Judge Jackie Fulford did more than dig a potential $2 billion hole in the Florida budget. She gave back to a redefined union movement in this state the two things it lacked most -- muscle and heart.
Shortly after the curtain came down on the 2012 regular legislative session, lawmakers were already considering the contours of the redistricting session that will begin Wednesday.
And they already have some ideas about the scope of the changes to the Senate plan, the only one struck down by the Florida Supreme Court, and the role of the House in recasting the lines to the court's liking. Both will be limited.
As the clock wound down on the 60-day session late Friday, legislators were able to get an auto insurance reform package to the governor, created a new state university and steered the state universities to attract more science, technology, engineering and math students.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam on Friday morning cheered the House's passage of the energy bill he has been pushing throughout the 2012 session. With the House passing the measure 116-2, it is now on its way to Gov. Rick Scott. Two Republicans voted against the measure, Eric Eisnaugle of Orlando and Marlene O'Toole of The Villages.
Call it what you want -- a circus, a sideshow, or just plain old political rhetoric -- but for the past week America has watched the media elite and some in Washington bend over backward to turn attention away from an issue that is fundamental to the future of this country: Obamacares attack on individual liberty.
Related: "Public Pensions Can Sink the Ship"
One of the most dramatic Florida stories playing out through much of the 2012 legislative session was last years signature reform of the state employee retirement system.
WASHINGTON -- Two policies of the Obama administration illustrate an axiom: As government expands, its lawfulness contracts.
Assailed by Muslim groups and quashed by Senate President Mike Haridopolos, an "anti-Sharia" law bill died in the Florida Legislature on Friday.
Senate Bill 1360 would have restricted state courts from considering foreign laws in most cases. Authored by Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, the bill was identical to HB 1209, whicheasily passed the House 92-24.
But Hays' bill became ensnared in a late-breaking political controversy when proponents distributed fliers and a pamphlet decrying the alleged intrusion of Islamic law into America's courts.
Immigration and invasive pests topped a lengthy list of concerns of Florida farm leaders on Friday.
Meeting in West Palm Beach with U.S. Reps. Allen West, R-Plantation, and Jack Kingston, R-Ga., agricultural representatives called for a guest-worker program to ensure timely and cost-effective crop harvesting.
"We have to close the border first. National security is the No. 1 issue and we need to return sanity to Washington, D.C.," said Rick Roth, owner of Roth Farms.
