Business and policy leaders who helped stop Amendment 4 in November have launched what they call a permanent campaign for prosperity for Florida and have unveiled a website. Ryan Houck, the executive director of the new Free Market Florida organization, released a video in which he explains what the new group and website will attempt to do in the Sunshine State.

On Tuesday, Florida Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica announced that Russell Roberts, who served as the congressmans chief of staff for years, was stepping down.

Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday that he would be leading Republicans on the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps and Global Narcotics Affairs under the umbrella of the full Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Rubio said he understood the connections between South and Central American nations to the Sunshine State.

On Monday, more than 60 conservative and pro-life leaders, including Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum, Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center and John Stemberger of the Florida Family Policy Council sent a letter to Republicans in Congress who backed efforts to stop federal funding of Planned Parenthood.

Florida public-employee unions fighting budget cuts face a tough public-relations battle as word spreads that government workers in the state earn an average of $9,009 more than their private-sector counterparts. A USA Today analysis shows that the average salary and benefit package for government workers in Florida -- including teachers -- is $58,749. The private-sector average is $49,740.

Gray Swoope, who headed up the Mississippi Development Agency under Gov. Haley Barbour, was named on Monday to head Enterprise Florida. Enterprise Florida is a public-private partnership between the state government and business and looks to promote economic development across the Sunshine State. Barbour, whose name has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, offered strong words of praise for Swoope.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and may do so again in 2012, weighed in on the war on terror on Monday, insisting that it must continue -- and that the United States is increasingly becoming the frontline.

Medicaid will be on center stage on Capitol Hill on Wednesday when Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, the chairman of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee under the umbrella of the House Energy and Commerce Committee will examine how fraud impacts the program -- and how much it costs taxpayers.

The team at Florida TaxWatch chimed in late Monday to praise the selection of Gray Swoope to serve as the president of Enterprise Florida.

Gray Swoope, who headed up the Mississippi Development Agency under Gov. Haley Barbour, was named on Monday to head Enterprise Florida. Bringing new energy and expertise to Floridas economic development activities is an ideal task for which Gray Swoope is well-suited, Gov. Rick Scott said.I am excited to have him leading the job creation and economic development mission in Florida.

Frank Buckles, the last American veteran of World War I, passed away in West Virginia at the age of 110, closing the door on a chapter of American history. He was the last of the doughboys as American soldiers of the war were called.

The unending melodrama surrounding Florida's rejection of failed stimulus dollars begs the question: Why is the Obama administration so fixated on rail? The transportation blog in the National Journal addressed that query today and, echoing Gov. Rick Scott, suggested a better route: "Isn't it curious that an administration devoted to the principle of multi-modalism is so obsessively determined to promote a single mode of its own preference -- that of high-speed rail?" asks transportation writer Ken Orski.

Leftists boiling over President Barack Obama's supposed tack to the center have one more reason to be upset: genetically engineered alfalfa. The U.S. Department of Agriculture lifted all restrictions on the genetically engineered crop, effectively allowing anyone to plant GE alfalfa anywhere, without any restriction. NaturalNews.com calls the move a "surrender to Monsanto [that] signifies the beginning of a new era of widespread genetic pollution of North America's crops and ranch animals (which eat those crops)."

Major shakeup at the St. Joe Co. as the Fairholme Fund, which is the largest shareholder in the Northwest Florida real estate company, assumed more power in the company. Britt Greene is out as president and CEO and has left the board of directors. Three other directors -- Michael Ainslie, John Lord and Walter Revell -- have also stepped down.