The states pension fund dropped $2 billion in terms of available funds, but experts say the numbers could have been worse without changes made by the governor and Legislature earlier this year.

The Florida Retirement System pension plan is 87.1 percent funded, down from 87.9 percent a year ago, according to Seattle-based firm Milliman.

This means the plan has a shortfall of $18.7 billion to pay all current and expected future benefits to participants and their beneficiaries. A year ago, the shortfall was $16.7 billion.

WASHINGTON -- "If two people always agree," says Ben Bernanke, "one of them is redundant."

Can a solar-power company make a go of it in Florida without burning up Solyndra-style?

National Solar Power CEO James Scrivener, in an exclusive interview with Sunshine State News, said, "Two years ago, people were laughing at our business model. Now they're looking to invest. We see this as a revolution in the marketplace."

Long before Solyndra Corp's financial collapse -- and the "green" energy company's attendant default on a $535 million federal loan guarantee -- renewable-energy ventures have struggled Florida.

After clashing in a debate in Orlando on Thursday night, the two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012 -- Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts -- continued to pound away at each other this week with new attack ads.

"Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes.