Gov. Rick Scott told mayors and community business leaders Thursday that the perception of Florida as being pro-business has improved "dramatically" in the past 12 months.

We have a lot of things going, Enterprise Florida is swamped right now. I know it isnt happening fast enough, Scott said during a luncheon at the Governors Club in Tallahassee.

Scott focused on his pro-jobs, reduced-regulations agenda as he headlined the "Mayors Mean Business" initiative sponsored by the Florida League of Mayors.

By phasing out a program that authorizes local law-enforcement agencies to assist federal immigration authorities, President Barack Obama is "surrendering the battlefield," says state Rep. Will Snyder.

Snyder, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and is running for sheriff in Martin County, called the administration's decision to defund the collaborative program "extremely unfortunate and very disappointing."

President Obama talked to students and other Floridians at the University of Miami on Thursday to reiterate a major item from his State of the Union address last month --what he calls an all-of-the-above approach to energy.

With the Michigan Republican presidential primary looming on Tuesday, the race between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney continues to get nasty in the Great Lakes State -- and the Democrat incumbent has even jumped in the fray.

A national poll released by Quinnipiac University on Thursday finds that Americans are feeling better about the economy, but that shift in thinking is doing little to improve President Barack Obamas chances for a second term in November.

Rather than just limit the amount doctors can charge their workers' comp patients for dispensing repackaged drugs in their offices, the Senate Health Regulation Committee's tennis match of amendments ended Wednesday in a bill that basically would do the following:

In what one member described as an "unprecedented" settlement, the state Public Service Commission approved a plan Wednesday that will resolve big-money questions about Progress Energy Florida's base electric rates and two controversial nuclear projects.

Progress customers will see their monthly electric bills go up in 2013, though they also will receive $288 million in refunds related to a repair project at a Crystal River nuclear plant.

We knew this was coming. In fact, in the first year of the Obama administration, I focused on this very issue. Now it has risen to the level of potential reality.