The South Florida Water Management District may be breaking state law in re-awarding land leases without competitive bids.

The SFWMD board last month extended leases on 4,701 acres in Glades County to the Old River Cattle Co.

According to district reports, the cattle company is paying SFWMD $55,381 in annual rent on the land -- or $11.78 per acre. The rental charge has increased 3 percent annually, based on the Consumer Price Index, the district said.

A Renaissance painting believed stolen by German Nazis during the occupation of France was seized by the federal government Friday from the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science.

The 473-year-old painting by the Italian artist Girolamo Romano, also known as Romanino, was removed from the Tallahassee cultural center with the cooperation of the museum and will remain in a secured location until the ownership can be lawfully determined.

In a case watched by developers, environmentalists and government agencies, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday sided with the St. Johns River Water Management District in a long-running dispute about the "taking" of property.

The dispute stemmed from a district decision in 1994 to deny a permit for a development project to Orange County landowner Coy Koontz.

District officials indicated they would grant the permit if Koontz agreed to conditions that included doing an environmental mitigation project several miles away from his land. Koontz refused and filed a lawsuit.

This weekend, hordes of political activists will gather in Daytona Beach for a tea party convention whose slogan is Victory 2012 Begins with You.

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama was a principled opponent of the Iraq War from its beginning. But when he became president in January 2009, he was handed a war that was won.

Amid revelations that the Obama administration considered bailing out the solar company Solyndra, a House subcommittee on Thursday voted to subpoena White House records related to the failed firm's financial and political connections.

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee, said the subpoena was necessary because the White House is "slow-walking" all requests for information.

"We want to get to the bottom of this," Stearns said of the bankrupt company that took $528 million in federal loans down with it.