summary after a judge ruled it needed to be rewritt…

First Coast Connect: Week in Review

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, J…

The Morning Report: Jacksonville Grants on Pause and School Safety Locks in Florida

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee is holding back millions of dollars in funding for local nonprofits and the Cultural Council as lawmakers weigh the potential impact of a proposed property tax reduction. Also, a lock company is challenging new state rules governing classroom locks de…

First Coast Connect: Hitting close to home

“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 Flori…

The Morning Report: Controversial Development in Jax Moves Forward and Local Candidate Attacked

The Jacksonville City Council has approved plans allowing for a 110 home development to move forward at the former Kings Trail Elementary School, despite concerns from nearby residents about traffic, wetlands and mature oak trees. Also, a Florida House candidate says she and her husband were assaul…