According to a release from the Republican Party of Florida, Sen. Bill Nelson is "suddenly lashing out at President Obama" after historically supporting him. Nelson voted for the stimulus, health-care bill, and many other policies in line with President Obama's agenda.

Via Politico, Nelson told colleagues that "Obama's unpopularity has become a serious liability" for Democrats in his state, and blamed the president for creating a toxic political environment.

Sen. Nelson declined a response when the RPOF called asking for his statements.

On Friday, Rick Scott released the names of those appointed to his Inaugural Committee:

In a release sent Nov. 19 from CFO Alex Sink, she said that on Wednesday she asked state employees to sign up to receive their W-2 forms electronically. She said it will "save Florida taxpayers $75,000 anually if all state employees participated."

In addition, the employees would get earlier access to the form.

Sink said she's always looking for ways to "save money and improve efficiency for the state," and then she reaffirmed that using the electronic version of the employees' W-2 forms is a way to be more cost-effective.

With the deadline coming up for veterans and current members of the armed services -- whose time in the military was involuntary extended between September 11, 2001 and September 30, 2009 -- to file for additional benefits, Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis is encouraging them to contact the U.S. Department of Defense. Vets and service members may be eligible for up to $500 for each month of their military extension.

Floridas nurse practitioners are gearing up to push for increased authority in the Sunshine State -- arguing that the state can save $1 billion if this happens.

Stan Whittaker of the Florida Council of Advanced Practice Nurses PAC (CAP-PAC) weighed in on the matter, pointing to a report from the Institute of Medicine that found that giving Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNPs) more authority lowers costs.

Florida's jobless rate for October remained unchanged from the previous month, with 11.9 percent of the work force unemployed, according to a report from the Agency for Workforce Innovation released Friday.

Even though the unemployment rate didn't budge, AWI Director Cynthia Lorenzo saw cause for optimism in the report.

"In addition to showing improved over-the-year job creation, Florida posted the largest decrease in the country last week in the number of people who filed for first-time unemployment benefits," Lorenzo said.

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania shows no signs of slowing down as he gears up for a run at the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

The conservative Santorum will be heading to the Old Dominion on Saturday night where he will be keynoting an event for the Republican Party of Virginia. Perhaps more telling of Santorums presidential ambitions, he is heading to New Hampshire, home of the first presidential primary, after Thanksgiving. This marks the second time Santorum visited the Granite State since the elections and the seventh time this year.

Even as Attorney General Bill McCollum and incoming Attorney General Pam Bondi asked 13 other states to join the constitutional challenge to new federal health-care laws backed by President Barack Obama, 32 Republicans in the U.S. Senate filed a brief in support of the lawsuit.

If this law is held constitutional, there will be no limit on what activities Congress can require its citizens to do, said outgoing U.S. Sen. George LeMieux. It is that serious.

On Thursday, Gov. Charlie Crist announced that the high school graduation rate increased for the fifth year in a row in Florida -- rising more than 2.5 percent from the 2008-09 school year to 79 percent for the 2009-10 school year.

Floridas improved graduation rate clearly shows that our reform efforts are making a difference in our schools, and most importantly for our students, insisted Crist. I applaud our students, parents, teachers and school leaders for their hard work and significant improvement.

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's decision to allow the South Florida Water Management District to use certificates of participation to purchase land from U.S. Sugar Corp., but the high court overturned part of the ruling that would have allowed the district to also finance land in the option with bonds.