In a meeting with the Senate Republican Caucus Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott said he anticipates an announcement in the coming weeks of a corporate relocation to Florida. Neither Scott nor his spokesperson, Brian Burgess, had further details, but the news certainly can't hurt Scott's goal of creating 700,000 new jobs in seven years.

With Florida placing fifth in Education Weeks Quality Counts survey of the states, the Foundation for Floridas Future (FFF), founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush, cheered the news -- and called for new Gov. Rick Scott to keep pushing by embracing "bold reforms."

Tuesday was a busy day for Rod Smith, the new chair of the Florida Democratic Party. Besides addressing the House Democratic Caucus, Smith also announced part of his leadership team to help the party rebound in 2012. Smith named Alison Beke Morano, Mark Alan Siegel and U.S. Rep Frederica Wilson as vice chairs. He also kept Judy Mount as a vice chair, a position she has held since 2009. Other party leaders staying are Rhett Bullard who is the first vice chair, Rick Boylan who is party secretary and Alma Gonzalez who is the treasurer.

The efforts of Attorney General Pam Bondi to take on new federal health-care laws backed by President Barack Obama has received national attention -- including that of one potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate. The team at Revere America, an organization led by former New York Gov. George Pataki, praised Bondis recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on the new laws.

The Senate Judiciary Committee moved forward Senate President Mike Haridopolos' bill placing a constitutional amendment before voters to allow the state to opt out of the individual mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act, the federal health-care overhaul.

Newly elected Chairman Rod Smith of the Florida Democratic Party spoke to the House Democratic caucus on Tuesday to outline his vision of where the party is headed. Smith, a former state senator who ran for his partys gubernatorial nomination in 2006 and as defeated Democratic gubernatorial nominee Alex Sinks running mate in November, addressed the 39 House Democrats. While the Democrats got their clock cleaned on Election Day, losing every statewide race and losing four congressional incumbents and five House incumbents, Smith expressed optimism for the future.

Newly inaugurated Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio weighed inTuesday on the report issued by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling which was co-chaired by Bob Graham.

At a West Boca Chamber of Commerce breakfast Tuesday, Congressman Allen West, an Army veteran, was asked if he was packing heat. After all, the Senate's sergeant at arms has warned all members of Congress to stay watchful and take threats seriously. According to a CBS12 story, at first West replied, "No, I can't tell you that." Later he said, "No, I'm not" carrying a weapon.

On Tuesday, during a meeting of the Commerce and Tourism Committee, Florida senators lauded the prospect of creating as many as 48,000 jobs directly and indirectly related to the construction of the Tampa-Orlando phase of the state's high-speed rail project.

The Florida League of Cities and Florida Stormwater Association are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over new numeric nutrient criteria regulations for Floridas waters. The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, asks the federal court to force the EPA to abandon its "unprecedented action against the state."

Public Policy Polling, a firm with connections to national Democrats, released a new poll on Tuesday that showed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who moved to the Sunshine State last year, is the favorite to win the Iowa caucus if he decides to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos on Tuesday applauded Florida schools for rising in the national rankings. Parents, students and educators should be proud of Floridas No. 5 overall ranking, according to Education Weeks annual state grade. This achievement validates not only the hard work performed by students and teachers, but shows the education reforms adopted by the Legislature are working," the Merritt Island Republican said.

As both a former congressman who represented the Panhandle and in his current incarnation as cable news host, Joe Scarborough mulled over the mass shootings that occurred in Arizona on Saturday in a column at Politico. Scarborough focused on what he considered extreme rhetoric directed at politicians on both the left and the right.

Florida's Public Service Commission has approved Florida Power and Light's storm-hardening plan, which strengthens utility infrastructure before storms in an effort to reduce outages and restoration costs, through 2012. Florida has been recognized as a national leader in preparing for, and responding to, storm damage.When storms do occur, these efforts will expedite response times and minimize electrical outages to customers and help communities recover more quickly,"said PSC Chairman Art Graham.

Citing the lack of a clear bill before the Senate Agriculture Committee, the committee's chair, Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, cancelled a discussion Tuesday on how immigration affects the agriculture industry. "It's my position in talking to (Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island) that any bill dealing with immigration should come through our committee. That's why I wanted to make sure we didn't discuss it right now in the open and it has no germanity," Siplin said.