While he has been on the Texas political stage for more than three decades, Ron Paul has not fared well in the Lone Star State when he has made his two past previous presidential bids. Now making his third try for the White House -- and second attempt at the Republican presidential nomination -- Paul has turned his eyes to Texas which will bring 155 delegates to the GOP convention in Tampa come August. Texas holds its primary on May 29.

An abrupt hour-long recess by the Florida Supreme Court raised questions Monday about electioneering on state time. During the hearing of a case -- an election case, ironically -- a state employee walked into the courtroom and handed Justice Charles Canady a note.The court recessed in the middle of testimony in the redistricting case.

Broward Teachers Union first vice president Bernie Schultz is the first to reach a deal with the Broward Sheriffs Office, several education blogs reported. Schultz received probation for a single misdemeanor count of violating campaign contribution laws. Schultz had been reimbursed out of union dues for making a political campaign contribution. Insiders expect more settlements shortly, since another 25 BTU employees, board members and their relatives received similar reimbursements for campaign contributions.

Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee will make his 'temporary' resignation permanent tonight, USA Today is reporting.

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam introduced the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Fresh For Florida Kids Garden in a ceremony at the Holland Building in Tallahassee on Monday.

The 17-member task force studying Florida 's Stand Your Ground law grew by two members Monday when the governor's office announced the appointment of two veteran law enforcement officers. Joining the Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection are Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings of Orlando and David L. Perry of Tallahassee, chief of the Florida State University Police Department.

Florida residents who want to block sales calls to residential, mobile or paging device telephone numbers can now sign up for the Florida Do Not Call program for free. Were thrilled to offer this valuable service to Floridians at no charge, Commissioner Adam Putnam stated in a release on Monday. Last year, we heard complaints from nearly 20,000 consumers about telemarketing. Now, were able to offer protection from unsolicited calls to Floridians at no cost.

U.S. Rep. Allen West has made a pretty famous name for himself by criticizing Democrats, but calling members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus -- you know, the people so liberal they think liberals are conservative -- a bunch of communists was too far for his local NAACP branch.

The Pew Research Center, not exactly a bastion of conservative thought, has determined, once again, that Republicans are more knowledgeable than Democrats about American politics. Republicans scored higher on a range of questions about the parties and government, largely because the GOP coalition has few poorly educated people, Pew said.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce continues to gear up for the expected 2014 fight against casinos in Florida at the ballot box. Mark Wilson, Chamber president, told the Sarasota Republican Club last week that the statewide business advocacy organization will continue to mount opposition to expansion of gambling in Florida, according to the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam started serving Florida-grown foods this year at public schools and now hes going to show students how they can raise their own crops. Putnam will officially open the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Fresh For Florida Kids Garden in a ceremony at the Holland Building in Tallahassee.

Gov. Rick Scott will be visiting a pair of elementary schools Monday. At 10 a.m., Scott and Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll will hold a round table with parents and teachers at Orange Park Elementary School At 1 p.m., Scott is scheduled to be at Tyndall Elementary School on Tyndall Air Force Base, east of Panama City. The visits come less than a week after Scott signed the state budget that included a $1 billion increase in public education spending.

Francois Hollande, on course to become France's first Socialist president in 24 years, topped a field of national socialists, centrists and communists in that country's elections Sunday. Every poll has predicted that Hollande, 57, will win the May 6 runoff against center-right President Nicolas Sarkozy, who finished second in Sunday's first round. Hollande deftly played to his left by singling out "finance" as his "worst enemy" and pledging to soak the rich with a 75 percent tax on annual earnings over 1 million euros, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Five days after Republican Jeff Atwater was quoted as "considering" a run for U.S. Senate, the state's chief financial officer scotched the idea. "As much as Carole and I are humbled by your calls, notes and messages to enter the U.S. Senate race and carry our banner into the fight, we believe we have a responsibility to finish the job Floridians elected us to do," Atwater wrote on his Facebook page Saturday.

As if you needed any more proof that Washington is broke and broken, check out these statistics from the 112th Congress: More than 6,700 bills were proposed, most of them involving some form of spending. Approximately 138 budget reform bills have been introduced. Of those budget reform bills, 132 failed to receive a hearing.