The Republican Party of Florida announced Monday it would be filing an ethics complaint against former Gov. Charlie Crist over several billboards in Tampa Bay. The party alleges the billboards, which are located in St. Petersburg and in Tampa, do not have the disclaimer required under state law.

Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist will go head to head at a debate at Broward College's main campus onOct. 15. The one-hour debate will be broadcast on all of Florida's media markets and will also be simulcast on Florida Public Radio member stations. South Florida's CBS 4 anchor Elliott Rodriguez will moderate the debate. Panelists will include Rosemary Goudreau, editorial page editor of the Sun Sentinel, and Matt Walsh, editor and CEO of Observer Media Group.

U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla., joined with Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam on Monday to showcase his proposal to ensure the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps will not expand their jurisdiction over bodies of wanter managed by states or in conjuction with them. Southerland's proposal would also force the federal government to talk with state and local governments as to which waters should be regulated at the federal level.

A poll from the Florida Chamber Political Institute (FCPI) unveiled on Monday shows Gov. Rick Scott has taken the lead over former Gov. Charlie Crist. Despite having spent most of his political life as a Republican, Crist is the favorite to win the Democratic primary next week. Scott takes 44 percent in the poll of likely voters while Crist garners 41 percent. Scotts lead expands when Libertarian Adrian Wyllie is added into the mix. In that scenario, Scott takes 41 percent, Crist gets 35 percent and Wyllie takes 4 percent.

Three members of the Florida Cabinet -- Attorney General Pam Bondi, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and CFO Jeff Atwater -- will be taking the ice bucket challenge to help raise funds to combat ALS. In recent weeks, the ALS Association has raised more than $13 million, in part due to viral videos of people dumping buckets of ice water on their head, then challenging others to do the same. The Florida Cabinet members will be taking the challenge on Tuesday at the Old Capitol in Tallahassee to help the Florida chapter of the ALS Association.

Gov. Rick Scottwill be kicking off a new statewide tour focused on transportation this week, starting the first leg in Jacksonville on Monday. "Let's Keep Florida Moving" will be focused on Scott's $41 billion, Five-Year Department of Transportation work plan, which is centered on investments to expand a variety of transportation in the Sunshine State, includingairports, sea ports, state road networks, and the space industry. Scott honed in on making Florida a hot spot for tourism and business.

Among Rasmussen Reports' latest surveys comes more bad news for America's ailing newspaper industry -- that is, its newsprint versions: A sizable number of newspaper subscribers say they have dropped their subscriptions in the past five years.

On Friday, Gov. Rick Scott said 2,100 new private-sector jobs were created in July. The unemployment rate stayed at 6.2 percent, the same as June. Scott noted on Friday that more than 620,000 jobs had been created in the private sector since he took over from then-Gov. Charlie Crist at the start of 2011. Despite spending most of his political life as a Republican, Crist is the favorite to win the Democratic primary later this month which will determine who takes on Scott in November.

All Aboard Florida is drawing the concern of U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla. Posey wrote the comptroller general of the United States on Thursday, demanding the Government Accountability Office (GAO) launch a study to see how viable All Aboard Floridas plan is to connect Orlando to Miami by high-speed rail.

A Florida pastor will be joining a once-and-possible future presidential candidate in a trip to Israel in the days to come. Pastor Doug Bankson of the Victory Church World Outreach Center in Apopka will be joining religious and social conservatives, including former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., in heading to Israel on Sunday for a three-day trip. Besides preaching in almost every state and around the globe, Bankson has served as president of the Apopka Ministerial Alliance and chaired the Apopka City Chamber of Commerce.

Many American voters don't think the president is working harder than they are, and even more voters believe Congress isn't working too hard, either. According to a new Rasmussen Reports poll, 43 percent of likely U.S. voters say President Barack Obama isn't working harder than they are. Almost the same percentage of voters (42 percent) say the president works harder than they do.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Associated Builders and Contractors of Florida and the Florida Trucking Association announced on Thursday they opposed Amendment 2, a proposed state Constitution amendment expanding medical marijuana in the Sunshine State. Bush said on Thursday Amendment 2 would hurt efforts to lure tourists to Florida.

Gov. Rick Scott said on Thursday he was backing sending more than $806 million to six projects to improve transportation across Florida.

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a potential Republican presidential hopeful in 2016, waded into Florida politics on Thursday, announcing that he was backing three incumbent Republicans currently serving in Congress -- U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- and throwing his support to Miami-Dade School Board member Carlos Curbelo who is running against U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Fla.

On Wednesday, from his perch on the U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., called on Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to cool down the rhetoric against Israel. Last month, Erdogan said Israel has "surpassed Hitler in barbarism" with its actions in Gaza. "(Israelis) have no conscience, no honour, no pride, Erdogan said. Those who condemn Hitler day and night have surpassed Hitler in barbarism.