Jerry Holland ends the speculation
Local voters who were looking forward to Jerry Holland running for mayor were dismayed when he announced he is running for supervisor of elections again. Currently the property appraiser, Holland was supervisor from 2005 to 2015. The current supervisor, Mike Hogan, is...
Parents are fighting back to defend their rights
In Florida, as in other states, parents finally are rising to oppose liberal politicians determined to indoctrinate children or otherwise compel them to do things contrary to parental wishes. It is a matter of parental rights. Fortunately for Florida parents, there is...
Ax Handle Saturday: There was no massacre in Jacksonville six decades ago
It has become an annual event for a small, and shrinking, liberal newspaper in Jacksonville to publish the “ax handle day” story. Every year it seems to become more preposterous. This year, a blurry video was added that purports to be from the event. It is of people...
Lib jubilation over lower court ruling favoring big government may be short
Gov. Ron DeSantis will appeal a ruling by a Tallahassee Circuit Court judge that was intended to curtail parental rights. DeSantis very well could win on appeal. The ruling by Judge John Cooper says an order by DeSantis prohibiting government schools for requiring...
Jacksonville now the “gateway city” for illegal immigrants
Jacksonville’s airport is one of those being used to dump people who have invaded America at the southern border. U.S. Rep. John Rutherford confirmed to Eye on Jacksonville reports that the “refugees” were being brought here. He said about 1300 have offloaded here,...
Jacksonville congressman faults the president for the Kabul disaster
Rep. John Rutherford U.S. Rep. John Rutherford said the carnage in Kabul is the direct result of a “ridiculous” decision by the president to have a single exit point. That caused masses of people, which gave an opportunity to jihadists – and today they took that...
Smile: you’re on Classroom Camera!
"The pandemic has challenged our education system nationwide, yet it has also opened new doors for innovation, flexibility and customization for every learner. We must continue that transformative work on behalf of all students as we confront ongoing challenges...
Follow the yellow brick road
Jacksonville’s Emerald Trail project is under way – expensive, unnecessary and potentially dangerous but still widely admired. It will wind for 30 miles through the urban core, providing Jacksonville citizens with an unique opportunity to stroll through some of the...
Coronavirus patients are herded into the city’s main library
An alert Eye on Jacksonville reader has posed some interesting questions for the folks in City Haul. People infected with the Red Chinese virus are being given doses of Regeneron, a monoclonal antibody treatment, at the public library in the heart of busy downtown....
Save us Superman! Parents be damned and laws too! Duval County Schools state, “Your children are ours!”
The Duval County School Board called an "emergency meeting" with only 25 hours notice thereby not giving parents time to understand or prepare for this special meeting. The board said the issue was too dire to wait. It was so urgent that they quickly passed a new...
Local politics and science clash again
Yet another politician has set himself up as an expert on public health and an opponent of parental rights. School Board member Darryl Willie has asked the school superintendent for an emergency meeting of the board to enact a mandatory face mask rule. That would...
Voters don’t always choose the winners
Questions remain about the unusual shuffle in a race for a Florida Senate seat from Jacksonville. Three House members had an eye on the position, all conservative Republicans. The public could not have lost by choosing among the three. But they didn’t get the chance....
Anti-police efforts get a boost from one City Council committee
Another special committee of the City Council created for dubious reasons is muddling along. It has issued its “final report” but continues to exist. That makes no sense, but neither does the committee’s existence. The two-member committee was created last year and...
Parental rights go to court
Episcopal School of Jacksonville is violating the rights of parents by requiring face masks on unvaccinated students, Jacksonville residents whose children attend the school claim in a lawsuit. A group of parents is asking for an injunction to stop the school from...
Breaking News: Episcopal of Jacksonville parents file lawsuit claiming intrusion into their parental rights
Parents of students at Episcopal School of Jacksonville have filed a lawsuit claiming the school is intruding into their parental rights over their own children. Episcopal School has mandated that all students must wear a mask at school. The parents who filed the...
Sheriff’s race now includes a conservative Republican
The position of top cop will be open in the 2023 city elections, and with two left-wing Democrats already in the race, a no-nonsense Republican has filed. Matt Nemeth says he is running “to protect the ideals and values we all cherish. Not Republican or Democrat...
Pro-vax public defender’s letter warns employees
The Far Left is all in on mandatory vaccination. Joe Biden, acting president of the United States, announced last week that federal workers must attest to being vaccinated or be required to wear a mask and be tested. Political opponents are pushing Gov. Ron DeSantis...
Mayor wannabe Carlucci is pressing ahead hard after mysterious setback
Matt Carlucci’s path to the mayor’s office encountered a speed bump, perhaps, when his top advisers pulled out of his campaign but he is getting back to cruising speed rapidly. Bruce Barcelo and Mike Tolbert, old hands at running political campaigns, dropped the...
Sonny B: CRT is really “Communist Racist Tactics”
What is critical race theory (CRT) in a nutshell? Do you want the truth? Or do you want to hear the misinformation and rhetoric the progressives try to drive deep into our psyche? Okay, I’ll give it to you straight, because I don’t like to filibuster around, something...
City Council votes for higher property taxes
City Council has made it official. Property taxes will go up. The tax rate will remain the same, but as Eye on Jacksonville noted earlier, values have increased and those who enjoyed an increase in value will pay higher tax bills. The council had the option to roll...
