In his weekly radio address, Gov. Rick Scott laid out his reasoning for rejecting $2.4 billion in federal funds for a high-speed rail line that would have connected Tampa to Orlando.

He cites costs overruns and overly optimistic ridership studies in his decision, and says he wants to improve existing ports, highways and rails infrastructure, but does not say how much state money he is willing to spend on such improvements.

Here is the text of his address:

Michael Steighner, president of the Florida Association of Nurse Anesthetists, sent a letter to Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders Friday urging him to reconsider his position on eliminating the state's prescription drug database designed to help doctors track patients' prescriptions.

Gov. Rick Scott applauded the decision of Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, to reject $2.4 billion in federal funds for a high-speed rail project that would have connected Tampa to Orlando:

Members of the House Economic Affairs Committee lodged their complaints Friday with oil spill claims head Kenneth Feinberg.

Feinberg acknowledged problems with transparency and responsiveness within the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, but stated that the system was working. He disputed claims that he is deliberately delaying or denying claims in an attempt to pay out the least amount of claims as possible, pointing to a report from BP, the oil company that caused last year's spill in the Gulf of Mexico, alleging he has been too generous in paying claims.

Talking to the media after speaking to the Florida Rural Economic Development in St. Augustine on Friday, Gov. Rick Scott shrugged off reports that he had his eye on running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. While he did not completely close the door, Scott said his focus was putting Florida on the road to economic recovery.

I just got elected, said Scott. My goal is to get the state back to work.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi expressed her disappointment with BP oil spill claims czar Kenneth Feinberg when she met with him Friday, and pushed him for greater transparency in the claims process.

Bondi said she received a pledge from Feinberg to add more local claims adjusters in the next 10 days, and said he would consider allowing an independent auditor to review the claims process. Bondi said Feinberg had failed to add more adjusters after promising them during a meeting she attended before being sworn in as attorney general.

Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns weighed in on Thursday from his perch on the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology to oppose the FCCs plans to regulate the Internet.

One of the few bright spots in our economy is in the technology sector, said Stearns. Yet, for some reason, the FCC has decided to overstep its bounds and apply 19th-century regulations to a 21st-century network. Only in Washington can a regulatory agency issue rules to solve a problem that does not exist.

Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, announced on Thursday that he was introducing a measure to prohibit taxpayer dollars being used for professional athletics unless approved by a majority of the residents within the jurisdictional boundaries of such government entity. The House version was being introduced by Rep. Fred Costello, R-Ormond Beach.

The House Finance and Tax Committee forwarded a bill on unemployment compensation on Thursday, sending it to the Economic Affairs Committee.

Floridas current unemployment compensation system is broken, insisted Rep. Steve Precourt, R-Orlando, the chairman of the Finance and Tax Committee.
The system was never designed for the severity of the current economic downturn and this has caused an unsustainable rise in payments to unemployed workers through large, automatic increases in the employer-paid taxes that fund the benefits.