First Coast Connect: Week in Review 05/22/26

Added: 2026-05-25

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[00:00:38]This is WJCT News899 Jacksonville. Up next, national and local news from NPR and the WJCT News team.

[00:00:55]College athletes asked to boycott Florida schools and more subpoenas issued in an investigation that began with the council president's email. Good morning and welcome to the Friday edition of First Coast Connect. I'm Anne Schindler and our expert media panel is here to discuss the week's headlines.

[00:01:10]Among our other topics, Jacksonville's inaugural Iron Man event leads to congestion, confusion, and multiple collisions. State Representative Angie Nixon is censured, then arrested over protests, and a sworn statement contradicts a Deacon administration claim on the city's illegal gun registry. Later in the program, spoken word as a contact sport. We meet the poet and organizer behind the poetically miked series. Join the conversation. You can reach us on air by calling 904-549-2937 or you can go to first coastconnect.org to find all the ways to connect with us.

[00:01:46]Stick around. We'll be back right after the today's news.

[00:01:51]>> Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The World Health Organization is warning the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading. The WHO's director general, Tedrris Adnahim Gabrios says it is moving rapidly. So the UN health agency is changing its risk evaluation.

[00:02:10]Previously, WHO assessed the risk as high at the national and regional levels and low at global levels. We're now revising our risk assessment to very high at the national level, high at the regional level and low at global level.

[00:02:29]>> So far, there are 82 confirmed cases and seven confirmed deaths. But Tedros says there are more than 750 suspected Ebola cases and more suspected cases could be identified. Pakistan's interior minister has been holding meetings with Iranian officials this week in Thran. He's trying to hammer out a deal with the US and Iran. It comes as President Trump says he's willing to give Iran more time before deciding whether to resume the war. And Piers Aa betroy reports.

[00:03:00]Iranian media report there are various interim proposals being discussed in Tahran, including one backed by China.

[00:03:06]The key issue is Iran's control of the Strait of Hermuz since the start of the USIsraeli war 3 months ago. Iran established a new authority to approve and collect tolls from ships that want to transit the strategic waterway.

[00:03:18]Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters a toll system can't happen.

[00:03:21]>> It can't happen. It would be unacceptable. It would make a diplomatic deal unfeasible if they were to continue to pursue that. The Trump administration wants Iran to store its enriched uranium abroad and pause its nuclear program.

[00:03:32]Iran has signaled those are red lines and insists on a permanent ceasefire that lifts US sanctions. A throw NPR News Dubai.

[00:03:39]>> President Trump has apparently changed his mind and will deploy 5,000 US troops to Poland. This comes after he said he would pull 5,000 troops from Germany.

[00:03:48]Writing online, Trump suggested this is coming after Poland chose a conservative nationalist as its new president last year. The Democratic National Committee has released a post-mortem of its 2024 election defeats. But as NPR Steven Fowler reports, the party does not stand behind the unfinished report or its conclusions.

[00:04:09]>> DNC Chair Ken Martin received the 2024 autopsy late last year and announced he wouldn't publish it, opting instead to focus on the party's victories in recent elections. Now he's apologizing and has made the 192page document public. The report titled Build to Win, Build to Last, is incomplete, didn't include any source documents or data to verify its claims, and is not something the party stands by. Martin said the disconnect with the DNC comes as voters have record low approval of the Democratic Parts to help those who are addicted. You have to have not just law enforcement efforts in terms of interdiction or going after these poison paddlers. You have to make sure that those addicted are not going to keep seeking out uh drugs.

[00:04:57]>> The number of fatal drug overdoses has dropped over the past 3 years across the US. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, it'll be a hot day here in Northeast Florida. Temperatures will rise into the low 90s for everywhere except the immediate coast. It'll be in the mid to upper 80s there. It'll feel like it's in the mid to upper 90s this afternoon. So, if you're working outside, make sure that you hydrate.

[00:05:21]>> Support for NPR comes from NPR stations.

[00:05:24]Other contributors include United States Postal Service, dedicated to putting reliability at the core of USPS Ground Advantage to help businesses operate smoothly. More at usps.com/ggroundadvantage.

[00:05:49]Support for First Coast Connect is provided in part by Baptist Health and North Florida TPO.

[00:05:56]>> Opinions expressed on the First Coast Connect weekend review are those of our panelists and do not reflect the views of WJCT News899.

[00:06:06]Welcome to First Coast Connect. I man Schindler and it's time for our First Coast Weekend Review. Among our topics, the NAACP calls on college athletes to boycott eight southern states, including Florida, over voting rights roll backs.

[00:06:20]A regional post-mortem has plenty of notes after Jacksonville's chaotic iron man. More subpoenas dropped in an investigation sparked by city council president Kevin Carico.

[00:06:30]Representative Angie Nixon is arrested for a sitin at the governor's office.

[00:06:34]and new documents complicate city claims about a now defunct gun registry. To talk about all that and more, I am joined by Anthony Austin, anchor at First Coast News. Anthony, good morning.

[00:06:46]>> Good morning, Ann.

[00:06:46]>> Nate Monroe, executive editor at the Florida Trip. Hi, Nate.

[00:06:50]>> Good morning.

[00:06:51]>> Will Brown, race and poverty reporter at the J at Jacksonville today. Good morning, Will.

[00:06:55]>> Good morning, Ann.

[00:06:56]>> And David Bowerine, Metro reporter at the Florida Times Union. Hi, David.

