On the heels of Gov. Rick Scott's announcement of Stephen MacNamara as his new chief of staff, shifting over from Senate President Mike Haridopolos' office, Haridopolos has named Craig Meyer, the current Senate budget director, as MacNamara's replacement.

Meyer has served in the post before under former Senate President Bob Crawford, and has served in state government for more than 25 years, as chief of staff in the comptroller's office, deputy commissioner in the Department of Agriculture and in the House of Representatives.

Gov. Rick Scott named Stephen MacNamara as his new chief of staff Friday. MacNamara moves over from chief of staff for Senate President Mike Haridopolos, replacing Mike Prendergast who slid over to head up the Department of Veterans' Affairs earlier this week.

Florida and 37 other states have reached a $40.75 million settlement with two pharmaceutical companies over deceptive and unfair trade practices.

Attorney General Pam Bondi's office said Thursday that Florida's share in the agreement with GlaxoSmithKline and SB Pharmco Puerto Rico is $2.92 million.

The U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences has awarded Shouping Hu, a higher education professor at FSU's College of Education, a $780,000, three-year grant to study Florida's Bright Futures scholarship program.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta,filed a bill Wednesday to limit funds for U.S. actions in Libya as part of the NATO mission there to prevent civilian casualties and aid rebels as they attempt to overthrow dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Members of the Cabinet easily gave their unanimous approval Wednesday afternoon to Gov. Rick Scott's nomination of Col. Mike Prendergast as Florida's new executive director of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Well, somebody likes them.

A Rasmussen poll released Wednesday showed 8 percent of likely voters approved of the job Congress is doing. More than half of respondents (52 percent) gave Congress a rating of "poor."

Nearly 40 percent think most members of Congress are corrupt, and more than four in five voters (81 percent) think Congress members are more interested in their own careers than they are about helping people.

The poll surveyed 1,000 likely voters between Monday and Tuesday, with a sampling error of +/- 3 percent.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who is running again for the Republican presidential nomination, signed the Cut, Cap and Balance pledge which opposes raising the federal debt limit. The pledge is backed by a number of prominent conservative organizations, including FreedomWorks, Club for Growth and the Family Research Council.

Gov. Rick Scott signed into law Wednesday a bill reducing property taxes by $210.5 million in four out of Florida's five water management districts.

Property owners in the Northwest Florida Water Management District won't see any tax relief, but they won't get a tax increase either. Property owners in the other four districts will see an average of 30 percent decrease in their water management district property taxes, but that's still far short of the 19 percent overall property tax reduction that Scott campaigned on.

Tim Padgett over at Time has a piece on how freshman U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a darling of the tea party when he was the Republican candidate in 2010, may find himself on the outs with that group down the road over international affairs.