On Tuesday, Tallahassee Mayor John Marks and Mayor Vladimir Evlanov of Krasnodar, the Russian town that is Tallahassees sister city, wrote to outgoing Republican U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, urging him to vote for the START Treaty currently before Congress.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee came out swinging at the controversial new TSA search procedures and the use of full-body scanners to inspect airline passengers -- and took aim at President Barack Obama for backing them.

Gov. Charlie Crist gave Floridians one last notice about Tuesdays deadline to submit damage claims that resulted from the Gulf oil spill.

With the deadline to submit a claim for Emergency Advance Payments approaching tomorrow, I encourage all individuals and business owners to quickly finalize and submit their applications, said Crist. These emergency payments can help Floridians economically hurt by this summers oil spill, as well as boost our statewide economy.

On Monday, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson called for money saved from a ban on congressional earmarks to go to restoring the homebuyers' tax credit.

With his eyes on the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania announced that he will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting in Washington in February. CPAC is the largest annual meeting of conservative political activists.

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton has said that he is considering launching a bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, but he generally remained on the sidelines during the 2010 election cycle. Unlike many of his potential rivals for the GOP nod, Bolton has not gone across the country backing Republican candidates through a leadership PAC.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki is raising the stakes in his battle against new federal health-care laws backed by President Barack Obama.

Pataki, who is considering launching a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, led efforts through his Revere America PAC to garner 1 million signatures on a petition calling for the repeal of the new laws.

Having obtained his goal, Pataki is now raising the bar -- and Revere America is now looking to get 10 million signatures on the petition.

Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, expressed his thanks to Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, on Monday for naming him to lead the Agriculture Committee.

Im honored and privileged to have been appointed to serve my constituents and the state of Florida in this capacity, said Siplin.It shows that our newly elected Senate President Mike Haridopolos is willing to work across the aisle when its in the best interests of the people.

First elected to the Senate in 2002, Siplin represents parts of Orange and Osceola counties.

CQ Press released a report that ranks the most dangerous cities in America. The report uses data from the FBI's "Crime in the United States 2009." Most sites haveincluded only the top 25, but the list expands to 400 with a few cities N/A (not available). The top 25 most dangerous cities in America are below, followed by the top five most dangeries cities in Florida.

1. St. Louis, Mo.
2. Camden, N.J.
3. Detroit, Mich.
4. Flint, Mich.
5. Oakland, Calif.
6. Richmond, Calif.
7. Cleveland, Ohio.
8. Compton, Calif.
9. Gary, Ind.

Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney offered his thoughts on the current controversy over the new search techniques being employed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on airline passengers.

Passengers are angry, and they should be, said Rooney on Friday. Full-body pat-downs and explicit photo screenings have gone too far, and the security benefits of implementing these procedures on random passengers are dubious at best.