This is another hoot. I got an email today from Nancy-Ann DeParle, White House deputy chief of staff for policy (she was cancelling lunch), to ask me what ideas I had about getting this country moving again. I quote: "When President Obama says that we can't wait to put Americans back to work, he's not just talking about the White House. He's talking about all of us. That 'we' is everyone."

Pamela Geller, a controversial anti-Islam activist, goes onstage at the Florida Tea Party Convention in Daytona Beach Saturday afternoon. Organizers said Geller is scheduled to speak at 3:15 at the Ocean Convention Center. Posting at her Atlasshrugs.com website, Geller said she also will screen the film, "The Ground Zero Mosque: The Second Wave of 9/11 Attacks."

Gov. Rick Scott has appointed Lisa D. Herndon of Ocala to the 5th Judicial Circuit Court. According to a release from the governor's office:

The state shouldnt have reopened the bidding process to convert 29 prison facilities from public to private hands, a circuit judge has ruled. Leon County Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford declared that the bidding process should have remained suspended, as it had been since Sept. 30 when she ruled against Floridas proposal to privatize the correctional facilities.

Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll left Friday for a nine-day trade mission to South Africa with Enterprise Florida. The mission, announced in August, was promoted as a meeting of two areas that serve as trade and commerce gateways between the Americas and Africa. South Africa, the 26th largest economy in the world, is one of the most stable markets in Africa and is Floridas No. 1 merchandise export destination in Africa, Enterprise Florida stated in a release announcing the trip.

Leon County Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford will rule later today on a request by the Florida Police Benevolent Association to halt the reopened bidding to privatize 29 correctional facilities in South Florida. The PBA asked for the emergency stay after the Department of Corrections late Thursday announced the bid process would continue. According to a release from the Department of Corrections, the bids are due next week but the agency won't sign a contract until the litigation is completed.

GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann on Friday blamed President Barack Obama for the $13 million in bonuses issued to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives. "Mr. President, it's time to stop paying off your friends at Fannie and Freddie and pull the plug on their bailouts and on their executives' bonuses," the Minnesota congresswoman said in a statement.

The Florida Police Benevolent Association has been given 45 minutes today to convince a circuit court judge to halt the reopened bidding to privatize 29 correctional facilities in South Florida. The PBA asked for the emergency stay after the Department of Corrections late Thursday announced the bid process would continue.

A Miami couple was charged with defrauding Florida's Medicaid program of nearly $500,000, the state attorney general's office announced Friday. Maratib Hashmi and Nasim Hashmi, both 61, of Miami, were arrested by the attorney generals Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West will be on the national stage in February when he will be a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington.

A national ABC/Washington Post poll released on Friday found that former Gov. Mitt Romney and businessman Herman Cain are locked in a tight struggle to lead the pack of hopefuls running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Florida TaxWatch estimates that the state's taxpayers would save $339 million annually if the Legislature enabled nurse practitioners to function at their "full scope" of practice. A TaxWatch policy brief released Thursday stated:

The nations overall unemployment showed little change, even as 80,000 jobs were added across the nation in the past month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Roughly 13.9 million continue to be listed as unemployed, dipping the unemployment rate from 9.1 percent in September to 9 percent. However, the bureau noted that the rate has been in a narrow 9 to 9.2 percent range since April. The national numbers do not break down unemployment by state.

Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami, who has filed legislation to permanently overturn the statesrequirement to drug test welfare recipients, expressed disappointment Friday that the state is appealing a federal judges ruling that temporarily blocked thetesting.

A proponent of Floridas ports, Gov. Rick Scotts fifth Lets Get to Work day will be at the Port of Miami on Friday. Scott, who has adopted the idea of spending a day in different occupations throughout Florida from former Gov. Bob Graham, will start the day at 7 a.m. with Seaboard Marine. He will later work aboard the Carnival Cruise Lines Imagination. In March, Scott directed $77 million from the Florida Department of Transportation to cover the shortfall for the Port of Miami dredging.