The Seminole Tribe of Florida announced Tuesday it is one payment away from the $500 million mark in gaming compact payments made to the state of Florida. The tribe surpassed $490 million with today's payment, an automatic transfer of $12.5 million. The next scheduled payment, on Dec. 15, will push the total to $502.9 million.

The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) has kicked off a series of video updates from Lenny Curry, the chairman of the state party. In the first video, Curry weighs in on what the state GOP will focus on in 2012.

Leaders of the Latin Builders Association, sporting hard hats and holding shovels, stood before the fourth floor entrance to the Florida Senate in the Capitol as they become the latest group to announce support for the destination gaming bill now before the Legislature.

As a man who's re-reading Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" after a lapse of more than two decadea, I've got more than a passing interest in what we all too casually refer to as "liberty." But fortunately, the Cato Institute comes through again with a reminder of what it's all about. Check out their new website here.

With reports growing that some members of Congress engaged in insider training, former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, now running in a crowded Republican primary to take on Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, offered his thoughts on the matter.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn on Tuesday praised bipartisan congressional efforts to provide $50 million in security funding for the 2012 Republican convention. The House and Senate Appropriations Conference Committee has recommended the securityfunding for the convention to be held in Tampa next summer. The legislation must be approved by the Houseand Senate.Action is anticipated this week. The 2012 Republican convention is an opportunity to tell Tampas story to the world, and these fundswill help ensure our success," said Buckhorn, a Democrat.

Dark-horse Republican presidential hopeful former Gov. Buddy Roemer of Louisiana, who has left the door open to making a third-party or independent bid for the White House, came out swinging at NewYork City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday for calling out the cops against the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

A $30 million fund to support the expansion of high-performing charter schools in Florida was announced Tuesday. The public-private partnership between the nonprofit Charter School Growth Fund and the state Department of Education will help create 30 new charters to serve 15,000 more students in persistently low-achieving neighborhoods. Funding comes from $20 million in federal Race to the Top dollars along with $10 million in private philanthropic funds to be raised by CSGF.

At a press conference at the Dubai Air Show Tuesday, Spirit Airlines Chief Executive Officer Ben Baldanza announced the Miramar-headquartered discount carrier has signed a deal with Airbus for 45 A320neo planes and 30 A320 aircraft. The "deal" is actually a memorandum of understanding -- short of a firm order. Airbus' CEO John Leahy said that deal is worth $7 billion at list prices, with the wingtip configurations that Spirit requested. He and Baldanza said they hope to firm up the deal by year's end. Airbus, incidentally, is a European planemaker.

Bill Keller, the St. Petersburg-based evangelist who reaches an audience of more than 2.4 million around the world each day through LivePrayer.com, has taken aim at President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts.

A gaming commission proposed as part of a bill that would allow three mega-casinos in South Florida may now seek to cover the Florida lottery. Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, said she is checking with legal counsel to determine if the Florida Gaming Commission -- being designed to close loopholes and regulate pari-mutuels, Internet cafes and other gaming-- can also oversee the Florida lottery.

Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll will attend a pair of town hall-style meetings at the Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville today with Holly Petraeus, the assistant director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and wife of CIA Director David Petraeus. The meetings, at 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., are part of Carrolls effort to see that military families receive strong financial education, the lieutenant governor's office stated in a release.

Pending any last-minute delays, which are not expected, Oba Chandlers 17-year stay on Floridas death row ends this afternoon. Chandler, 65, is scheduled to die by lethal injection today at 4 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Raiford. Gov. Rick Scott has already signed the death warrant and the Florida Supreme Court on Nov. 7 unanimously reaffirmed the death penalty for Chandler.

A new poll from Bloomberg News found that its a dead heat in Iowa with four Republican presidential candidates jammed at the top to lead in the first caucus.

Gov. Rick Scott issued a statement late on Monday with his thoughts on the U.S. Supreme Court announcing it would hear the constitutional challenge launched by 26 states and the NFIB against the federal health-care law backed by President Barack Obama.