Senators added additional demands Wednesday on the companies that win contracts to manage prisons in 18 Central and South Florida counties, as the outsourcing proposal had its second and final stop before an expected floor vote.

Members of the Senate Budget Committee, taking only a few public comments while addressing a packed room that included numerous correctional officers, voted 14-4 to support the bill that is projected to save the state at least $22 million to $45 million a year.

How sad is it that Florida, the state with the largest per-capita population over age 65, invests zero dollars in Alzheimer's research?

Teachers would grade not just students, but the students' parents, too, under a bill that cleared its first House committee Wednesday on a party-line vote.

The measure, which gained national attention when it was filed last year, would have teachers of students up through grade 5 evaluate each parent's involvement in their kids' education, and require districts to report on parental involvement to the state.

A compromise to give Gov. Rick Scott and future governors the power to name the majority of the states judicial nominating commission appointments sailed through its first committee on Wednesday.

In a 5-1 party-line vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee backed the bill, SB 1570, that would allow an incoming governor to name five of the nine members of the states judicial nominating commission upon taking office, rather than waiting for each individuals four-year term to expire.

You know politicians are serious when they move from campaigning to governing. Something like that may be happening on the Republican campaign trail -- but, unfortunately, not at the Obama White House.

The Florida Alliance for Main Street Fairness, which includes the Florida Retail Federation, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida, was quick to criticize a report that Amazon is seeking a two-year waiver from collecting sales taxes in exchange for opening a pair of distribution centers in the state.

This is a bad deal for Florida and lawmakers should reject it, Rick McAllister, president and CEO of the Florida Retail Federation, stated in a release from the Florida Alliance for Main Street Fairness.

A statewide referendum designed to pump life into the housing market by creating a super property-tax exemption for first-time home buyers and seasonal or second home owners will remain in its original form on the November 2012 ballot.

With little support indicated from members of the Budget Subcommittee on Finance and Tax, as well as continued opposition from the League of Cities and Association of Counties, Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, on Wednesday withdrew -- for now -- his attempt to bring more equity to the states property-tax system.

A personal injury protection bill patterned after Florida's workers' compensation program ran into a buzz saw of opposition at a jam-packed committee room Wednesday, but emerged relatively unscathed.

Soaring costs for mandatory motor vehicle PIP insurance are driving the demand for reform, said Rep. Jim Boyd, sponsor of House Bill 119.

"Florida has a billion-dollar [PIP] fraud industry," the Bradenton Republican said. "The number of drivers is flat and accidents are down, but claim values are up and PIP premiums are up 66 percent."

A poll of likely primary voters released by Quinnipiac University on Wednesday morning finds that former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has caught up withRepublican presidential primary rival former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in Florida.

"Florida is essentially a dead heat and a two-man race between Governor Mitt Romney and Speaker Newt Gingrich entering the last week of the campaign," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement on Wednesday.

In his third State of the Union address, President Obama laid out a list of tax and spending initiatives in an effort to prod Congress during an election year -- and congressional Republicans quickly fired back.

To enthusiastic cheers from jack-in-the-box Democrats rising from their seats, Obama renewed his call for higher taxes on upper-income Americans.