U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., stepped up to the plate last week to sponsor a proposal backed by Florida Congressman Connie Mack that they maintain will reduce the size and scope of the federal government and balance the budget by 2019.

Brushing off criticism from taxpayer and tea party groups, Gov. Rick Scott gave the go-ahead to the controversial SunRail commuter train on Friday.

Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad stood in for the governor in making the announcement in Tallahassee.

Scott is scheduled to hold a press conference in St. Petersburg at 1 p.m.

The crowded field of candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination expanded Friday when U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter of