At least two years in the making, proposed pari-mutuel regulations continue to leave industry operators divided, with some saying the rules don't go far enough and others complaining that the plan will put them out of business.
GOP presidential candidates may want to temper the hard-line stance toward immigration reform embraced by the far right if they want to make it to the top of the ticket next year, according to a recent poll touted by a variety of current and former Hispanic elected officials from Miami on Thursday.
A recent survey of voters in the early primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina found that, at most, one in five GOP voters supported deportation of undocumented immigrants.
After almost two years in the works, state gambling regulators on Tuesday released the latest version of proposed pari-mutuel regulations governing everything from how much jockeys can weigh to the shape and size of horse tracks.
But industry insiders predict that the rules face a challenge if they aren't revised.
Like the flora speckling the Capitol grounds, tensions between GOP House and Senate leaders appear to be wilting as lawmakers prepare to finalize a budget before the special session ends next week.
Appropriations subcommittee chairs congratulated one another on jobs well done before passing unresolved "bump issues" to the budget chiefs, who cordially took up the mantle midweek with no apparent memory of who would be left without a dance partner.
While slicing and dicing other areas of the budget, lawmakers plan to boost the state's spending on prisons by $43 million to address needs such as replacing vehicles and fixing leaky roofs and to wipe out a years-long deficit.
Gov.
