The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reached a deal Friday that rightfully allows the state to set nutrient rules for its own waterways.

Watch Sen. Marco Rubio live at the Conservative Political Action Conference(CPAC) Thursday at 1:15 p.m. Florida's Republican senator will take the stage after an introduction from Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union. Watch Rubio live as he addresses the ways to move our country forward.

Miami's grassroots Christian Family Coalition (CFC), which refers to itself as "Florida's premiere human rights and social justice organization,"has established a nonpartisan 'blue ribbon committee' to analyze the proposed use of taxpayer dollars for Sun Life Stadium improvements.

Ed Moore, Ph.D., president of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida, says he liked our story speculating on Jennifer Carroll's replacement as lieutenant governor.

Scratch a few names off of Gov. Rick Scotts short list to be the next lieutenant governor of Florida. None of the three Republicans in the Cabinet is likely to want the demotion. The same holds true for Republican members of Congress.Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, slammed the door on the possibility on Wednesday morning, asserting hes not interested.

Veteran lawmaker Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, is likely to be atop the short list of candidates to replace Jennifer Carroll as lieutenant governor.Sources close to Gov. Rick Scott confirm that Latvalas record as a moderate who frequently crosses the aisle to block hard-line conservative legislation would help move Scott to the center in his quest to draw more independent and Democratic voters for his re-election bid.

With little discussion and no drama, the Florida House took up and rolled to a third reading HB 7059, the bill that repeals an international driving permit requirement put into Florida law in 2012 and aimed to make it easier for police to interpret foreign drivers' licenses.

During a Florida Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Tuesday considering SB 92, which would restrict the use of drones for law enforcement, Sen. Andy Gardiner expressed his concern over the continued private use of drones that is not covered by the legislation.

A bill that would allow the public to have a look at projects that are granted incentives by Florida in return for bringing jobs and economic development to the state cleared the House Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee Tuesday.

Sen. Joe Negron's bill to guarantee Floridians the right to speak before a public board before the board takes any action moved forward on the Senate floor Tuesday morning. It will be placed on the calendar for a third reading. "We only have three rights we guarantee in our Constitution," the Republican senator from Stuart said. "The right to a trial by jury, the right to vote and the right to speak.

School officials in Broward and Miami-Dade counties heaved a sigh of relief Tuesday morning when HB 189, the bill that revises the method for calculating the penalty for failure to comply with the state constitutional class size requirements, moved forward. The bill calls for calculating at the school average instead of the classroom level.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling ruled Monday that Mayor Michael Bloombergs new soda regulationwas "arbitrary and capricious" and declared it invalid.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen provided insight Monday on Americans' distaste for Congress, with Senate Democrats being judged even worse than House Republicans. According to Rasmussen, more than half of voters think both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives are doing a poor job, but nearly as many also prefer having them run by different political parties the way Congress is now.

The Florida lottery is having a streak of its own good luck. For the fifth straight week, it has exceeded sales records for its scratch-off tickets. Scratch-off games topped $74 million last week, besting the previous weeks record by $5.7 million. Florida is one of the few states to have exceeded $70 million in scratch-off sales, behind New York and Massachusetts.

Alas, Mr. Smith can't go to Washington anymore -- unless he's got a buck or two of his own and knows how to harvest and bundle massive donations.