With the Florida House Business and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee scheduled to vote on Friday on a bill to expand casino gambling in the Sunshine State, supporters and opponents of the measure scrambled on Thursday, making their last arguments and mobilizing their backers before the vote on Friday morning.

Brewster Bevis, vice president of external relations for the Associated Industries of Florida, pointed to figures set up in the state Capitol that represent residents of the Sunshine State who would be in better financial shape if destination casinos came to the state.

Remember when former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty about-faced on a promise not to throw elbows during the 2012 GOP Presidential Primary campaign?

With the pending expansion of the Panama Canal on the horizon, and an eye on a free Cuba, Port Manatee is bristling with opportunities as executives have created a special economic development zone on neighboring land that is hoped to double and even triple capacity in the coming decades.

Similar to enterprise zones that offer incentives to businesses, the port has crafted a 5,000-acre encouragement zone that has so far drawn interest from at least seven companies that would serve as port-related distribution centers.

President Obama is right to draw attention to the soaring cost of a college education in America. However, his proposed solution will not only fail to fix the problem but is also likely to compound it by blunting the competition that is needed to shake up the world of higher education.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney wants the White House to reconsider changing the role of combat troops in Afghanistan after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta declared the U.S. focus would shift to a noncombat role by next year.

I respectfully urge our commander in chief to reconsider this premature announcement and base any changes in our Afghanistan strategy on the situation on the ground, stated Rooney, R-Tequesta, a member of the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, in a release on Thursday.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce is backing American Airlines in its bankruptcy restructuring, with an emphasis on protecting the companys more than 9,000 employees in South Florida, while criticizing federal regulations that interfere with recovery efforts.

Every job that American Airlines saves and keeps in Florida will help with Floridas economic development and further our states growing international trade activity, Mark Wilson, Chamber president and CEO, stated in a release.

Pitting the chamber against the wishes of Gov. Rick Scott, the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved a spending plan that calls for an 8 percent tuition increase, continuing an effort to shift more of the cost in higher education to students instead of taxpayers.

President Obama should be worried. Florida, key to his hopes for re-election, is turning against him. The president will soon realize that breaking his promises has serious consequences.

Mitt Romney's impressive victory Tuesday makes it very likely that we will look back on the Florida primary as the contest that determined the 2012 Republican nomination.

With Mitt Romney now the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is attacking President Barack Obama for looking to undermine the role of religion in the public square.

Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism in 2009 after growing up Lutheran and joining the Southern Baptist faith at the start of his academic career, slammed Obama in his remarks after finishing second in the Florida primary.