[00:07:00]>> Good morning, everybody. So, I want to start with this uh NAACP campaign. It's called No Representation, No Recruitment, No Revenue. Anthony, what exactly is the NAACP asking of college athletes or prospective college athletes? So, this is all coming down to mainly in southern states that the NAACP is arguing that many of these schools in the south rely heavily on black athletes to fuel billionoll football and basketball programs while at the same time lawmakers redraw political maps in ways critics say actually reduce black representation. And so the NAACP is now arguing that these black athletes should not be used to generate wealth, prestige, and power for institutions that are, in their words, stripping political power from black communities.

[00:07:51]And I can tell you as a black man myself, you know, that's always been a lot of talk in black spaces that sometimes certain institutions, you know, they may see you as a commodity, I guess you can say, as you know, as a money maker, as someone who entertains, but you might not necessarily be accepted in that space. And so the NAACP is saying if you're doing something that we feel is taking away from our rights, but you still want us to participate with you in certain aspects, we're not going to do that anymore. So they're asking them to basically not participate in these college sports.

[00:08:29]But there's a there's a lot of um critics when it comes to this situation and some are afraid that a lot of these black athletes, they're not going to do that because they're not going to want to get up give up nil deals and things of that nature.

[00:08:43]>> Will Brown, you're also a longtime sports reporter. So to Anony's point, how will young athletes be able to process this? We're talking about a cohort that might not even be able to vote and this is obviously a very politically imbued ask of the end from the end of the ACP.

[00:09:01]>> It's a massive ask. And to Anony's point about name, image, and likeness deals, if you're a star wide receiver or a star quarterback, you can make high six figures, multiple seven figures if you're the right position. And that is a big ask because for some of these kids, you might not pan out at the NFL level.

[00:09:22]Just because you're a hot shot recruit coming into from high school to college is no guarantee that you're going to be an NFL player who gets a second contract. And the second contract is where the money is. So for the NAACP to ask this thing is is big, but it's it can't solely be on the 18 17 18 19 20 year olds. It also has to the all part of their ask is also for the the fans and supporters to not give money to these institutions which to be clear is the University of Florida, the Florida State, the University of Texas, the University of Georgia, um University of Alabama, U Mississippi State, University of Mississippi. Um >> they focus on eight states but sort of the big public schools there.

[00:10:06]>> Public SEC schools, a couple of ACC schools. Um and and you know, one of them Nate's beloved Tigers.

[00:10:13]>> I was going to say you that was a striking omission, you know.

[00:10:16]>> Yeah. Well, we're going to get to them because they they throw money at football like for no one's business. I mean, >> $91 million to a head football coach um after paying their former football coach $54 million to not coach there. So, there is a lot of money in college athletics and it's a big ask and it's a big hope, but we'll see whether it has teeth as we get closer to kids making announcements of where they're going to play in the 2027 season. You'll start to see some of that this summer and early fall.

[00:10:48]>> So, it was Tuesday that the NAACP made this announcement. This was NAACP President Derek Johnson and he was speaking outside the Capitol alongside members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Let's take a listen.

[00:11:01]>> Whether that state be Missouri or Mississippi, whether that state is South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, or Florida, 55% of all African-Americans live in the former Confederate South. But the 55% of us who live in the former Confederate South, we will not tolerate a Confederate mentality on our labor, on our ability to contribute, and our ability to be uh to to have representation. So Nate, remind us a little bit about what is happening politically that is sparking this and and why this is um taking the the the Congressional Black Caucus also is is pushing on this front after some significant decisions by the Supreme Court.

[00:11:47]>> Yeah. Well, I mean the politics are just that the Supreme Court um in the last month essentially gutted um the Civil Rights Act. what remained of the Civil Rights Act. And um I critics would say, and I think it's not an unfair reading uh of their opinion, um would say that that the court also really endorsed partisan gerrymandering um as a way to justify, you know, redrawing maps in ways that eliminate uh districts where black voters had the ability to elect the representatives of their choice. Um, in the South, and this is probably true in some other parts of the country, but but most explicitly in the South, race and party affiliation are very tightly um are are very tightly bound together. And partisan gerrymanders often are in effect racial gerrymanders. And what we saw after the Supreme Court decision were uh very swift moves by many of these states uh to eliminate these black districts. Um and that will have a major rep that that will have a major effect on what Congress actually looks like, physically looks like, and the kind of representation that that people are allowed um to send to Washington. It's a very charged moment. Um, and this is really an outgrowth of that.

[00:13:16]>> Yeah, David Bowerine, this is ostensibly about the midterm elections. That is what initiated this mass redistricting that began in Texas, but also has happened here in Florida. And obviously, it's something that's being felt. We're going to be talking in a little bit about Angie Nixon's protest specific to this, but it is a uh a moment that is going to be defining in many ways politically. Do we have any sense as to how that decision might trickle down into more local politics? The, you know, the racial gerrymander being maybe not allowed, but the political gerrymander being allowed, how that coincides with, you know, the the racial makeup of the Democratic party, for instance. What do we think is going to happen maybe with the city council, for instance? So Rory Diamond is one council member who has talked about wanting to do a mid decade redistricting based on this ruling, but I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think there's appetite among city council members. It's a very complicated, complex process. Uh there's a lot of unknowns when you go into it. And you have to remember too in Jacksonville, they went through a process where they uh redrew the lines a couple of years ago and it went through a court case.

[00:14:31]And it really does created a map that's more uh contiguous in terms of the this there's no weird funny jigsaw shaped uh puzzle piece districts. So I don't know what they would do differently. Now, they could do a try to do a map that uh that sort of redraws it in a way that does dilute or diminish the ability of black voters to elect uh black uh u the vote the the candidate of their choice.

