An inexorable push to expand casino gaming is gaining momentum in Florida.

Seeking to lure high-rolling "whales" to Las Vegas-style destination-resort casinos in Miami and Broward County, promoters are betting that the 2012 Legislature will go along for the ride.

Amid the state's search for jobs, gamblers are getting a more friendly reception from lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott.

Scott has said he would support casinos as long aslocal voters approve.

"I think we need to make sure the local communities are supportive of it," he said. "We ought to have a vote.''

Former Gov. Claude Kirk, the colorful businessman who was Floridas first Republican governor since Reconstruction, died Wednesday at his home in West Palm Beach. He was 85.

Born in California in 1926, Kirk served in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II and the Korean War. After attending the University of Alabama School of Law, Kirk founded the American Heritage Life Insurance Co. in Jacksonville.

Contending that not enough money was spent on patient care, the state Agency for Health Care Administration is trying to recoup $4 million from a firm that manages Medicaid mental-health services.

Tampa-based Florida Health Partners Inc. challenged the agency in cases filed last week in the state Division of Administrative Hearings.

The dispute centers on whether Florida Health Partners in 2006 met a requirement that it spend 80 percent of the money it received -- known as a "medical-loss ratio" -- on caring for Medicaid patients.