While the White House and Congress look for ways to raise the nation's debt ceiling, three-quarters of Floridians are at least "somewhat wary" of the move, a poll reported Wednesday.

Viewpoint Florida, surveying 826 likely voters, found that 76 percent opposed President Barack Obama's initial call for a "clean" debt-ceiling increase with no corresponding budget cuts.

In more bad news for the president, 57 percent disapproved of Obama's handling of the negotiations. Nearly one in four said they opposed any increase in the debt ceiling on any terms.

Citizens Property Insurance policyholders could be facing a dramatic rise in their sinkhole coverage. Its board voted 4-0 Wednesday to increase sinkhole premiums for homeowner policies by 430 percent statewide.

Board members cited the sharp rise in sinkhole claims and the company's subsequent losses as the need for the increase. In 2010, Citizens took in $32 million in sinkhole premiums, but paid out $245 million in claims.

A national poll unveiled Wednesday reveals that former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is leading the pack for the Republican presidential nomination -- but how large a lead and who his chief rival is depends on the candidates remaining on the sidelines.

The new Gallup poll shows Romney leading in all potential scenarios and he is enjoying a healthy lead when the survey just included announced candidates.

It is a simple fact in household economics that you cant spend more money than you make.

"Like a fire bell in the night," wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1820, "this momentous question ... awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union."

Controversial changes that have rocked Texas higher education system may be coming to Florida.

Gov. Rick Scott has begun discreetly promoting the same changes to the higher education system that Texas Gov. Rick Perry has championed. The proposals include some of the same reforms pushed by conservatives in K-12 schools: merit pay for professors, tenure reform, and generally a much greater emphasis on measurement of whether professors are turning out students that meet certain goals.

Doubts about "stable" revenue sources are dogging the SunRail commuter train before it even has a locomotive. Tax increases or further cuts in social services appear to be the only way Central Florida governments will be able to satisfy federal funding requirements.

Last week, in a sign of current and future hard times, Orange County commissioners voted to close a foster-care facility in the poor neighborhood of Pine Hills for budget reasons.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, looking increasingly likely to enter the field for the Republican presidential nomination, is playing the states' rights card. In an appearance in New York Friday, Perry said the Empire State has the right to allow same-sex marriages, while conservative states like Texas have the right to oppose them. This is not a new stance from Perry, who has also said that the matter of medicinal marijuana should also be left to the states ...