[00:15:02]But I don't really know how they do that. I mean, so I don't really think there's going to be any change here in Jacksonville until the next regular redistricting cycle comes up at the end of the end of the decade. Um, you know, I mean, there are I think there's there are districts that have a really high proportion of black voters in them right now. And that's because this is a city where blacks are concentrated in large largely in northwest Jacksonville when you look at the real concentration of where the the residents are. And that's a throwback to segregation and how that played out. So, it's still the case. So, I don't really see there's going to be a big change this time. Yeah.

[00:15:43]>> Reding.

[00:15:44]>> Well, and and to be clear, by the way, just to build on David's point, the the court ruling that affected the Jacksonville City Council districts, that was not a Voting Rights Act case.

[00:15:55]So, that was not a case. It's not like the Supreme Court um you know, that that the case they decided was some perfect analog for what happened here. The judge here decided um her ruling was based on the 14th amendment and the claims that were brought um about the map being racially discriminatory were brought under the 14th amendment not the voting rights act. And so there is a legal distinction between them and I think there was an effort and I think Rory Diamond was part of this to suggest that our that the map here must be illegal because of the Supreme Court decision and I don't actually think that that is accurate. Yeah, an Anthony. So, having this decision out there, this request out there now, um what are you going to be looking at in terms of community reaction or commitments, comments, decisions by college athletes? Again, a lot of them at a very young and pretty vulnerable point in their athletic career.

[00:16:52]>> Right. I know a lot of people are expecting some type of reaction because they're also asking current athletes to uh speak out publicly about all of this, but a lot of people say, you know, the timing may actually limit uh the campaign's immediate impact because transfer transfer portals are mostly closed uh until next year.

[00:17:12]>> But it it'll be interesting to see if any athletes will not sign with these schools and if any current athletes will publicly speak out and make their comments known. But a lot of people are saying that they're not really expecting these athletes to really voice their opinions because their livelihood is also at stake when it comes to, you know, their future careers or the possibility of their future careers.

[00:17:34]>> There are are no spaces that are not politicized and sports used to be that one area, but of course in recent years we've seen a lot more politics injected into the sporting world. Will >> Yes. and and politics in some ways have been separate from from sports, but in some ways have been almost like a part of sports. Um, as Anthony was speaking, I I immediately thought of how successful some Big 10 programs were in the 1960s because black athletes from the South were going to places like Michigan State, Michigan, and Ohio State. Um, if you look at the last two teams that have won national championships in college football, uh, Indiana had a whole boatload of kids from the South. Um, one of their top defensive players was a kid from Miami.

[00:18:15]Their quarterback was from Miami as well. Um, Ohio State, uh, when they won a national title, they had a their best player as a wide receiver from South Florida. Um, and that wasn't because of race. That was because of they got better NIL packages. So, people don't have to go to the the Tennessee's, the Georgia, the LSUs of the world. Um, but there are kids from Jacksonville who are at some of these programs right now. Um, the kid who's who may be the starting quarterback for the Gator this fall is from Jacksonville. There's a young person who is a a lineman at LSU from Jacksonville.

[00:18:50]Um, black kids. Um, there are kids from here in at Georgia, Texas as well. I can't think of every single kid, but my point is is that this isn't just like a nebulous national thing. There are young men from Jacksonville who may be brought into this conversation. As for the thought about politics and sports, I I wondered I thought about this as I was coming in here earlier. Major League Baseball disegregated before the military >> in this country. And when President Truman signed the executive order banning disegregation in the military uh July 26th, 1948, well, Jackie Robinson was in a second year with the Dodgers.

[00:19:25]Incidentally, that day, I looked it up, he was two for four with a double and a run scored. My point of saying all that is is that like whether it's baseball at the MLB level, whether it's World Cup soccer, which whe has has used politics, um whether it's college football, there's been politics in so many different sports. It's just become a lot more uh discussed um it with more I guess fervor and divisiveness now than there probably was in the past.

[00:19:50]>> We're talking about the week's headlines with our panel of journalists. We're talking to Nate Monroe, Will Brown, David Bowerine, Anthony Austin. If you'd like to join the conversation, you can reach us on air at 904-549-2937.

[00:20:03]We have a call from Michael on the north side. Good morning, Michael. Go ahead.

[00:20:07]>> Hi. Yes, good morning. Um, so yes, I I just I imagine or I I wonder at what point do we as black people and in the broader community, people of color, do we start to re-imagine the way in which we engage with and interact with the broader popular culture around us in this country? And specifically what I mean is for inance the NFL I mean I don't know the exact figures but I know that's a multibillion dollar company right or corporation or league and I know we're targeting uh these things but how much time energy and money do that in supporting the NFL in exchange for what entertainment yeah we love the NFL it's fun I've watched it for years I don't follow it as much anymore but it's purely entertainment right But how much money and influence do the owners in that league do they have that they could use to devote to ally themselves and align themselves with our cause in our community? If our voting rights are under attack, we need help. We need real help. That's something that that is that can have an adverse impact on our lives throughout various aspects of our community. So, what I'm saying is we support these leagues and it's beyond the NFL, the NBA, any professional sport league. We support these leagues and we enjoy watching them, but what we get from them is superficial value. It's purely entertainment. What we could get from them is something that could help save and rescue marginalized communities. So what I'm saying is at some point I think we we need to start to question when do we start demanding more for our support um from them because again think of the tremendous platforms that they have.

[00:21:52]They could do so much more if they align with us and if we demanded more than purely entertainment.

