A former insurance agent from Palm Harbor was arrested for allegedly running a scam aimed at seniors where details of financial products were misrepresented, according to the office of Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater. Neal Seth Smalbach, 49, was charged with grand theft after an investigation by the state Department of Financial Services Division of Insurance Fraud revealed Smalbachs misrepresentations resulted in an estimated $4.6 million being invested by seniors in products that were unsuitable for them, the CFO office reported.

Gov. Rick Scott discussed his departing Chief of Staff Steve MacNamara, the curved grades of the states FCAT results, and next weeks trip to Spain while on WFLA 100.7 FM Wednesday morning. Spain Weve got over 300 Spanish companies that do business in Florida, I want 1,000 of them. Whatever the number is, I want more than what we have.

Gov. Rick Scott will attend the Hurricane Conference being held Wednesday at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/ Broward County Convention Center. More than 1,600 emergency managers, rescue workers and public officials are expected to be in attendance at the conference that is spending time recalling Hurricane Andrew, which devastated South Florida 20 years ago.

State University System Chancellor Frank Brogan and Florida Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mark Wilson discuss higher education governance, aligning goals and resources in the latest edition of the Florida Chamber of Commerces Bottom Line. In this brief video, Brogan and Wilson discuss: The future of higher education. Accountability and aligning higher education goals and resources.

Jeb Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future applauded the state Board of Education's "emergency" action to lower the bar for passage after scores on the FCAT writing exam plummeted this year. Instead of scores averaging nearly 80 percent, this year's results fell into the 30 percent range. To avert wholesale failure, the board lowered the passage requirement from 4.0 to 3.0 on Tuesday.

In case the name Bill Nelson sounds only vaguely familiar, he's the U.S. senator from Florida whose name pops up every six years 1) to run for re-election and 2) to moan about the outrageous ads basically calling him a do-nothing Democratic go-along. Sure enough, here he is in 2012, outraged again, demanding TV stations pull the new United States Chamber of Commerce 30-second spot on Obamacare. Basically, the ad claims Obamacare will be a "nightmare" for Florida seniors.

With less than three months to go until the Republican primary to see who will emerge to challenge Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, Senate hopeful U.S. Rep. Connie Mack unveiled his team of conservatives on Tuesday.

AAA predicts that 1.6 million Floridians will hit the road, traveling at least 50 miles, for the Memorial Day weekend. The number would be a 1.2 percent increase from 2011. Nationally, the auto club group projects 34.8 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, May 24-28, an increase of 1.2 percent -- or 500,000 travelers -- from last year.

Prominent Republicans from across the nation have rushed to South Florida to back potential opponents to challenge U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, best known for leading the Democratic National Committee, most of whom either endorsed Ozzie deFaria or Karen Harrington. But former Gov. Robert Ehrlich of Maryland endorsed yet another Republican in the race on Tuesday when he announced that he was backing attorney Gineen Bresso.

In his announcement to supporters on Monday that he was scaling back his presidential campaign, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, insisted that his team would focus on their strategy at the convention in Tampa come August. Jesse Benton, Pauls campaign manager, did exactly that in a memo sent out on Tuesday.

Conservative leader Gary Bauer, best known for leading the Family Research Council and his bid for the Republican presidential nomination back in 2000, pointed to a number of states where attempts to push same-sex marriage failed -- and noted these are some of the chief states up for grabs in the presidential election in November. With President Barack Obama saying that he backed same-sex marriage last week, Bauer insists this will be a major issue in a host of states the Democrat incumbent needs to target in November.

Businessman Herman Cain, best known for his bid for the Republican presidential nomination earlier in the 2012 election cycle, came out swinging at Republican U.S. Senate hopeful U.S. Rep. Connie Mack on Tuesday. Cain has endorsed former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, Macks main rival in the GOP primary. On Tuesday, Cain took aim at comments Mack made on LeMieuxs support of Cains 9-9-9 plan on tax reform which Mack argued was laying the groundwork for a 16 percent sales tax in Florida.

State and national flags will be lowered to half-staff outside the Capitol, the Clay County Courthouse and the Orange Park City Hall for Staff Sergeant Dick Alson Lee Jr., at the order of Gov. Rick Scott.

Florida education leaders will huddle Tuesday after tougher grading standards helped cause dramatic drops in statewide reading and writing test scores among fourth, eighth and 10th graders. With the FCAT test results used to grade schools for future funding, the state Board of Education must now determine how to use the scores. Gov. Rick Scott released a statement calling it obvious that the state Department of Education must figure how to evenly compare the new scores with past results.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas sent out strong signals on Monday that he is cutting back on his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. As I reflect on our 2012 presidential campaign, I am humbled by the supporters who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much, Paul noted in an email to supporters on Monday. And I am so proud of what we have accomplished. We will not stop until we have restored what once made America the greatest country in human history.