Gov. Rick Scott has issued an executive order re-establishing the Office of Open Government in an effort to recover costs stemming from public records requests. Those seeking public records will be required to pay for materials and the labor of researching documents and reviewing them for any information exempt from the public record laws. Here are some of the new rules and charges for public records requests:

The Florida Chamber of Commerce has unveiled a new radio ad, comparing events in Florida to the struggle over state union employee benefits in Wisconsin.

State officials, led by Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi, have reached an agreement with federal Claims Czar Kenneth Feinberg on reforming the claims process resulting from the oil spill that plagued the Sunshine State last year. Floridas tourism, fishing and seafood industries are still feeling the impacts of last summers disaster almost a year later, said Scott. Mr. Feinberg agrees that its time to get to work and implement a streamlined, fair and effective way of paying these claims for Floridians.

A bill that would ramp up Florida's ethics rules and penalties for lawmakers has been filed by Sen. Mike Fasano. Senate Bill 1484 would increase the cap on civil law penalties from $10,000 to $100,000 and allow the Ethics Commission to investigate ethics violations on its own instead of waiting to hear complaints. Also, it calls on the governor and Cabinet officials to put their assets into a blind trust in order to eliminate conflicts of interest.

Every single member of the Florida delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to President Barack Obama stating their opposition to a proposed policy from the IRS which would send interest money from foreign individuals in American banks to their home countries.

Republican opposition to Gov. Rick Scott's decision to reject federal money for high-speed rail money, and the obligations tied to it, is weakening. On Feb 17, a dozen GOP senators signed a letter supporting the federal funding, and sent it to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, cited that letter as support for his lawsuit against the governor's decision. But more than one senator is having second thoughts about the issue.

Previewing what could be another dreary jobs report on Friday, Gallup said U.S. unemployment hit 10.3 percent in February -- up from 9.8 percent at the end of January and essentially unchanged from the 10.4 percent in February 2010. The "official" monthly Labor Department figures, which are seasonally adjusted, are due to come out Friday. The administration reported that January jobless rate had declined, even as the number of new jobs continued to bump along at lower-than-replacement rates.

Robert Poole Jr., one of Gov. Rick Scott's transition team transportation advisers, has an article out on the Weekly Standard's website that urges Republicans to invest in a 21st century interstate system as an alternative to President Barack Obama's high-speed rail plans.

On Thursday, former Gov. Charles Buddy Roemer of Louisiana launched an exploratory committee for running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

The U.S. House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, chaired by Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, held a hearing on Wednesday on Medicaid and Medicare fraud and heard ideas from Craig Smith, who served in the state Agency for Health Care Administration, on how to curb it -- and cut down the fraud which costs taxpayers anywhere between $60 billion and $90 billion, according to estimates.

A group of clinic owners, doctors and staged-accident "recruiters" was arrested Wednesday in Miami by a state task force cracking down on auto insurance fraud. "Operation Dark Horizon" netted 17 arrests, with eight more individuals being sought by investigators. Authorities said the scam involved a Personal Injury Protection (PIP) racket, where auto accidents were staged to bilk insurers through phony claims.

While organized labor and the media continue to fixate on Wisconsin, the Ohio House voted Wednesday to curb collective-bargaining by public-sector workers. With Senate approval and Gov. John Kasich's signature assured, 400,000 government workers in the Buckeye State will lose the privilege of bargaining for health benefits and pensions.

Fiscal hawks, led by tea party favorite U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, attempted on Wednesday to forward a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to pass a balanced budget. While the measure failed, as expected, Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said he was proud to back it.

Various outlets are reporting President Barack Obama has signed the House bill that will keep the federal government funded for two more weeks, temporarily avoiding a shutdown. The bill, approved by the Senate earlier Wednesday by a 91-9 vote, cuts $4 billion from the two-week budget and puts the Republican-led House in a strong position to get more of the cuts they're looking for as they seek to rein in spending.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi met with leaders of the ACLU and NAACP who are looking to restore the right to vote to convicted felons. Based on the release sent out by Bondis office, the two sides continued to agree to disagree on the issue.