U.S Rep. Kendrick Meek, the leading Democratic candidate in the race for U.S. Senate, gave President Barack Obama strong praise for launching a six-month moratorium on offshore drilling.

"From the beginning, offshore drilling has posed significant threats to our environment and economy, said Meek, who blasted supporters of offshore exploration. The 'Drill, Baby, Drill' faction remains alive and well, and now Florida is paying the price for their desire to score short-term political points."

This afternoon, President Barack Obama is expected to announce in a speech at the White House a moratorium on new offshore energy exploration efforts. This ban will have an impact across the country, from Alaska to Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico. The White House is saying that president is open to lifting the ban after 6 months but needs to further study the issue.

Some good news on the endorsement front for Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, who is engaged in a tough race to replace retiring Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach.

On behalf of the Broward County Firefighters, we are pleased to announce our support for Carl Domino to represent us in the State Senate, said Broward County Council of Professional Firefighters John McNamara. Praising the candidate for his long service in the navy, McNamara said Domino has helped firefighters through his advocacy of the Emergency Dispatchers Bill back in 2008.

Rep. Bill Heller, D-St. Petersburg, dodged one Republican challenger only to pick up another.

At the end of the first quarter of 2010, Heller has raised almost $50,000 for his bid for a third term. He appeared to be facing a serious challenge from Connie Deneault, a Republican businessman who hauled in more than $51,000 in the month of March.

For all those young adults searching for summer jobs, babysitting is always a viable option. Thankfully, the Capital Area Chapter of the American Red Cross is offering summer dates for its Babysitting Training courses as well as a new 3-day Summer Babysitting Training camp.

The traditional training courses are scheduled for June 7, 9, and 28 at the Chapter's headquarters. The new program, the 3-day camp, is offered June 21-23 and July 12-14.

Florida parents won't need to pay sales tax on notebooks, pencils and other school supplies for three days this August.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law today a bill re-instating the School Sales Tax Holiday, a priority of the Florida Retail Federation, one of the state's largest business advocacy groups. The tax holiday, which will lasts Aug. 13-15, exempts from the state sales tax purchases of school supplies costing less than $10 and books, clothing and shoes costing less than $50.

Kiplingers has released the 10 top cities for the next decade and Floridas cities are conspicuously absent from that list. The likes of Jacksonville, Dunedin, Ave Maria and DeLand lost out to Des Moines, IA and Rochester, MN.

Rochester has a Mayo Clinic, cheers Kiplingers. Big deal, so does Jacksonville and we also have beaches, the Jaguars (for now) and better golf courses.

The state just got a little smaller for convicted sexual offenders released from jail.

Gov. Charlie Crist just signed into law a measure that punishes convicted sex offenders for loitering within 300 feet of where children gather or for steppping foot in a pre-school or school without prior notification or permission. The law also prohibits offenders from soliciting sex from a child in a public park or communicating to them about it there.

Predators arrested for any of those activities now face as much as a year in jail.

Waiting in the mail today was a postcard inviting me to an event hosted by Scott Fortune, an attorney who is challenging U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown in the Democratic primary, at the Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art.

Jeff Greenes Senate campaign launched two new television ads today.These ads continue to introduce Jeff to voters and build off the tremendous momentum our campaign is generating on the ground as Jeff meets voters across the state, said Greene campaign spokesman Paul Blank.