According to News Service of Florida reports, official ties between the GOP and ousted Party Chairman Jim Greer are over.

Republican frontrunner Marco Rubio continues to gain endorsements in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat. On Friday, the Association of Builders and Contractors of Florida announced they were backing Rubio over Gov. Charlie Crist. ABC stands for free enterprise, Merit Shop, and balanced, reasonable regulation, said Gary Stout, who serves as chairman of the organization. Marco Rubio shares our philosophy, and we look forward to doing all we can to elect Marco Rubio as the next senator from Florida.

FROM FOX NEWS: The United States Air Force's novel robotic X-37B space plane is tucked inside the bulbous nose cone of an unmanned rocket and poised for an evening blastoff from Florida TONIGHT on a mission shrouded in secrecy. Read the rest of the story here: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/22/air-forces-mystery-robot-space...

Recession and foreclosure doom and gloom is doing little to dampen sales of existing Florida homes and condos, which continue to be priced a levels homebuyers are finding affordable. A federal tax credit that ends soon also has helped drive sales.

Watch the video of Charlie Crist evading a reporter's question after a bill signing Thursday.At a campaign stop in Jacksonville earlier this month, Crist said, "Who's running the asylum?" referring to legislators. The reporter tried to get Crist's mindset when he made the comment, but it appears Crist wasn't interested in giving an answer.

On the day when the Capitol celebrated its version of Puerto Rico Day, Gov. Charlie Crist met with two Democratic state representatives from Orlando and members of the Puerto Rican community on Thursday afternoon. Crist was in listening mode as Soto talked about foreclosure issues and Thompson talked about cultural tourism. Tourisms still the engine that drives Floridas economy, said Thompson.

Hard-working Florida teachers who want to earn more money can do so -- if they get out of education. That, according to a new Harvard University study, is the sad legacy of the state's restrictive teacher-compensation system -- a legacy that continues with the demise of the performance-pay programs promoted in Senate Bill 6. Researchers Matthew Chingos and Martin West examined Florida public school income records and "value-added" data between 2001-02 and 2006-07 for 90,000 classroom teachers and 20,000 teachers who left the classroom during that time.

While a 4-H meeting is not exactly ground zero for political junkies, members of that organization could not escape politics when they rallied at the Capitol. As hundreds of teenagers in the 4-H assembled in Tallahassee to celebrate Earth Day and kicking off a second century of being in Florida, speakers from the Florida Forever Coalition spoke in favor of that program and said they hope the Legislature will continue to fund it. Leaders of the 4-H praised the Legislature for keeping money in the state budget to keep funding the organization and its efforts.

As the Capitol celebrates its day to honor Puerto Rico, Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, has been on center stage, celebrating his heritage and the many links between the island and the Sunshine State. Puerto Rico has deep roots in the state, said Soto, pointing out that Ponce de Leon, the Spanish explorer who discovered Florida, was also the first governor of Puerto Rico.

The Air Force's Boeing-made X-37B spaceship is poised to launch Thursday night aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The scheduled 7:52 p.m. liftoff, without an astronaut on board, will send the craft into orbit from Cape Canaveral. When it makes its return landing at Vendenberg Air Force Base in California is still to be determined, but officials say it will be within nine months, since X-37B is designed to remain in space for up to 270 days.

Florida Republicans continued to push back against new federal health-care laws as the House voted to send a constitutional amendment to the electorate in November that would allow Floridians to opt out of mandatory health insurance. The House passed the measure 74-42 on a vote that closely mirrored party lines, with Democrats Leonard Bembry of Greenville, and Debbie Boyd of Newberry joining Republicans in backing it.

One more prominent conservative Republican has endorsed Marco Rubios Senate campaign. This morning former VP Dick Cheney announced he was backing Rubio over Gov. Charlie Crist. Cheney blasted Crist, saying Floridians cannot trust him to stand up to President Barack Obama, or even to remain a member of the Republican Party.

If Gov. Charlie Crist leaves the GOP and jumps into the U.S. Senate race as an Independent, he'll still be behind his primary opponent Marco Rubio. But, according to PulseOpinionResearch.com, the Rasmussen Reports poll, the governor has gained some ground, at least for the moment. The poll of Florida voters finds that 37 percent would vote for GOP frontrunner Marco Rubio, 30 percent for Crist and 22 percent for Democrat Kendrick Meek. Thats a lot closer than a month ago, when Rubio had a 17-point lead and Crist was in third place.

Sen. Joe Negron's unpopular attempt to have voters decide regularly whether to close or continue a Children's Services Council with independent taxing authority has been revised. It is moving toward a vote in the Senate as an amendment to another bill. The changed proposal was added to SB 2014, which was rolled over to third reading Wednesday afternoon.

Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, is sponsoring a measure on the House floor calling for a new convention to amend the U.S. Constitution to balance the budget. It's very unlikely to happen but, just in case it does, let's hope that Florida produces better representatives than it did the last time the state took part in a national constitutional convention.