One hundred and twenty-three South Florida Water Management District employees who worried their jobs were on the chopping block did what probably was the smart thing: They accepted the district's contract buyout before the ax fell. This is their last day of work -- Thursday, June 30.

If this had happened to my mother, I would have gone so ballistic, they would have me in leg-irons.

This from CNN:

"The Transportation Security Administration stood by its security officers Sunday after a Florida woman complained that her cancer-stricken, 95-year-old mother was patted down and forced to remove her adult diaper while going through security.

"Reports of the incident took hold in social media, with scores of comments on the topic and reposts appearing hourly on Twitter Sunday afternoon.

Republican Party of Florida Chairman David Bitner released the following statement on Jon Huntsmans announcement that he will participate in the Presidency 5 straw poll and debate this September in Orlando:

The Florida Association of Counties announced at its annual conference Wednesday afternoon that Sen. Paula Dockery is recipient of the organization's 2011 Legislator of the Year Award.

Senator Dockery has been there for our local communities for the past several years, said FAC President Ilene Lieberman, She has been committed to ensuring that it is local communities her constituents, not Tallahassee -- who are empowered to make decisions that are best for their communities.

Oh, people, leave her alone.

Sarah Palin isn't abandoning you, she's back in Alaska for all the right reasons.

Internet chatter is all atweet with rumors that political celeb Palin has canceled her bus tour of historic American sites because she's 1) given up thought of any run for president in 2012; 2) is too tired or sick to continue; 3) misses the Land of the Midnight Sun; or 4) is engaging in some kind of secret rendezvous.

Duty calls, drama queens. Nothing more than that. Palin has been called home for jury duty.

It's time to stop quoting Rick Scott's approval rating at 29 percent and it's probably time to stop calling him "the most unpopular governor in the United States." That's all old news.

A Viewpoint Florida poll conducted last week found that 45 percent of likely 2012 general election voters in Florida approve of Scotts recent job performance, while 51 percent of voters disapprove.

Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman said last week that, while China's economy is wide open, its oppressive political system lags far behind -- and that signals trouble for the monster emerging nation down the road.

President Barack Obama's re-election camp keeps talking about the need to corral Hispanic votes in 2012. So, how come the president is going to skip the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Conference for the third year running? The conference begins Thursday in San Antonio.

He even promised the group, as a candidate in 2008, that he would come roaring back to speak at their meeting.

Transparency in state government has little hope if the attorney general isn't on board.

Florida is fortunate. Pam Bondi, the Sunshine State's attorney general, most definitely is. She was anxious last week to talk about her respect for the First Amendment and Florida's open government laws. And her conversation with me about them (video below) is central to my "Heroes and Zeroes" column in Monday's Sunshine State News. Stay tuned in the morning.

While most economists look for signs the United State is climbing out of bad times, Yale University Professor Robert Shiller claims chances are "substantial" that the country is heading right back into another recession.

Economist and author Shiller points to a weak U.S. housing market and a murky global economy, and he claims the country is at a "tipping point," at the edge of "a fresh economic contraction."