From his perch on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committees Health Subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., turned up the heat on President Barack Obamas federal health-care law on Friday. Bilirakis supported the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act which includes elements from his One Hour Notification Act ensuring the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notifies Americans when their security has been compromised through the health-care website.

U.S. Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., is back to work on Capitol Hill after pleading guilty to possessing cocaine and going into rehab. Radel submitted 28 nominations to the military service academies on Friday. It is humbling that so many of our local students in Southwest Florida have a desire to serve their country and I am happy to nominate them to our prestigious service academies, Radel said.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., hit the national airwaves on Sunday, appearing on CBSs Face the Nation to continue insisting the federal War on Poverty launched by President Lyndon Johnson relied too much on big government. Rubio offered a major speech last week on the 50th anniversary of LBJ announcing the War on Poverty.

For the second year in a row, Florida Farm Bureau has received a national award for its programs and operations, according to a news release issued by the 147,000-member agricultural organization. The organization received the American Farm Bureau Federations (AFBF) 2013 Pinnacle Award, highest recognition conferred upon a state Farm Bureau.

Jeff Atwater may be out of the running for president of Florida Atlantic University, but there's a silver lining in the presidential search committee's decision not to advance him to the next round: he's still got more than $1.1 million in his campaign account.

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and George LeMieux,former chief of staff for former Gov. Charlie Crist, interviewed for the top position at Boca Raton-based Florida Atlantic University on Friday. The two Florida politicians were among 10 selected as finalists for the job.

With Steve Precourt resigning his seat from the Florida House this week, Gov. Rick Scott called a special election on Friday to fill the seat. The primaries will be held on March 11 while the general election will be held on April 8. Precourt was facing term limits in November and three candidates -- Republican former Rep. Eric Eisnaugle and Democrats Lee Douglas and Shaun Raja -- were already running for the seat.

With Steve Precourt leaving the Florida House this week, House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, named Rep. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, to replace him chairing the State Affairs Committee. I am honored and humbled to be asked by our Speaker Will Weatherford to chair State Affairs, Boyd announced on Friday. Looking forward to continuing our work. Boyd, who is serving his second term, previously led the Ethics and Elections, and Government Operations subcommittees.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may have come under fire after word broke thathis top allies engineered a massive traffic jam to get back at a local mayor, but he's still scheduled to head down to Florida next week to campaign for Gov. Rick Scott. "We always welcome Governor Christie to Florida," said House Speaker Will Weatherford. "An unfortunate situation has taken place and he's addressed it. He's not hiding from it. I think he handled it well."

On Friday in Orlando, pointing to record tourism numbers, Gov. Rick Scott called for investing an additional $100 million for Visit Florida in next years budget.

American voters still believe radical Islam remains a threat to the United States, and a good number of them believe the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have only made matters worse. A new Rasmussen Reports poll found 75 percent of likely U.S. voters consider radical Islamic terrorism at least a somewhat serious threat in the U.S., with 38 percent saying it is a very serious threat. Only 19 percentdon't see thisterrorism as a serious threat, but that includes only 3 percent who say its not at all serious.

St. Pete Polls released a poll commissioned by Saint PetersBlog which shows attorney David Jolly, a former aide to the late U.S. Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla., with a solid lead in Tuesdays Republican congressional primary to take on former state CFO Alex Sink, the Democrat in the contest, in Marchs special election.

The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) continues to slam former Gov. Charlie Crist, looking to link him to President Barack Obamas health-care law. On Friday, the RPOF insisted Crist is more concerned with appeasing liberal allies than the needs of Floridians. Despite spending most of his political career as a Republican, Crist is the favorite for the Democratic nomination to challnge Gov. Rick Scott in November.

Rep. Steve Precourt, R-Orlando, announced on Thursday he was resigning from the Florida House to take over as the executive director of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.