More than 200 Florida tea party groups will soon decide if they are eligible and willing to join either of at least two nationwide class-action lawsuits alleging harassment, intimidation, and discrimination by the Obama administration's IRS.
Education Commissioner Tony Bennett is mulling a reorganization of the state Department of Education, but the project has been slowed by laws that spell out the responsibilities of some positions at the agency.
It's not clear how wide-ranging Bennett's plans for the department are, in part because the commissioner admitted to being surprised by the legal hurdles to overhauling the agency. But Bennett wants the State Board of Education to sign off on the plan at its September meeting, clearing the way for the changes to begin by October or November.
Count me as irritable on the subject, but President Obama's imperious habit of suggesting that American diplomats work for him is offensive to democratic sensibilities.
For 27 years now, Florida TaxWatch has been announcing its annual Turkey List. As a lobbyist who has specialized in putting Member Projects, as we like to call them, into the state budget, this is a time-honored process.
Gov. Rick Scott has his bags packed, ready to jet to Chile Tuesday on what will be his eighth trade mission since taking office in 2011.
The trip will be his second to South America. The last time a Florida governor visited Chile was in 2007.
Rep. Holly Merrill Raschein, R-Key Largo, has drawn a major Democratic opponent as she seeks to defend one of the more competitive seats in the Florida House of Representatives.
Congressman Bill Young, who was first elected to the Florida Senate in 1960 and won a seat in Congress in 1970, shows no signs of going away as reports came out early this week that he intends to run for a 23rd term in 2014.
Young is assembling his war chest earlier this election cycle than has been his normal procedure. He brought in more than $58,000, including more than $43,000 from PACs, in the first quarter of 2013 and had more than $208,500 at the end of March.
Gov. Rick Scott spread the pain.
As Scott signed a $74.1 billion state budget Monday, he used his line-item veto power to eliminate proposals that ranged from spending $14 million on a building project at Gulf Coast State College in the Panhandle to earmarking $20,000 for the Hialeah Junior Fire Academy in South Florida.
"My filter was this,'' Scott said. "One, is it going to help our families get more jobs? Two, will it help improve our education system in our state? And three, will it make government more efficient so we can keep the cost of living low in our state?"
