Gov. Rick Scott, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, and the Rev. R. B. Holmes Jr.,pastor of the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee, announced Thursday the 17 members of the Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection. The task force, which will have its first meeting May 1 in Tallahassee, was formed in reaction to the Feb. 26 shooting in Sanford of Trayvon Martin.

Mississippi, which perennially ranks among the poorest and least educated states in the union, looked a bit like Florida last week when it caved on an immigration bill. The Mississippi House passed an immigration enforcement bill, but it failed to get a committee hearing in the Senate. An E-Verify employment-screening bill suffered a similar fate between the two houses in Tallahassee last year.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, and Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, have filed legislation to block a U.S. Treasury Department rule that will force banks to disclose foreign investors.

With Rick Santorum dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination last week, Mitt Romney is looming as the de facto nominee for the GOP despite Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul remaining in the contest. Gingrich went on the attack on Wednesday, slamming Romneys proposal to limit mortgage deductions. Governor Romneys proposal to limit certain tax deductions based on income, including the deduction for mortgage interest on second homes, is a surrender to the class warfare rhetoric of the Left, insisted Gingrich in a statement.

Gov. Rick Scott will address the media this morning on the Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection that was formed in reaction to the Feb. 26 Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman shooting in Sanford. Scott will be joined at the Capitol by Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll and theRev. R.B. Holmes, a prominent minister from Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee, who are to serve as chair and vice chair of the task force.

With the Keystone XL Pipeline included, the House of Representatives approved the Surface Transportation Extension Act on Wednesday. HR 4348, which passed 293-127, now goes to a conference to iron out differences with the Senate version. If the Keystone provision survives, President Obama won't be able to have it both ways on the pipeline. Last month, he disingenuously touted Keystone by approving a southern segment while continuing to block the northern section from Canada.

Florida Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston, one of the most liberal voices in Tallahassee, is continuing to explore a possible gubernatorial run in 2014 against Gov. Rick Scott, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

GOP Senate hopeful U.S. Rep. Connie Macks team brought out their candidates father -- former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack III who held the seat for two terms before retiring before the 2000 election cycle -- on Wednesday to slam a piece published in the Miami Herald and the Tampa Bay Times over the weekend that insisted his sons campaign was underwhelming.

State Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, applauded Gov. Rick Scott for signing a law expanding access to concealed weapons permits to Florida military service members and honorably discharged veterans. Kreegel, who authored House Bill 463, said, We have successfully enhanced the Second Amendment rights of our fighting men and women. We entrust them with firearms to defend our nation, that trust should extend to allowing them to carry concealed weapons in civilian life.

The Democrat-controlled Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, which usually marches in lockstep with the White House, has disallowed all of the Obama administration's fiscal 2013 request for high-speed rail. Transportation analyst Ken Orski reports that instead of spending $4 billion more on HSR, the panel voted to allocate $1.45 billion for Amtrak and $100 million for the High Performance Passenger Rail grant program to assistwith the improvement of existing intercity services and multistate planning initiatives.

The reign of high-speed rail is mainly on the wane. At least, on one critical Washington priority list. Ken Orski, HSR opponent and editor/publisher of Innovation NewsBriefs, claims the Democrat-controlled Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, usually "yes" men for the White House, has disallowed the whole of the administration's $4 billion FY 2013 request for high-speed rail.

Even though the selection of its presidential candidate for the 2012 election is not in question, the Florida Democratic Party will hold statewide county caucuses on May 5 to begin its delegate selection process for the national convention in Charlotte, N.C. The state is sending 300 delegates and 23 alternates to the conference. Those selected will advance to the partys statewide convention June 1-3 in Tampa where they will take part in the final phase of the process.

Three members of the SUR 13 street gang each received nearly a half-century in sentences in a Palm Beach County courtroom after accepting plea agreements. Attorney General Pam Bondi noted the three -- Jose Sanchez, 30, Victor Castillo, 29, and Roberto Trejo, 22 -- were prosecuted by the Office of Statewide Prosecution.

The office of Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater has launched an online OnDemand Library offering videos on topics such as identity theft, long-term care insurance and reverse mortgages. Additional presentations will be made available on topics including automobile insurance, workers compensation and public assistance fraud.

The decision to split the University of South Florida-Polytechnic campus in Lakeland into an independent university comes down to a chance to reinvent the state university system versus costs, Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday. Scott said Wednesday morning he was still weighing the impact of allowing the University of South Florida-Polytechnic campus in Lakeland to become independent this summer.