Jax gets art
Mayor Lenny Curry’s choice of “art” for a new public park is generating a large response on social media, not all of it adulation. Some who obviously are not on the same high intellectual plane as the art lovers in City Haul think the additions to Lenny’s Lawn at the...
Mayor’s proposed budget contains the usual blarney
People are catching on. In comments posted below a local media story online about the new city budget, someone said: "The mayor singled out the long-overdue septic tank project, saying it was a promise made to local neighborhoods decades ago. Now, he said, thanks to...
Duval GOP Hosts a Jam-Packed Campaign School for Future Candidates
This weekend the Republican Party of Duval County (Duval GOP) and their Chairman, Dean Black, hosted a campaign school that was “jam-packed” to say the least. Dozens of speakers, presentations and panels throughout the weekend at the Ramada in Mandarin, were designed...
Another downtown proposal that bears watching
Every day, it seems, more and bigger plans are being announced for downtown. But more and bigger isn’t always better. The ones to watch closely are those that require too much public “investment” (a euphemism politicians use when talking about spending your money)....
Will Lee High rise again one day?
Congratulations! Jacksonville is now a safe space for snowflake protesters. The Duval County School Board is purging the district of six Confederate school names, including the storied Robert E. Lee High School. Instead of references to Southern history, the schools...
Conservatives are mobilizing to counter divisive programs in local library
Having discovered that the Jacksonville Public Library is promoting racism, local conservatives are fighting back by offering contrasting views. Local activist Blake Harper, who is behind the effort, said the Jacksonville Public Library has done three Critical Race...
Readership keeps plunging as the press toes the liberal line
Newspapers, once a dominant force in the media, continue to shrink. Tellingly, most of the mourning comes from the left. In the 1950s, newspapers were king. They feared the threat of television news but never saw the Internet coming, which proved far more menacing....
Multiple attempts to protect criminals failed in the Florida Legislature this year
Rep. Cord Byrd Supporters of the Second Amendment are hailing the defeat of 25 “very bad” gun control bills in the 2021 Florida Legislature. Also, they are cheering for “Second Amendment Heroes” – seven Republican legislators including Jacksonville’s Rep. Cord Byrd....
The Communists are coming! The Communists are coming! Activate your Representatives, Senators and yourself!
Eye has reached out to our local Congressman John Rutherford, about the latest attack on the people by the government. Last week we asked him about the DC Capitol Police setting up regional offices in Florida. You can read his reply here. Since then we have uncovered...
Curry fumbles his message, again
Mayor Lenny Curry is recruiting new residents for Jacksonville but, as is often the case, his message is unclear. He is shopping in cities where a majority of the residents are liberal Democrats, putting up billboards suggesting that people buy a one-way ticket to...
We asked Rep. Rutherford about DC Capitol Police setting up regional offices in Florida. His response.
Rep. John Rutherford In a startling turn of events, the keystone cops who run the Capitol Police force are setting up regional offices in Florida and California to protect politicians against threats. Don't we already have FBI and Secret Service offices to do the very...
Alarm is raised over a proposal to name much of Northeast Florida a heritage area
U.S. Rep. John Rutherford has filed a bill to create a National Heritage Area in Northeast Florida, a designation that a conservative property rights organization calls “one of the most despicable stealth land grabs in the nation.” Rutherford, a Republican from...
Update and response from CDC re Covid travel restrictions
Amelia Island resident Ken Timmerman sent us information on his travels abroad. Ken is no newbie to traveling abroad. He was a journalist during many wars and his first Middle East reporting trip took him to Beirut in July 1982. He’s lived in Egypt and Lebanon, worked...
Rebellious schoolteachers in Jacksonville should answer to parents
Teachers in government schools around the nation – allegedly including 10 in Jacksonville -- are vowing to teach their students – by example – to flout the law. The teachers have pledged online do disobey state laws prohibiting the teaching of Critical Race Theory – a...
Social justice warriors have completed their tasks in Jax
It looks like the “era of enlightenment” is over, and if you don’t feel totally enlightened you’re not alone. Last year, the City Council president, Tommy Hazouri, created the Social Justice and Community Investment Special Committee, saying it heralded a new era of...
Covid test travel requirements are not only absurd; they are a punishment of vaccinated Americans
Amelia Island resident Ken Timmerman sent us information on his travels abroad. Ken is no newbie to traveling abroad. He was a journalist during many wars and his first Middle East reporting trip took him to Beirut in July 1982. He's lived in Egypt and Lebanon, worked...
Need a good laugh? City Haul is now “Woke” – no joke!
While making a routine check in the central government complex formerly known as Cohen Brothers, Eye on Jacksonville learned the politicians have a new rebranding effort under way. The city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report is getting a new label. The reason is...
Good Lord! Deliver Us from Diversity Drama
I guess it was just a matter of time. My professional organization, the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP), adopted a "diversity, equity, and inclusion" statement. (I know, I know. Foreign-language group names tend to be wordy.) Anyway,...
Want to know more about our beloved Governor DeSantis? Here you go!
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis I met Ron DeSantis during the tea party days. I immediately knew there was something very special about him and what resonated more than anything was his drive to pursue the calling on his life. With his strong and beautiful wife, Casey,...
Getting building permits in Jacksonville requires patience
Jacksonville was once the best place to get a building permit and now has become one of the worst, according to someone who has been in the building business nearly half a century. Chip Williams said the deterioration has taken place over the past 25 years and while...
