Gov. Rick Scott and first lady Ann Scott will attend a Shabbat dinner with troops on Friday at the Shul/The Aleph Institute in Surfside, a release from the governors office stated. Details of what troops were not immediately available.

Gov. Rick Scott has order state and national flags lowered to half-staff on Saturday at the Marion County Courthouse, Ocala City Hall and Florida Capitol for Private First Class Markie T. Sims of Citra. Sims died on Dec. 29, in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Private First Class Sims was assigned to the 38th Engineer Company, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

Gov. Rick Scott named Harry Wayne Huizenga Jr., Ned C. Lautenbach, Alan M. Levine, Wendy S. Link and Edward A. Morton to the Board of Governors of the State University System. The governors office released the following: Huizenga, 51, of Delray Beach, is currently the president of Rybovich Boat Co. and Huizenga Holdings Inc. Huizenga received his bachelors degree from the University of Tampa in 1985. He succeeds Hector Perez and is appointed for a term beginning Jan. 10, 2013, and ending Jan. 6, 2020.

AP reports that Broward County, Florida's second most-populated and one of the most populated in the nation, is considering renaming itself after its county seat: Fort Lauderdale.

Gov. Rick Scott will hold a Manufacturing Work Day at a pair of Hispanic-owned supermarkets in Miami on Friday. Scott will be at a Goya location in the morning and Sedanos Supermarket -- billed as the largest Hispanic-owned supermarket chain in the U.S. -- for a brief stop in the afternoon.

Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, the Democratic Ranking Member on the Florida House Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement Thursday:

Associated Industries of Florida President Tom Feeney says with 330 attendees the just-started 2013 Florida Heath Care Affordability Summit at the World Center Marriott in Orlando is already a success. We have to get health care right, there is no alternative, Feeney said, whose business advocacy organization intends to present proposals on revamping health care in Florida for the 2013 legislative session, and for future sessions.

The Sun Sentinel reports that Judge David Crow of the15th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida recommended Wednesday that former Broward Circuit Judge Ana Gardiner receive a one-year suspension from the practice of law for misconduct she engaged in during her judicial tenure.

Parametric Solutions Inc., which designs and builds turbine engine prototypes for aircraft and power generators, plans to hire 130 new workers in the next two years with state and local incentives, the governors office announced Wednesday. We are building up jobs throughout Florida by building up our manufacturing industry, Scott, who attended the announcement, stated in a release. We want more manufacturers to buy equipment they need to grow and create more jobs to support Floridas families.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, expressed outrage Wednesday as the directors of insurance giant AIG consider suing over the terms of its federal bailout. Outrageous! Thats the only word to describe the shameful discussion taking place inside the boardroom today of the New York-based insurance giant AIG, Buchanan blasted out in an email.

Gov. Rick Scott appeared on FOX 30 Action News in Jacksonville on Wednesday, as part of a round of TV and radio appearances, defending state health care cost estimates, school security and gun laws, and unemployment. View FOX 30 interview here. Scott is scheduled to appear today on FOX News with Neil Cavuto during the 4 p.m. hour.

The Sun-Sentinel reports today on the latest victims of federal social engineering via the tax system -- almost 70,000 families in South Florida, and presumably tens of thousands more throughout the Sunshine State, perhaps amounting to hundreds of thousands -- facing new tax increases: "As tax season starts, Plantation accountant Sheri Schultz has started crunching numbers --and she doesn't like what she sees. Her family is facing tax hikes to the tune of thousands of dollars this year.

The Jacksonville Port Authority, JaxPort, is holding free monthly tours of its largest cargo terminal, the 754-acre Blount Island Marine Terminal, as a means to show off the complex for its 50th anniversary. Tours are set for the fourth Wednesday of each month through most of the year, with the first tour group rolling out at 9:45 a.m. on Jan. 23. Preregistration is required through jaxport.com.

(updated at 12:40 p.m.)Joseph Bondi, the father of Attorney General Pam Bondi, has died after a lengthy battle with leukemia. He was 76. My beautiful Daddy went to Heaven yesterday, Pam Bondi posted on her Facebook page this morning.

Were almost there. As we wait on former governor Charlie Crist -- late of the independent brand after dropping his Republican designation -- to go public with his gubernatorial plans, he paid a visit Monday to the Democratic Governors Association box at the BCS National Championship Game in Miami. Crist told the Daily Caller the appearance was not politics-heavy.