Children are being ignored in the 2012 presidential debates, according to a national report released late last week.

The Iowa-based Child and Family Policy Center found that the candidates and media discussed children's issues less than 2 percent of the time over 20 debates just 17 debate questions of more than 1,000.

"They're not talking about children," said Roy Miller, head of the Florida Childrens Campaign, of the candidates. "And that includes their own children. I mean, we gave them credit if they even mentioned they had kids of their own."

Resolving two long-running debates, Gov. Rick Scott has signed bills that will give more vaccination powers to pharmacists and increase oversight of the sales or leases of public hospitals.

The pharmacy and hospital bills were two of several health-related measures that Scott signed heading into the holiday weekend. Others included a bill that would allow the use of what is known as a "medical loss ratio" for managed-care plans in the Medicaid program.

Another in a series of profiles of candidates in Florida's 6th Congressional District.

Campaigning for the GOP nomination in Florida's 6th Congressional District, Ron DeSantis wants to take conservatism to a new level.

"Don't make government work like a business ... it's inherently inefficient. You need to be intent on reducing size, scope and influence of government," he says.

While that's not exactly a line one would expect from a Yale and Harvard Law graduate, the 33-year-old DeSantis isn't a conventional congressional candidate either.

Gov. Scott, I can think of half a dozen reasons why you should hear out Sen. Paula Dockery over the University of South Florida Polytechnic decision. But the one that should motivate you on a personal level? Gratitude.

Characterized over the past several years as a place from which people move, Southeast Florida has seen a new mini-boom in population growth following a decade of contraction, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.

Between 2010 and 2011, 92,045 residents moved to the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach area, a 1.7 percent increase. The region boasted the sixth largest increase in the country, according to data compiled by the Census Bureau in the first major revision to the 2010 Census.

The night of his victories in Maryland, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia, Mitt Romney laid out the ground upon which he will stand to fight his fall battle with Barack Obama.

Individual items in the $70 billion budget that can be shown to provide a good return on taxpayers money have an improved chance of avoiding Gov. Rick Scotts veto pen.

With projects ranging from $235 million for work on the Interstate-4/ Selmon Expressway, to $31 million for the Port of Miami tunnel to $98 million for public school work force education performance-based incentives in Glades County, Scott hasnt tipped his hand on individual line items.

Claims that Florida is one of the "five worst states for voter suppression" are not borne out by rising registration statistics, a Sunshine State News analysis shows.

The liberal Center for American Progress charged that Florida election laws are subverting voter-registration efforts. A new law, requiring third-party registration groups to submit completed forms within 48 hours or face fines, prompted the League of Women Voters to halt its sign-up work in the state and to challenge the law in court.