Senate leadership is reviewing requests by Democrats to delve into the growing political spud that sprouted from the closing of A.G. Holley in Lantana, the states only tuberculosis hospital.

Senate Minority Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston, who is campaigning to challenge Gov. Rick Scott in 2014, on Thursday called for the Senate to look into the closing and the release of information regarding a separate tuberculosis outbreak in the Jacksonville area.

San Bernardino, Calif., has now followed Stockton into bankruptcy.

If Jennifer Carroll felt flustered by a former aide's accusation of office sexcapades, you couldn't tell by the polished performance she gave Thursday morning on CNN.

In a move aimed at getting doctors to treat more low-income patients, the federal health overhaul likely will lead to increased Medicaid payments to Florida primary-care physicians.

The federal Affordable Care Act, which was largely upheld last month by the U.S. Supreme Court, requires higher Medicaid payments to primary-care physicians in 2013 and 2014. Florida Republican lawmakers had not started moving forward with the higher payments because of their broader opposition to the Act, which they deride as "Obamacare."

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich hit the First Coast on Thursday to promote the candidacy of Mitt Romney, the man who beat him for the Republican presidential nomination.

Gingrich spoke to volunteers at the Republican headquarters in Jacksonville, encouraging them to continue to push for the former governor of Massachusetts and U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, the favorite to emerge in the August primary to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

Florida voters should get a good idea of which candidates have well-tuned advisers this week.

The first bulk mailing of absentee or vote-by-mail ballots for the Aug. 14 primary and local nonpartisan elections is being sent out by Floridas 67 county supervisors of elections for the first contest since the state Legislature redrew U.S. House and legislative boundary lines.

The money is flowing into the First Coast where Rep. Ronald Doc Renuart, R-Ponte Vedra, faces two challengers in the Republican primary as he seeks a third term in the Florida House.

First elected in 2008, Renuart, a physician who has risen to become vice chairman of the Health and Human Services Quality Subcommittee, currently represents parts of Duval and St. Johns counties, but he is currently running in House District 17 which contains much of the same area but stretches to the south.

Members of South Florida's congressional delegation were quick to criticize President Obama for claiming that Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez poses no "serious" national security threat.

Obama, being interviewed Monday with Miami-based America Teve, downplayed the global impact of Venezuelas dictator.

Oh, yes, I have seen Republican presidential campaigns ... far too many. Make no mistake, in my judgment, Mitt Romney has everything it takes to be a great president.