Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam announced Wednesday that the number of Floridians holding concealed weapons permits will reach a record high of one million "sometime next week." That's higher than any other state. More to come . . .

Daily Caller reports on 18 Democratic senators who have petitioned U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to allow the passage of legislation delaying implementation of Obamacare's medical devices tax. Florida's ostensibly "moderate" Democrat, Bill Nelson, was not one of the signatories. "Eighteen Democratic U.S. senators and senators-elect sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last week calling for a 'delay in the implementation' of the medical device tax in Obamacare, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Former South Florida police officer Manuel Pardo, convicted of killing nine drug dealers and informers to eliminate his own competition, was executed Tuesday night at Florida State Prison in Starke. Last-minute appeals -- claiming mental illness -- by Pardos attorneys were rejected prior to the 7:47 p.m. lethal injection death sentence being carried out.

Florida A&M University, which has been in the news the past year for a hazing incident that left a member of the famed Marching 100 Band dead, has been placed on probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The university announced Tuesday that the Tallahassee school will retain its accreditation but must serve a year on probation.

Attorney General Pam Bondi today filed an emergency ruleoutlawing 22 new synthetic drugs, commonly called bath salts, K2 orSpice. Bondi was joined by law enforcement officers anda health practitioner as she announced the emergency rule designating newsynthetic drugs as Schedule I of controlled substances, making it athird-degree felony for an individual to sell, manufacture, or deliver, orpossess with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver" these drugs.

The power of organized labor in the United States suffered a shocking setback Tuesday when the GOP-majority Michigan Legislature gave its final approval to "right to work" restrictions on public unions. All of a sudden Michigan, birthplace of the United Auto Workers, the richest U.S. labor union, becomes the 24th state to enact "right to work" provisions.

Attorney Justin Pearson, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Institute for Justice (IJ), the nation'spremierfree-market public interest law firm, has a column today in the Daily Caller about an upcoming vote by the Sunrise City Commission on whether to outlaw the operation of food trucks in their city.

A high-ranking spokesperson for the FOX New Channel has confirmed to Sunshine State News that Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is not working on a contract with the center-right cable news network. As we reported yesterday, a reporter (from the Tampa Bay Times) told Bondi a source had suggested that the attorney general was working on a deal to become an on-air FOX contributor. As we also reported, Bondi emphatically rebutted the rumor:

First lady Ann Scott displays the 2012 Official Florida Christmas Ornament to Gov. Rick Scott.

Gov. Rick Scott will honor innovators Monday night at the governors mansion. I am proud to announce another group of award winners, Scott stated in a release for the 2012 Governors Innovators in Business Awards. My No. 1 mission is to grow jobs for Florida families, and the successes these companies have experienced represent the job opportunities being created in Florida.

With former Gov. Charlie Crist now fully embracing the Democratic Party, former Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the partys 2010 gubernatorial candidate, is working to keep her name in the news. Sink, who like Crist is heavily expected to make a run for the Democrat Partys gubernatorial nomination in 2014, will hold a media conference Wednesday in Miami to urge congressional leaders not to increase taxes on middle class Floridians.

Florida's attorney general, Pam Bondi, emphatically rebutted suggestions by one reporter that she might not run for re-election as the Sunshine State's chief legal officer in 2014. "That's a billion, billion percent false," she told the reporter. "Whoever told you that is a very bad source! . . .I plan on running for re-election for attorney general."

The Republican Party of Florida, noting that the Florida Democratic Party hasnt released any kind of statement that former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist has joined the team, linked to a YouTube video that featured the sound of crickets chirping on Monday.

The bishops of Florida's seven Catholic dioceses have released a statement opposing the upcoming Tuesday execution of Manuel Pardo Jr., a former decorated Florida highway patrolman and police officer who killed nine people over a 92-day serial murdervigilantespree.

Residents in and around the Space Coast may get a chance to watch as one of the U.S. Air Forces hush-hush mini-shuttles is launched on Tuesday. An Atlas V rocket is expected to go up between 1:03 p.m. and 6:03 p.m. from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying an X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle in its secret cargo. The space plane, developed by The Boeing Company, is 29 feet long. No timeline for the length of the flight or its itinerary is available.