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Sunshine State News Heats up with 'Covering Florida'

Fri, 15 Dec 2006, 18:30:00 EDT

Edited by Carly Zander

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Dec. 15 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- A new online site "Covering Florida" will focus on news, commentary and features written by journalist Kay B. Day about the fourth largest state in the nation. Day says a central news forum for information about elections, crime, and neighborhoods in Florida will give a more unified impression of a state that is often viewed as fragmented because of politics.

"During the midterm elections," says Day. "There was so much useful information out there. But there wasn't a central location for Floridians."

She wrote about the election, providing links to sites offering information about candidates and issues. "We had an amendment related to eminent domain," Day says. "But there was little information out there your average person could understand. I'm a writer and I had to read and re-read the 'legalese' on the official government sites." She saw that amendment as critical, because it specified regulations for seizure of personal property by developers and others.

But the focus goes beyond nuts and bolts news. "I like writing features too, and I do a recurring 'First Person' at least once a month. This essay deals with subjects ranging from holiday celebrations to wildlife like the great egret."

She had come home from covering an event for one of the newspapers she writes for. "And there in my driveway was a great egret picking lizards off the shrubbery," she says. Grabbing her camera, she tracked the egret. "The Florida Times Union published one of the photos," she says. "But I had several, and I wanted to let others know about the habits of these birds." So she featured a photo and story at "Covering Florida."

The space shuttle offered another opportunity. Day planned to cover the STS-116 launch. "Then it was postponed because of the low cloud cover." She got the shot anyway, when it launched days later. "My daughter was with her boyfriend. She saw the huge light in the sky and grabbed her digital camera. She got a great photo.

One of the most heavily read stories is a column she did about gangs. Day read an article about the MS-13 gang at the online site Family Security Matters (familysecuritymatters.org). She writes a monthly column about global politics for the site. When she saw another writer's story about this dangerous gang, she looked up additional information. "Sure enough, MS-13 has a presence in Florida, even in my home city," she says.

A self-confessed news junkie, Day writes for newspapers, magazines and Net sites. "I write on for our daily newspaper, and also have essays in publications like the Christian Science Monitor. I do a bi-weekly column about poetry for the Web site of The Writer magazine." She also strings for UPI and freelances "one-ups" for other magazines. She's been an independent journalist for over 20 years.

Author of two books, with two more in the works, Day is an award-winning poet in what she calls her "other life." She just returned from reading in a program, "Florida Poets Arrive," at the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C.

With "Covering Florida" she says she hopes to "expand the great news coverage we already have here." She uses blogging software to produce content.

Days says most bloggers write personal journal entries, but the blog tools offer a perfect format for a column about the Sunshine State. "And we're not only a big state, we are a very interesting state. Florida has hot news!"

More information: http://coveringflorida.blogspot.com

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