Nearly 17 years ago Dennis Hastert was sworn in as the speaker of the House with his right hand raised.

On Wednesday in Chicago, Hastert took an oath of a different kind, swearing in a federal courtroom to tell the truth as he pleaded guilty to a felony count of illegally structuring cash withdrawals to evade bank currency-reporting requirements -- actually, paying a victim to conceal sexual misconduct. 

Democrat Charlie Crist makes his bid for Florida's 13th Congressional District official and just like that -- same day as the announcement -- opportunity anew to make a pile of money.

For the REPUBLICANS.

Arne Duncan will surrender his U.S. secretary of education post in December, an Education Department official confirmed Friday. The news was first reported by the Associated Press.

The Patriotic Millionaires weighed in on Donald Trump's fiscal plans Tuesday, and this group of 200 wealthy Americans claims it has roundly rejected" the bulk of his proposed tax reform that would give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and corporations in America.

After he celebrated mass Wednesday at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., Pope Francis popped across the street to meet with the Little Sisters of the Poor — nuns who have been in a long battle over the contraception mandate part of Obamacare.

Not surprisingly, you didn't see it anywhere on TV and certainly, with the exception of The Washington Post, it was scantily covered in the mainstream press.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District awarded a $197 million construction contract Friday for a reservoir that will clean water bound for the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.

Political principles and job security make strange bedfellows. Over the weekend Debbie Wasserman Schultz had a revelation, announcing a change of position: She is now a fan of the president's nuclear deal with Iran.

Environmentalists who sanctioned a conservation amendment with broad-enough ballot language to win 60 percent of the Florida vote, now are asking the court to narrow the amendment's meaning for the purpose they actually intended.

At least, that's how lawmakers have cast it.

For the first time since Cynthia Busch, acting chair of the Broward Democratic Executive Committee, dismissed Michael Howson, the DEC's former executive director has spoken out.

The former employee suspected in a shooting that killed a cameraman and a TV anchor and injured the subject they were interviewing during a live television report in Moneta, Va. Wednesday morning worked for a Tallahassee TV station 15 years ago.