[00:21:57]>> Thanks Michael. Appreciate your comments. Um, I want to ask about the boycott call, David Bowerine, because this is not the first time the NAACP has targeted Florida certainly and called for a boycott in reaction to policies that they viewed as either discriminatory, rolling back DEI policies, educational policies that have changed how we teach black history or have in some ways um, sanitized portions of black history. So, how do we know if if those previous requests for boycots have had an impact, a financial impact, anything tangible that has come from that?

[00:22:38]>> I don't think so. I mean, I I know the NAACP has had uh call for boycotts in terms of tourism coming into Florida. It doesn't seem to have an impact because clearly the Florida legislature and the governor just did a redistricting that has sparked a lot of this outrage. Um, you know, I think the here in Jacksonville, this was several years ago, a decade ago, when Jacksonville was looking at expanding its anti-discrimination law to include LGBTQ people, uh, the NC nca, another acronym, had at that time basically told cities that if you want to host our our tournaments, uh, you need to make sure you have policies in place that protect our players and fans from discrimination when they go to your city to play and eventually Jacksonville did uh amend its ordinance to cover uh uh LGBTQ people.

[00:23:31]So I don't know that was a major factor but it was a factor. So really I think the NCAA uh having taking a stand on this would have a lot more than NAACP does but I don't know how the NCAA gets involved.

[00:23:46]What's its what's its view? Does it start uh saying that uh you know how does it make that argument that as an institution that it has a stake in this legal and political fight but that's where you would have more of an impact is an organization like that >> I mean it's interesting taking a stand yeah because the you talk about the human rights ordinance that was something that cycled back again and again and again and it really wasn't I would say until the chamber of commerce and the civic council and sort of these big CEO organizations said enough is enough. We need to have, you know, stop being the only major metro in Florida that doesn't protect gay and lesbian people from being fired or evicted for being gay. And so that was a motivating factor. Do we have any sense, Will, as to whether this request is going to go beyond um asking people uh of of color to stand up and push back and and perhaps target organizations that are maybe led by, you know, more just corporate entities or people with um more political uh in involvement in making these decisions. So far I have not heard anything to that nature. Um but right now it's like a lull in terms of like college sports like college baseball and college softball are taking place right now. But it's not like the the the big money-making sports like uh football and basketball.

[00:25:15]To David's point about the NCAA about a decade ago pushing cities to to pass like human rights ordinances. Well, a decade ago the NCAA had more power to do things like that. and and the the name im the money that has come into college sports via name, image, and likeness has upended a lot of calculuses um in terms of the power that the student athletes themselves had have. They they used to not have that kind of power um uh to to make decisions in their best financial interest. To your point and or to your question, I'm sorry. Um I hadn't heard anything yet, but I mean, who knows?

[00:25:52]There there have been pushes there have been calls for years for for for black athletes to just right before the NCAA basketball championship say you know what we're good we're not going to play tonight that's there have been calls for that it has yet to happen not saying it won't but something like that if someone said if a if a team said yeah we're not going to play for this nally televised game that'll get some attention very quickly >> and so that's not something that would be discussed by a whole bunch of people beforehand. It would be something probably that would happen if it were to happen.

[00:26:26]>> I'm not saying it will, but if it were to happen, it'd be the type of thing that if kickoff scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

[00:26:33]um at 3:20, >> yeah, we're not playing today, guys.

[00:26:38]So, that's how athletes reclaim their power to to get their voices heard. Um the you know the NAACP has has to your point really pushed um for sports over the years and we'll see whether this has teeth. Um one one can sincerely hope because you know candidly uh a lot of these states um they have private schools that are excellent in all these states. You know the University of Miami >> well and they're pushing they're pushing athletes to go to H.B.CU in the same area.

[00:27:07]>> HB.CU and private schools. So a private school like the University of Miami um trying to sit here and think off the top of my head un >> well they're urging people to go to FAMU which is not a private school.

[00:27:18]>> No no HBCU and private school. Yeah. But HB.CU could benefit. But the problem with that is and and and I think it's important for people to know >> recent in recent years HB.CU football players are not getting drafted.

[00:27:29]>> So it's it's one thing to say, oh you should go to an H.B.CU. But if the goal is of a football player is to get to the NFL and you're not getting drafted, that's messing up your money in a big-time kind of way that you can't undrafted players can make money, but they don't make as much money as first round draft picks, >> right?

[00:27:46]>> And so that's a big ask to ask someone to not only sacrifice their immediate money-making ability, but their this could change multiple generations of my life money-making ability. If you're just joining us, we are talking about the week's headlines with Nate Monroe, Anthony Austin, Will Brown, and David Bowerine. And you can uh join our conversation as well. We'd like to hear from you at 904-549-2937 or you can go to first coastconnect.org to find all the ways to connect with us.

[00:28:12]I want to move on now to a topic reaction to Jacksonville's inaugural Iron Man. An Anthony, this was nearly 2,000 racers that came to town. a huge event ran from downtown to Panavra Beach and back and it caused a fair amount of angst in the community. People who participated thought it was great.

[00:28:33]>> Yeah. I was actually out of town this past weekend and I was curious how it was going to go and when I got on social media and saw all the comments, I said, "Oh, oh, this is how it's going." You know, a lot of people had traffic complaints. Um, I remember actually, um, on Monday, I believe we showed video from one of our tower cameras watching people trying to get on Phillips Highway and traffic was backed up onto the interstate. And some people said that they waited there for hours. And so I I I think that that's been a big critique right now from people who were not participating is like, hey, I'm glad we have this event in our city, but it really impacted my weekend when it came to getting to local businesses, restaurants, or just trying to go from point A to point B. And so right now, I I I think a number of city leaders, St. John's County, here in Jacksonville, they're looking at, hey, if we have this again, how can we have traffic flowing?

