Today’s Media Roundtable discussed some of the top stories in the First Coast, including:
- Starting Dec. 1, Duval county residents will see a hike in their electric bills due to increasing natural gas prices that power JEA’s electric generating stations. According to a report from our news partners at The Florida Times-Union, a residential customer who uses 1,000 kWh a month currently pays about $108. After the price increase, JEA customers could pay $114 for the same electricity usage.
- Earlier this week, the Jacksonville City Council debated late into the night over Jason Teal’s confirmation, Springfield’s infamous confederate statue, changes to the city’s probation system and declaring Juneteenth a holiday for city workers. Jason Teal’s controversial nomination came after fiery exchanges between Teal and Councilwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson and accusations that Teal acted unethically during his 21-year tenure at the Office of General Counsel.
- The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office launched its LGBTQ+ liaison in 2018 after the murders of three Black trans women. Despite some changes, members of the LGBTQ+ community say they still feel unsafe.
- Murray Hills residents have been dealing with a strong odor coming from Jacksonville chemical factories. Despite a lawsuit and citations, including a cease-and-desist order, 16 separate households filed complaints that the smell persists. An anonymous Twitter account called “MurrayHillChemicalSmell” voices the community’s frustrations.
- Boeing broke ground at Cecil Field this week for its new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. The 370,00-square-foot center aims to support Boeing’s ability to deliver readiness outcomes for U.S. government customers.
- On Sunday, NASA and SpaceX are launching the third rotation of astronauts to the International Space Station from American soil in a fully reusable spacecraft for a planned mission of about six months. These astronauts will continue our more than 20-year continuous human presence in space. While their research isn’t directly related to COVID, the astronauts will continue their incredible immunology research.
- Jacksonville philanthropist, adventuress and larger-than-life personality Betsy Lovett has died, according to friends.
Guests:
- A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics.
- Jacksonville Business Journal’s Tim Gibbons.
- Katherine Lewin of The Florida Times-Union.
- WJCT contributor Fred Matthews.
Jacksonville Today
WJCT New’s new free daily newsletter Jacksonville Today launched last week. Newsletter editor Sydney Boles told us more about what subscribers can expect.
First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross Associate Producer Katherine Hobbs can be reached at khobbs@wjct.org or on Twitter at @KatherineGHobbs.
