Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney made his final pitch to Puerto Rico Republicans in an open letter sent out on Friday. Puerto Rico holds its primary -- with 23 delegates at stake -- on Sunday. Romney played up his support from Gov. Luis Fortu of Puerto Rico and focused on economic issues.

Republican congressional candidate Ozzie deFaria wants to put President Obama and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz over a barrel on rising oil prices. Launching a "Furious About Fuel" petition, the CD 23 candidate is calling on Obama to open up federal lands for drilling immediately. He's also demanding that the president withdraw his proposal for increasing taxes on oil companies.

Legislation granting concealed weapons permits to military personnel under age 21 is awaiting Gov. Rick Scott's signature. Florida Carry, which authored House Bill 463, said, "Those who defend our country overseas should be able to defend themselves and their families at home. There have been too many incidences of violence against our troops who have just returned from overseas deployments and found themselves defenseless at home."

Not-so-rich-folks who work for government wondered who wrecked the curve for them after they read my Monday column, "Public Employees' Pensions Can Sink the Ship." I wrote this: "The majority of union members in America today are white-collared, college-educated and work for the government, where they receive an average of $123,049 annually in pay and benefits -- twice the average of workers in the private sector."

Three bills that would keep donations to publicly owned performing arts centers and the Florida Historic Capitol anonymous and exempt some biotech research meeting information from the states Sunshine Law have reached the governors desk. Senate Bill 1856 exempts discussions and recommendations of applications for biomedical research grants submitted through the James and Esther King Biomedical Research and the William G. Bill Bankhead Jr. and David Coley Cancer Research programs.

Legislators have formally sent the Eric Brody bill, SB 4, a priority of Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, to the governor. Gov. Rick Scott has 15 days, until March 30, to sign the bill that would provide $10.75 million to Brody.

State Rep. Robert Schenck, R-Spring Hill, chairman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, praised the efforts of the states year-old Florida Drug Enforcement strike teams in reducing the spread and illegal sale of prescription drugs across Florida.

Florida, the largest swing state in the nation, will once again be up for grabs in November, according to a poll released on Thursday. A poll of likely voters in the Sunshine State from Rasmussen Reports finds Democrat incumbent President Barack Obama ahead of both of the leading candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination, but his lead over Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum is within the margin of error.

Democrats in Lake County have raised the fury of some Army veterans for hoisting a flag resembling Old Glory with President Obamas face replacing the 50 stars on the field of blue.

The state of Florida will be cracking down on underage drinking on St. Patricks Day. The state Department of Business and Professional Regulation revealed on Thursday that the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco will be visiting bars on Saturday in college towns like Gainesville and Tallahassee, as well as Jacksonville, and at locations inBroward, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk, Orange and St. Lucie counties.

A national survey of spending by teacher unions found that outlays in Broward County increased the most. The Education Intelligence Agency BTU's 35.8 percent increase in employee compensation should have raised red flags. And those numbers don't even include reimbursements for political candidate contributions -- which were substantial. See the report here.

On Wednesday night, the two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination -- Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum -- exchanged fire on economic matters. Romney slammed Santorum, insisting that his Republican rival is an economic lightweight who does not understand how the economy works since he has spent his entire career in government.

State leaders on Wednesday hailed the work of Floridas Drug Enforcement Strike Force teams for putting a dent in the prescription-drug abuse that had exploded through the distribution of pain drugs from clinics dubbed "pill mills." But in a media conference in the state Cabinet meeting room, Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey said more work is still needed.

This isnt the Florida business and politics story we focus on here, but it is another sign of the times that brought you the Sunshine State News online newspaper in the first place. According to a story in Wednesdays USA Today (online here; in print, for what its worth, available on many street corners), Encyclopaedia Britannica will no longer publish a print edition. After 244 years, it will now be available solely online.

Gov. Rick Scott has ordered state and national flags at the Capitol, county courthouse of Okaloosa County and at the City Hall of Niceville to be lowered to half-staff on Thursday for U.S. Army Sergeant Joshua A. Born. Born, 25, of Niceville, was one of two soldiers killed Feb. 23 in Afghanistan during protests outside a U.S. base in the Khogyani District in Nangarhar Province over the American militarys burning of Qurans.