[00:29:30]How can we make sure that the people participating are also you know okay I know that we had some people I think let's see let me get the numbers correct I have it in front of me um 16 competitors this is according to Jacksonville fire and rescue were taken to local hospitals during Saturday's race including seven cyclists hurt during the bike portion of the event I know that I think we had one man yeah uh Orlando athlete Zack Stinson he was actually struck by a truck roughly 50 miles into the cycling course but despite suffering a head injury and damaged his bike, he still completed the races marathon segment.

[00:30:05]>> Well, let's hear a little sound from him because he did talk after this injury he had posted on social media. Uh let's take a listen.

[00:30:12]>> I guess a truck I don't know if they didn't see me or I don't know what they were doing, but they just turned immediately in front of me from that left lane into my path. I had to slam on my brakes as fast as I could, but it just wasn't fast enough and my momentum carried me into the side of the truck.

[00:30:29]Well, clearly they should have an additional medal for somebody who gets hit by a truck and still completes the Iron Man with a bleeding skull. But that got a lot of comments. It was interesting, I thought, Nate, what listening to or following the comments that it really emphasizes this sort of um two realities or multiple realities.

[00:30:47]There were people all over social media saying, "I didn't know anything about this. This was terrible." There were other people saying, "This has been everywhere. It was on the news. It was everywhere on social. I knew about it for weeks." And but there were people who genuinely didn't know. There were people who missed graduations. There were stories of people who missed family funerals because they couldn't get through the traffic. And so it had real life impacts on people. It wasn't just an annoyance. It was a three-hour backup for some people.

[00:31:12]>> Yeah. I knew you were going to ask me about this. I knew you were going to ask me about this topic. Yeah. You know, life's tough in the big city. I mean, I I you know, uh if you do not pay attention to what's going on around you, you can't take control of your life. And so, this is certainly a good reminder that people should be paying attention to what's happening in their own communities.

[00:31:32]>> Sure.

[00:31:32]>> This is not a secret.

[00:31:34]>> The St. John's County Commission, one of the commissioners said that she called David Var, she called the county administrator and she said the county administrator was unaware of this. and that might indicate um you know a particular lack of awareness but certainly not everybody was clued in about this event. What do you anticipate the the post-mortem is going to look like on this? The mayor has said there will be an afteraction report. They will be looking at ways to improve it. But this event is planning on coming back to Jacksonville.

[00:32:04]>> It's definitely going to be back next year it sounds like. So they do need to deal with a better way to do it. Um, you know, I think part of it is, uh, there was a lot of media coverage, but, you know, it's it's the first time it happened. And so, it's not like other events or marathons where people go, "Oh, it's this time of year." You know, the Gay River runs happening. I know my neighborhood traffic's going to be affected. The other thing, too, the the bike ride really sounds like that was the main impact. It's like 112 miles.

[00:32:34]It's two loops. So, it's kind of like, you know, it's not like it's a a wave of bikes, then you open up the traffic when that first wave goes through. You got to keep it open because then the second loop is coming and so the bike riders get spread out. I don't know how you quote fix that because it is the nature of an of an iron man that's 112 miles and you know that's a certain amount of road that's going to be impacted by it.

[00:32:59]Um, you know, could say St. John's County just say do it, but don't touch our roads next year. I guess they could conceivably try to block it. But it feels like the kind of thing where they could work together and find a way to to do it in a way that people have more of a heads up and there are better alternate routes that people can shift over to so that if they do come up unawares on it, they're not just stuck.

[00:33:26]It does sound like the expectation, Will, was that these roads would sort of be intermittently open. And that was not really true because to David's point, these bikes were spread out and officers, although there were hundreds of them at intersections, they themselves were often unable to react.

[00:33:42]You know, one of our employees saw people breaking through the cones and and driving and just sort of being waved at by officers, but they couldn't leave their post to do anything about it. One officer had his foot run over and had to be hospitalized. So it was not necessarily uh ideal for law enforcement either in terms of what role they were given and their op options.

[00:34:04]>> Yes, I I would agree with you wholeheartedly. Um but I think that's where organizers can better communicate what they need to execute this because to your point um there were there were partial road closures and that was like what was promoted. there were going to be partial road closures on some of these really notable thorough affairs on a pristine May Saturday. Um, you know, like springtime, people are out and about in this region. Um, so I think that's where organizers can be better and I think that I I suspect that next year's race will be uh a little bit more congruent in terms of people knowing what to expect. Um, I also found it really rich that some folks in St. Jones County were complaining about traffic because I'm like when the players comes to town, >> traffic is backed up on Nagity Parkway for miles. US one.

[00:34:53]>> Yeah. But to David's point, I think there probably are some events that when they're annualized are a little bit less impactful because people know to get out of town or not go on those roads. I want to read an email from Fabriio. He says, "Could we really not have drawn up a better bike route than down Philips Highway in a tour of Nakati's cookie cutters? a far more scenic and probably safer route would have been a pecker and a loop of Amelia Island, roughly the same district distance. Um, finally bringing the Iron Man to town is a huge deal. And some of the athletes who travel here probably never been to Jacks. We should show them the best our area has to offer. I think it's interesting because one of the St. John's County commissioners, I think he represents Hastings, said he'd love to have it there. So, there could be potato fields in this future. and Susie emailed uh what I don't understand is why the permitting proc why during the permitting process people aren't why people aren't whatever notified along the race routes given the courtesy of some notice and and that certainly could have been a better process no doubt I want to move on now J uh Nate to the topic that you covered this week uh JA investigation spiraling further additional subpoena going out this one having to do with a land deal in Nassau County and the boys and Girls Club of Nassau County. Catch us up to date on kind of what this new subpoena is and where we are in this everex expanding investigation.

