Ever Floridas salesman, Gov. Rick Scot has cut an introduction for a video that highlights the states investments into its freight infrastructure as a means to sell the Sunshine State to nation and international businesses.

The U.S. Senate campaign for U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Naples, on Tuesday predicted their candidate will defeat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, next week. With seven days left until Election Day, the Connie Mack for U.S. Senate campaign today predicted that Connie Mack will win the race for the U.S. Senate based on the ongoing internal polling and analysis conducted by the campaign, the campaign stated in a release. The campaigns predicted outcome: Mack 49.1 percent, Nelson, 47.7 percent.

Should utility companies be held liable to individual citizens for harm those citizens suffer from faulty management of utilities, even when government contracts don't specifically establish such liability and where there is no explicit legal precedent for imposing it? Yes, according to three Supreme Court justices up for retention on the November ballot: Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis, and Peggy Quince. Check out our review of the ruling Tuesday morning, only at Sunshine State News.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported Monday that Ocala and Palm Coast led all of Floridas metro areas with the largest over-the-year unemployment rate drop from September 2011 to September 2012. Each turned in a 2.6 percentage point decrease (not seasonally adjusted).

Not to say unemployment anywhere is good, but European unemployment may actually be helping Floridians in one area: fuel prices. AAA reports that one aspect for a continued decrease in fuel prices is that demand is down across Europe where the National Statistic Institute reports Spains unemployment rate has hit 25 percent and 11.4 percent in the euro zone.

A new Sunshine State News poll shows incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson holds a 5-percentage-point lead over Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, 49 to 44 percent, just as early voting begins and the race moves into its final days. The battle now shifts to the remaining 7 percent of undecideds, the bulk of whom live along the Central Florida Interstate-4 corridor.

Within the night-and-day fundraising blitz the Democrats foist on their Internet supporters comes this latest, telling piece of email from Jim Messina, campaign manager, Obama for America. Seems the president is losing the fundraising battle. "I'm asking you to dig deep, because I have some bad news," writes Messina. "We just found out that Mitt Romney and the Republicans outraised us in the first half of this month, putting us $45 million behind during these crucial final days.

Gov. Rick Scott has ordered state and national flags lowered to half-staff Saturday outside the Pinellas County Courthouse, St. Petersburg City Hall and state Capitol for Brittany Gordon. Gordon, 24, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst from St. Petersburg, was killed Oct. 13 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds caused by an improvised explosive device.

Imogene Yarborough, who has been a staple of Florida ranching for nearly 60 years, has been named the 2012 Woman of the Year in Agriculture. Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced the award Friday.

Through our friends at FloridaWatchdog.org,, Sunshine State News has obtained a copy of a letter the Broward teachers' union sent to its members, announcing the endorsement of the retention of Justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis, and Peggy Quince by the organization's state affiliate, the Florida Education Association. The letter is attached below.

While Walt Disney World has spent nearly $2.5 million this year to candidates with the intent of holding the line on casino gambling in Florida, they are not alone in their fight. Employees working for the Seminole Tribe of Florida have pooled $3,144 as of Sept. 28, according to Indian Country Today Media Network.

What do you get when you cross a) a Republican appearing on the ballot under the name of a candidate who left the race in disgrace after it was discovered he used taxpayer dollars and public facilities tohold numerous sex romps with his wife's boss, with b) an ex-convict-turned-Christian minister who's received numerous public accolades for devoting all of the last half of his life torehabilitatinghardened criminals -- former Gov. Jeb Bush has called him "one of my heroes" -- and is now running on an obscure third-party ticket?

In conjunction with Voter Survey Service (VSS) of Harrisburg, Pa., Sunshine State News will release survey results and analyses in Florida's two headliner races of the 2012 general election on Friday and Saturday -- the presidential race first and Florida's U.S. Senate race on the weekend. With less than two weeks to go before voting day on Nov. 6, Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney are pulling out all the stops to win the Sunshine State.

Six South Floridians and one Orlando resident have been charged as part of a mortgage fraud scheme that totaled nearly $5 million, the Attorney General and Miami-Dade Police Department reported. By working with the Miami-Dade Police Department, we have stopped this mortgage fraud scheme, Attorney General Pam Bondi stated. We will continue our efforts to stop mortgage fraud and hold criminals accountable.

The Florida Council of 100 released a statement Thursday hailing Gov. Rick Scotts "College & Career FIRST" education initiative: