Two veteran members of Congress reached out across party lines to pass an amendment to help commercial and Navy ships navigate the St. Johns River.

TEWKSBURY, Mass. -- Russ Caswell, 68, is bewildered: "What country are we in?" He and his wife Pat are ensnared in a Kafkaesque nightmare unfolding in Orwellian language.

A bipartisan effort to stave off President Obamas plan to boost health-care premiums for certain active and retired military personnel has been introduced by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.

The Senate bill came as a separate effort to roll back the fee increases to the military's health care system, Tricare, as approved by the House on Friday as part of the $643 billion National Defense Authorization Act.

The vote was 299 to 120, with 16 Republicans joining the opposition and 77 Democrats voting in favor.

On Friday, former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon announced that he is going to enter the Republican primary to challenge Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

Weldon unveiled a video on Friday in which he announced his plans to enter the Senate contest with less than three months to go until the primary in August. He faces major opposition in the form of former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, U.S. Rep. Connie Mack and retired Army officer and businessman Mike McCalister who took more than 10 percent of the Republican gubernatorial primary back in 2010.

Florida labor leaders are touting the work of the states regional workforce boards as unemployment fell to its lowest mark since January 2009.

Floridas unemployment stood at 8.7 percent, down from 9 percent a month earlier, according to figures released Friday from the state Department of Economic Opportunity.

With the 2013 legislative session still nearly 10 months away, a renewed fight is building about a proposal to limit how much doctors can charge for dispensing drugs to workers'-compensation insurance patients.

As an indication, a subcommittee of the state Government Efficiency Task Force recommended Thursday that the proposal be approved to help reduce workers'-compensation insurance costs.

Among the more controversial chapters in "Suicide of a Superpower," my book published last fall, was the one titled, "The End of White America."