[00:36:07]>> Yeah. Boy, that was that is not an easy charge. You just gave me >> 30 seconds.

[00:36:11]>> Yeah. Um so uh yeah, the the state attorney um this is at least the third subpoena um that we know of that the state attorney's office has issued um in the last couple of months since uh controversy around JEA and the city council president Kevin Cargo and his employer, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida um has sort of um bubbled and this latest subpoena um is it it was very narrow early um tailored and was sent to JEA and was seeking communications and other documents around a land deal uh that JEA considered for a time and ultimately never never executed with the Boys and Girls Club of Nassau County, which is a separate organization from the one that the council president works at here in Northeast Florida, although they do have a relationship and they partner on on um running some some uh some clubs in the area. Um, Nassau County was the the Nassau County branch was seeking to have JEA kind of donate some very valuable land um or lease it for like a dollar a year to them uh for a teen club um that they were eyeing and that they wanted to build um near a couple of schools in Uli. Um JA considered it. They got as far as drafting up an actual draft um lease. ultimately decided under two different CEOs that they they really couldn't move forward with this. Um JA often kind of talks about how they, you know, with dispositions of land, they can't they've got to do market rate transactions and they can't just give like a million dollar piece of land. And this was this land was valued in an appraisal at like $1.17 million. So, um very valuable piece of land. They can't just kind of gift it away. Um this is a deal that people inside JEA knew Kevin Carico to be interested in. Um and he on on different occasions had asked about it. Um and there is some documentation in JEA record showing I think or indicating that he was interested in it.

[00:38:20]the former chief of staff at JEA at one point in December um sent Carico a copy of the appraisal that had been done on that land in Nassau County. Um, >> and >> yeah, >> what significance, if any, can we ascertain from a subpoena looking into a land deal that involved JEA where this this council president Kevin Carico was looking to appoint a board member, has been critical of its leadership, and an agency, a nonprofit of which he is affiliated or he's the vice president of an affiliate of this organization.

[00:38:58]what what would be the interest there?

[00:39:01]What what could the the state attorney be looking at or looking for?

[00:39:06]>> Yeah, I mean the important caveat here is that the state attorney's office is not discussing any of this, right?

[00:39:11]They're not acknowledging that they're investigating anything. Um at the same time, um they understand that when they send things like subpoenas to public agencies like JA, these become discoverable documents. Um, and so they must on some level be comfortable with p there being public knowledge about the stuff that they're looking at. I don't want to be too speculative about what it is that interests them specifically. I will say that um, you know, new references, all of this kind of began because Kevin Carico was seeking to replace a member of JA's board of directors with his boss at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida. And so some of this controversy has included this nonprofit that there is a subpoena um for you know the records around this land deal for the Nassau branch of it and that this is a land deal that that we know from reporting is something that Carico had an interest in. It seems linked in some way and it seems like you know I mean look the state attorney's office has some kind of investigation running and that investigation pretty clearly is scrutinizing some actions by the council president. I mean I think that is clear.

[00:40:26]>> David Bowererline this as Nate says began with a email that or a text >> text >> from Kevin Carico about owing a favor to a friend. the favor implicit in that message was that it was his boss that he was appointing to a seat on the the board. And of course, that that candidate has since withdrawn and was no longer an appointee. But after that, the city council president issued some claims about a racist and toxic work environment, issued some claims about the CEO, and subsequently started an investigation into this utility. Are people within council in in the public considering that retaliatory or or separate and distinct from the push back that he got on his message?

[00:41:22]>> Um I that's a hard question for me to answer in terms of uh what people on council are thinking. I mean, there may be some people on council who think that the special investigatory committee is not operating on the presumption that it's a it's it's a it's a revenge or retaliation for anything that that uh that came up. I mean, there's Nate's point, right? There's so much swirling around. There's so many different things going on. There's so many, you know, speculation about what motives and intentions are. I will say that just from and Nate's done a great job covering this uh just as someone who's sort of consumed the news and watched it. I mean that's the obvious question to me is okay you know that there was an interest in this land and what JA might do with it. A couple of months later, uh, the council president appoints his boss with the Boys and Girls Club who was qualified and would have won approval from city council on the merits of his of his background. But is there some connection between those two things? And at this point, to be clear, there's no evidence there is. But I would assume that'd be one thing if you're a prosecutor. You're kind of looking at is there some causal relationship there uh where you're trying to uh in some ways uh you know use your influence as a council president to appoint somebody who might then be able to change JA's position on that land. Now, that's just all speculative to use that word very clearly, but it seems to me that'd be a question that prosecutors would want to answer one way or the other in this investigation.

[00:43:05]>> And I want to ask you, David, since this is sort of your beat, I mean, when this council term ends, we're about to go into another council presidency is going to take over that seat.

[00:43:17]Um, I just curious what your thoughts are about his tenure, Kevin Kerako's tenure. It has been a year in which we've seen the finance chair step down after concerns about some conflicts of interest. There's obviously now multiple subpoenas going from the city council special investigatory committee, from the attorney general's office into this, from the state attorney's office into this. How do you think people will measure his his leadership and how much of that kind of confusion or or issue will attach to him?

