No wonder Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Rich looked so radiant entering The Moon in Tallahassee Monday night. Charlie Crist's Democratness -- if he ever had such a thing -- is imploding like a cream puff with bad egg custard.

Tim Chastain, who told Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers he had to detour his kayak eco-tours of the Indian River Lagoon to avoid bloated manatee carcasses and dead pelicans, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against state permitting of hundreds of thousands of private septic systems.

Former Florida Gov. Reubin Askew, the states 37th governor, is in very grave condition at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, where he was admitted Saturday.

According to Ron Sachs, a former aide to Askew, over the past three months the governor has suffered from aspiration pneumonia, hip surgery and, most recently, a stroke.

Rep. Gayle Harrells House Memorial 607 urging the United States Congress to enact, before adjournment, the Water Resources Development Act authorizing the next phase of Everglades restoration as part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, will be heard at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the House Local and Federal Affairs Committee.

The Washington, D.C., City Council -- living as it does in the belly of the same federal-government beast that keeps a stranglehold on cannabis criminalization -- voted Tuesday to significantly ease marijuana laws in the district.

There will be no resort casino included in the gambling bill proposed by the Florida House.

The 411-page proposal, HB 1383, released late Monday by the House Select Committee on Gaming, includes almost everything but.

Rob Schenck, chairman of the committee, released a statement:

Good for the National Organization for Women (NOW), which obviously pays no attention to who's in or out at Emily's List.

NOW has asked Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Rich to give the keynote address at its annual Susan B. Anthony luncheon. The luncheon, set for 12:30 p.m. Saturday, honors Lori Berman, Democratic deputy whip in the Florida House. Berman represents District 90 with an office in Boynton Beach.

Needless to say, I've read a lot of stories about Charlie Crist. Even Charlie Crist's story about Charlie Crist. But never have I seen a piece as well-crafted, as close to the bone, as entertaining and precise in tone and substance as Ben Terris' "Survival of a salesman: Former Fla. governor Charlie Crist tries to get back where he was" in Wednesday's Washington Post.

Prominent Florida governmental affairs and consulting firm Ballard Partners announced Tuesday the formation of a strategic partnership with Ioppolo Law Group, an elite, boutique business law and consulting firm based in Lake Mary.

It's a strategic arrangement made to offer clients top legal, legislative and government affairs services in Central Florida, Ballard said in a written statement.

Pro-casinos group Best for Florida today responded to those opposed to "a badly needed overhaul of Floridas patchwork gaming policy" reforms that would boost Floridas economy and stop the gaming creep free-for-all that has plagued the state.