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Melissa Ross - page 5

Melissa Ross has 42 articles published.

In addition to her work writing for Florida Politics, Melissa Ross also hosts and produces WJCT’s First Coast Connect, the Jacksonville NPR/PBS station’s flagship local call-in public affairs radio program. The show has won four national awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). First Coast Connect was also recognized in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 as Best Local Radio Show by Folio Weekly’s “Best Of Jax” Readers Poll and Melissa has also been recognized as Folio Weekly’s Best Local Radio Personality. As executive producer of The 904: Shadow on the Sunshine State, Melissa and WJCT received an Emmy in the “Documentary” category at the 2011 Suncoast Emmy Awards. The 904 examined Jacksonville’s status as Florida’s murder capital. During her years in broadcast television, Melissa picked up three additional Emmys for news and feature reporting. Melissa came to WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. Married with two children, Melissa is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism/Communications. She can be reached at [email protected].

JU Poll: Donald Trump leads, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio rise, Jeb Bush steady

in 2017/Top Headlines by

Donald Trump remains the front-runner among Republican presidential candidates in Florida, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush maintaining strong support, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina surging, neurosurgeon Ben Carson losing some ground and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio on the rise, according to a Jacksonville University Public Policy Institute poll of registered Republican likely voters released today. The Jacksonville University PPI Poll, conducted from Sept. 17-22, shows a major shakeup in Florida, with five candidates polling in double digits in a tightening…

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Aaron Bean puts on his dancing shoes

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

He’s a man who seems to be everywhere these days. Weighing in on every hot-button issue from Medicaid expansion to Planned Parenthood. Pushing a “cold case” task force. But this month, Jacksonville state Sen. Aaron Bean is also tripping the light fantastic. Yes, Bean is one of the North Florida “stars” who will be competing Saturday night in the 2015 First Coast Dancing with the Stars event supporting the Beaches Fine Arts Series. In case you were wondering, he and his partner, professional…

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New Jax Suns owner Ken Babby: ‘I absolutely love what I’m doing’

in Sports by

In the ultimate generational passing of the torch, 35-year-old Ken Babby has assumed control of the Jacksonville Suns from the storied Bragan family, taking ownership after the 2015 season and planning what he says will be a millennial’s approach to freshening up the fun at the ballpark. The divorced dad of a 7-year-old son, Babby is a sports fanatic who used to run the digital operation for The Washington Post. He first got into minor league ball when he bought the Double-A…

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An Uber driver tells all

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

As the war between taxicab companies and app-based transportation services like Uber and Lyft heats up, it’s always fascinating to get the take of one of the foot soldiers in the conflict. After all, the grunts on the front lines are the ones actually trudging through mud (actually it’s drunk passengers’ vomit) dodging shrapnel (traffic tickets, usually) and often dealing with some form of PTSD once deployment is done (constant flashbacks to that one horrific carload from Ybor City). So…

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In Florida, to move the needle on climate, talk about ‘sea level rise’

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

In politics, language can make all the difference. For example, famed political consultant/public opinion guru Frank Luntz made his reputation by turning oil drilling into “energy exploration” and changing the estate tax into the “death tax.” “It’s not what you say,” went his famous slogan, “it’s what they hear.” Luntz also advised clients not to use the term “global warming,” but instead to talk about “climate change.” These days, though, the politics concerning climate have become so polarized that even that term…

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Native Americans protest St. Augustine’s 450th bash

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

Amidst all the celebration and revelry of St. Augustine’s 450th commemorations this week, some are planning to protest the way the nation’s oldest city was founded. A coalition of Native American groups is calling for a boycott of the 450th, saying it “shamefully celebrates and honors the Doctrine of Discovery and Spain’s crimes against humanity.” The Doctrine of Discovery was a series of Papal Bulls dating from the mid-1400s that gave authorization to Spain and Portugal to “to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and Pagans”…

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Florida mental health summit: ‘We will impact the 2016 legislative Session’

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

In the wake of the Florida Times-Union’s powerful dive into dangerous gaps in the state’s mental health system of care, advocates pushing for change say they’re getting their strategy in place to press legislators hard to enact reforms in 2016. “We’re coordinating a statewide advocacy effort, bringing together mental health professionals, advocates, families, and consumers, to really have an effect on the 2016 legislative session,” says Denise Marzullo, CEO of Mental Health America of Northeast Florida. Marzullo is bringing two…

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