Former state Rep. Tom Grady will be stepping down as the commissioner of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation to take over at Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed insurer of last resort.
Grady was unanimously chosen Monday by the Citizens board of governors to serve as interim president and, on Tuesday morning, Grady told his staff that he will assume his new position March 12.
The legislative session is now on track to be completed on time Friday.
The House agreed Monday to a Senate plan to create a 12th state university, while the Senate settled on the House proposal on how to draw $300 million from the other 11. The agreements were among the final pieces of the approximately $70 billion state spending plan.
A complete fiscal plan will be fully unveiled Tuesday morning, allowing the required 72-hour waiting period before a final vote can be taken in both chambers and sent to Gov. Rick Scott for final approval.
A bill to reduce the number of policies handled by the bloated Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will advance to a full Senate vote as early as Tuesday.
However, an amendment narrowly added to the bill on Monday, in a 21-18 vote that included a number of Republicans, could be enough of a disturbance to sweep away the effort to reform the state-run Citizens.
Nearly a year after being appointed state surgeon general, Frank Farmer announced Monday he will leave the top job at the Florida Department of Health because his wife is battling breast cancer.
In a letter to Gov. Rick Scott, Farmer said his wife, Peggy, was diagnosed before Christmas and described her illness as a "life-changing event." Farmer said they decided he would stay in the surgeon general's job until Friday's end of the legislative session.
Anyone who believes America's culture wars are behind her should have started out Friday reading The Washington Times.
With 76 delegates on the line, Georgia ranks as the largest prize at stake on Super Tuesday -- and it looks like favorite son Newt Gingrich is headed for a victory in the Peach State.
Gingrich has been leading in the polls of the state in recent weeks and two surveys unveiled on Monday show that the former House speaker is in store for a big win in the state he represented in Congress for two decades.
While Ohio received more focus from Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum than the other nine contests up for grabs on Super Tuesday, a poll released Monday finds that Tennessee -- and its 58 delegates -- appears to be a close contest.
A poll from We Ask America released on Monday finds a three-way battle to win the Volunteer State's primary on Tuesday.