[00:43:48]>> Well, that's definitely going to be part of this year. his record would be the investigations have happened. He's very much been a um somebody who's willing to say controversial things maybe or or uh or uh have a battle with an independent authority in this case JA. Um he's he can probably look back on some accomplishments from the standpoint of a budget that did do a small cut in the property tax rate which was something he pushed for. um he's been big on downtown and uh this Culinary Institute of America project is one that he's pushed.

[00:44:27]So he can probably look at some things that happened downtown and say those were things I campaigned on uh or said I would do as council president. And also youth programs uh not surprisingly have been a big issue for him as well. But I I think obviously yeah there there's been a probably of all the council presidents we've had recently, he's been much more of a council president who has had statements that are kind of heated rhetoric. I guess I'm trying to think of the word for it. I mean he's been willing to go out and engage in these battles. Uh, and I think the other thing too is just, you know, he's obviously in a position where he's council president and also vice president of Boys and Girls Club, which does a lot has a lot of contracts with the city and, you know, at what point is one hat on and the other one off and uh, you know, there's no the stuff he got from JA is public record. I mean, any of us here at this table could have asked for that and got it. It's not illegal to ask for an appraisal that was done on land. Uh it does it mean something different when it that request comes from the city council president than it does from John Q public? Probably.

[00:45:42]>> Well, >> but to that point of of Mr. Carico's time working at the Boys and Girls Club, well, Terence Freeman is a relatively recent uh former city council president and he worked at Miller Electric. To my understanding, he still does. he went out of his way to make sure that he was not like there weren't questions about his his his day job employment versus his political employment. Um and and granted there different generations, you know, Kevin Carico has said repeatedly he's the first millennial council president. Well, I'm millennial too and don't do some of the things that other millennials do. So generations don't matter here. But to to David's point, um there have been other council presidents recently who have had day jobs.

[00:46:27]>> He's just operated differently than his recent predecessors, >> right?

[00:46:31]>> Yeah. So, the millennial thing always is amusing to me. Um as a as a millennial myself, um you know, David is right that that Kevin Carico's boss, Paul Martinez, in a vacuum, qualified, you know, would would be the kind of person to be on the JA board. And there's been a lot of emphasis um on Kevin Carico's exact words in his text that this was like a favor for a friend and that was kind of what you know those are like headline worthy words. um even and and he sort of attributed the way he talked about that uh to being a millennial, whatever, taking even the language out of it that he was trying to put his boss on the JA board would have by itself raised questions um about what was going on here. That that was a provocative decision in and of itself. And you know, we have records that Kevin Carico was advocating for the Boys and Girls Club um in other ways uh with JEA. You know, he at one point, I mean, there's email traffic about this. He solicited JA to make a donation uh to a Boys and Girls Club initiative. It wasn't a huge amount. It was a couple thousand bucks, but you know, in that email chain, somebody notes that this is a guy who could be the council president. And so, you know, there was a mixing of of hats, so to speak. Um, and I do think that the lines became a little bit blurred with him um on like who he was representing at different times.

[00:48:00]>> Before we wrap, David, I want to just get a very brief summary from you about this latest news that you reported on about the gun registry that city hall had. And we've got just about 30 seconds.

[00:48:10]>> Yeah, very briefly. The state attorney general filed a lawsuit against the city seeking $5 million about this gun log book. And the part of what the state attorney general has to prove is that the management of city government was complicit and knowledgeable about this.

[00:48:26]And the the lawsuit that the attorney general filed says that this was uh approved by a lower level management person and by the then deputy chief administrative officer of the city of Jacksonville uh Charles Morland. And then Morland though when he talked to prosecutors in a sworn statement when the state attorney was doing its own investigation denied that he ever approved it gave any a go-ahead to it.

[00:48:52]And so this will obviously be something that's hashed out now in this civil lawsuit. But u $5 million is a lot of money. So there's going to be I'm sure some more uh back and forth about who was responsible for this gun law book.

[00:49:06]>> Well, great reporting on that. Great reporting all of you guys. Thank you so much for coming on this week. really appreciate it.

[00:49:10]>> Thanks for having me.

[00:49:11]>> Thank you, Ann.

[00:49:12]>> All right, up next, spoken word is a contact sport. We meet the poet and organizer behind the poetically miked series.

[00:49:41]Terrell Hogan Law.

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[00:50:09]The city of Jacksonville presents the Jacksonville Jazz Festival. For over 40 years, the Jazzfest has brought together music enthusiasts for a weekend of food, drinks, community, and music along the St. John's River. Memorial Day weekend, May 21st to 24th at Ford on Bay in downtown Jacksonville. This year's lineup includes Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton, Andre Day, Nile Rogers and Chic, Kamasi Washington, and more. Tickets and information available at Jacksonville Jazzfest.com.

[00:50:40]On the next Florida Roundup, our annual summer reading special. We have two Florida thrillers for you. One from a firsttime novelist who credits heavenly inspiration for a dark tale.

[00:50:51]>> It was divine intervention. The other thriller is part autobiography and part investigation into the author's father's life and death as a Florida drug smuggler.

[00:50:59]>> I did not have the nerve to ask him if he killed my father.

[00:51:04]>> I'm Tom Hudson. Join us Friday noon until 1.

[00:51:11]The Department of Justice creates a $1.8 billion fund to compensate Trump allies.

[00:51:17]On the next Friday news roundup, can the president use taxpayer dollars to pay his supporters, including January 6th riers? Plus, what we learned from key primaries this week and remembering trailblazing Congressman Barney Frank.

