Following on the heels of their credit rating downgrade for the U.S. government late Friday, Standard and Poor's on Monday downgraded government-backed mortgage financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from AAA to AA+, CNN reports.

Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, who is now running in the Republican primary to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, unveiled a major endorsement on Monday from Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi. "George is a solid conservative who served the people of Florida well in the U.S. Senate. I am happy to lend my support to his campaign, said Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) who some Republicans were hoping would enter the 2012 presidential race.

About 20 percent of Congress is heading to Israel this summer, courtesy of the annual America-Israel Public Affairs Committee program. The 81-member delegation -- 55 Republicans and 26 Democrats -- is a bit bigger than usual because of the large freshman class elected in 2010, said an AIPAC spokesman, who declined to be identified. The spokesman also would not divulge which, if any, Florida congressmen were traveling. "We do not provide that information, as a courtesy to the members," he said.

With all the economic problems last week -- from a wild ride on Wall Street to national unemployment remaining at more than 9 percent -- Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack called for U.S. Treasurer Timothy Geithner to resign.

On Monday morning, former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner fired the latest shot in the battle for the Republican nomination to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012. Hasner and his team took aim at former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, who is also in the primary, for backing the Task Force For Responsible Fiscal Action which, they argue, is much like the joint committee that was set up after the recent debt-ceiling deal to make recommendations on how to cut spending.

Multimillionaire former Congressman Tim Mahoney was arrested and charged with DUI early Saturday morning. He spent the rest of the night in the Palm Beach County Jail. According to a story Sunday in Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, a police officer found Mahoney, 53, asleep behind the wheel of his car at about 2:45 a.m. Saturday. Under the law, a DUI charge can be filed even if a car isnt moving as long as the driver has actual physical control over the vehicle.

The remnants of former Tropical Storm Emily moved as a tropical depression into the open Atlantic and away from Florida on Sunday, after dumping rains on the Bahamas. The storm now is headed toward Bermuda. The remaining clouds and thunderstorms carried top sustained winds of 35 mph with little change in strength expected over the next 24 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Emily's rains set off flooding that killed four people and forced thousands to evacuate their homes in the Dominican Republic and Haiti over the last few days.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses has launched Small Businesses for Sensible Regulations, a group dedicated to cutting federal red tape. One of the featured firms is Port Orange-based Thompson Pump & Manufacturing Co., whose president, Bill Thompson, discusses how regulations have impacted his business. See video here. NFIB said its multiyear campaign aims to give voice to small businesses, which create two-thirds of new U.S. jobs each year.

Tropical Storm Emily, weakened after passing over mountains in the Dominican Republic on Thursday, has an 80 percent chance of re-forming and strengthening within the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The remnants of the storm could be forming a tropical depression as it approaches Grand Bahama Island and the Abacos, the Miami-based center said in an advisory posted on its website at 2 p.m. New York time. A U.S. Air Force Reserve plane was sent to determine whether a depression has formed.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio filed paperwork this week with the Federal Election Commission to create Reclaim America PAC. By so doing, he joins other Senate tea-party favs who have created similar political action committees. The idea is to influence races and elect like-minded conservatives in 2012.

In spite of admitting it had made a $2 trillion error in calculations, Standard & Poor Friday night downgraded U.S. debt to AA+ from AAA. The following is the S&P press release: We have lowered our long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to AA+ from AAA and affirmed the A-1+ short-term rating. We have also removed both the short- and long-term ratings from CreditWatch negative.

On a day when most market analysts expected cautious trading and more bad news, they got something a whole lot better on Friday. U.S. blue-chip stocks closed higher, thanks to a better-than-expected jobs report, with news of progress in the euro-zone debt crisis.

Gov. Rick Scott, along with Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad, announced a broad new vision Friday for Florida's infrastructure and transportation.

NASA launched the unmanned Juno spacecraft on an Atlas V rocket today, and it is now making its way to the planet Jupiter, where it is expected to arrive in July 2016. The original launch time was 11:34 a.m. EDT, but it was delayed an hour because of a surge in unexpected electrical activity. But after clearing up the issue, as well as a boat that strayed too close to the launch pad, the rocket was launched.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., weighed in on Friday about the national unemployment rate dipping slightly from 9.2. percent in June to 9.1. percent in July. "Although the debt has been the dominant issue in Washington, the biggest issue in the rest of America is the lack of jobs, and today's report further highlights this sad reality. Unfortunately, this report only tells part of the story, as nearly one in every five Americans are either unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work altogether, said Rubio.