North Central Floridas new Republican congressional nominee is a self-styled conservative Christian Republican with a libertarian slant who plans to take a hatchet to thousands of pages of federal regulations, beginning with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

After more than a year-and-a-half downward march, with schools out and many farm workers off for the summer, Floridas unemployment mark took an upward turn in July.

The state Department of Economic Opportunity announced an 8.8 percent, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July, with approximately 816,000 out of work from the work force of 9.27 million.

The rate is 0.2 percent above where Florida stood in June, but still 1.8 percentage points lower than where the state was in July 2011.

Jon Costello, who has been with Gov. Rick Scott since his 2010 campaign and has served as legislative affairs director since the inauguration, has submitted his resignation.

The governors office announced that Costello, 31, will still be serving Florida by taking a position on the board of directors for the Northwest Florida Water Management District.

Scott called Costello a loyal member of my team and will be missed.

Jon has been a trusted adviser and an invaluable member of my team going back to my days campaigning to become governor, Scott stated in a release.

U.S. newspapers this fall will devote countless column inches and network TV will set aside endless hours to revisiting the most perilous month in the history of the republic, if not of the world.

Buoyed by relatively strong economies, especially in Latin America, overseas tourists flocked to Florida in recent months, with the number of foreign visitors jumping by 10 percent for the quarter ending June 30.

The year-to-year increase in overseas visitors came atop steady domestic travel numbers, a combination Florida's top tourism official said has put the state on track for a banner year.

The Florida Association of Counties isnt trying to twist arms, but it needs members along the Gulf Coast to decide rather quickly on the formation of a consortium to handle the federal cash for Deepwater Horizon oil disaster-related restoration projects.

While members seemed to support the idea, details of any unified effort remain unknown, including whether the eight most heavily impacted counties -- those that have pushed federal officials the hardest for the RESTORE Act -- should be separated out from the other 15.

Florida has reached an agreement -- in principle -- with the federal government so efforts can be restarted to clear noncitizens from the county lists of registered voters.

The Division of Elections announced Thursday that an agreement has been reached with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that will grant the state access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program (SAVE) database.

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, now the partys nominee for U.S. Senate, has been given a headliner role at the Republican National Convention later this month in Tampa.

Mack joins a growing list of Floridians who will be on the national stage the last week of August, as he was one of six additional headliners announced for the event to formally name Mitt Romney the partys presidential candidate.

"I am proud to be able to represent Florida and be a part of officially nominating Mitt Romney as the next president of the United States, Mack said.