[00:51:30]Next time on 1A >> Today, starting at 10 on WJCT News89.

[00:51:46]Welcome back. A poetry collective with hiphop roots believes in a truly open mic with a focus on dynamic messages and varied voices. Here to tell us about Poetically Miked is its founder, Mercy, a local rapper and poet. Mercy, thanks for being here.

[00:52:01]>> Thank you for having me.

[00:52:02]>> So, first of all, tell us a little bit how you got started. you know, your social media presence is very transparent about your own personal journey and your life and your kind of evolution as a human being.

[00:52:18]>> How did you get into poetry? How did you get into spoken word? Was that something that you were engaged with from a young age?

[00:52:25]>> Oh, no. Um, it's funny. A lot of my peers were when I um got into poetry, but I actually started writing um around the time my father had passed. um he passed back in 2021 and it was just uh was my first emotional outlet that I really kind of have found and like connected with and from there you know I kind of stumbled into my first open mic.

[00:52:44]I was at a library shop and they had a brochure for open mics. I never had been to one. So I went performed for my first time. I was wellreceived and the rest is kind of history, you know.

[00:52:54]>> What about that experience has helped you create an environment that is encouraging of young and newer poets.

[00:53:04]>> Um I think I just really remembered what it is I needed it to be for myself. So like that is the mental frame and I always approach whatever environment I'm trying to create even if it's outside of event just when I step into a room like I know what I need it at that point in time and I've seen how it's impacted the people who have had the pleasure of coming to the events and I don't know just something that I aim to kind of replicate and innovate on as well.

[00:53:29]>> And in your own work what is the overlap between spoken word poetry and hiphop and and kind of performance in one way or the other? Um it's it's it's really personal at least for me cuz I uh I evolved into hip-hop as I started to evolve um in poetry. So I started out with poetry um and as I just came to love writing more and just the art form of writing um I I seen the correlation between hip-hop and how it was nothing more than you know writing just with music accompaniment you know so I think it was a very natural thing. I can't really like, you know, say it was too intentional. Like I naturally lean into hip-hop because I love poetry. So >> define for people what poet poetry poetically miked is like what the organization or the entity is, what it encompasses.

[00:54:17]>> So poetically miked is a eventbased platform for poetry events. So we do like showcases, we'll do open mics. Um we frequented both lately. Um we will be moving probably into showcases more which are typically pre-selected poets.

[00:54:32]So we have like you know ways to facilitate spotlighting specific poets.

[00:54:36]Typically we do poets who um have been doing it for a while. you know, this city does have a pretty large base of um artists and poets and spoken word artists um specifically who have been doing it for some time and they haven't really been a lot of platforms based here um with the organization that really spotlight them properly which is why we get a lot of support.

[00:54:58]>> Yeah. I was curious, I mean, how it does fit into the overall scene, what niche it occupies that helps round out sort of the artistic >> really. I I think it just kind of feels the deficit for organized platform in poetry specifically. Um, a friend of mine, DJ Larry Love, he uh has coined the term like Jacksonville is in a renaissance era. And I I I believe that and I feel like poetically Mike kind of leads the charge when it comes to poetry specifically because there are a lot of different facets of art that are starting to propel and you know kind of escape the local mode if you will. Um, and I think just keeping it organized, keeping it fresh and innovative for new people who are may who may be interested in poetry to just try to try to make it as mainstream as possible for people to kind of just support it, be a part um, spread word, you know, and let let people feel comfortable doing so, you know.

[00:55:51]>> And you're young, you're 22 years old, you're a Jacksonville native. What would you say those elements bring into the work that you do and the way that you either express yourself or the content of what you're talking about?

[00:56:05]>> Um, I know it definitely shapes how it is I view the audience um for Jacksonville.

[00:56:13]Like I'm someone that that stumbled into like poetry and the scene that Jacksonville have for it. like I started when I was like 19 years old and I was performing at open mics and from going there and observing those spaces and typically it'll be about 20 people or so and just seeing how it had the capacity to be so much more um growing up here and understanding that while we had it all this time I just didn't know about it made me also recognize there are a lot more people who also didn't know about it as well.

[00:56:44]So, I think just wanting to expand what impact could look like and capacity for um these spaces that that's kind of been like the biggest draw for me just being here and being a native here.

[00:56:55]>> And poetically, Mike does events at various places. Tell us and you just had a recent event on May 17th. So, what's upcoming now and how could people participate?

[00:57:04]>> Uh we have an event uh May 31st. Uh I'm really excited about it. Um because we recently took a hiatus. This is us coming back. So, we did two events this month. Um, I'm I'm just excited. A lot of people have been waiting. I I didn't really rec cuz I had stepped away and when I stepped away, I really stepped away. So, in coming back, I didn't recognize how many people truly have wanted poetry or at least that platform specifically to come back and just seeing the love and support and the people who aren't even from Jacksonville constantly reaching out to the page and wanting to figure out how we can be a part of even travel to where they're at.

[00:57:37]It's just been um amazing to really witness.

[00:57:40]>> Well, the open mic, it's uh Saturday.

[00:57:42]Oh, excuse me. Sunday, May 31st, and we have a link on our website for tickets.

[00:57:47]Mercy, thanks so much for being here.

[00:57:48]It's great to meet you.

[00:57:49]>> Thank you for having me.

[00:57:50]>> All right, and thank you for listening.

[00:57:52]>> We'll be off Monday for the Memorial Day observance, but please join us Tuesday when we talk about how state public records laws have been impacted by a little known ICE directive. I'm Ann Schindler. You've been listening to First Coast Connect on WJCT News899.

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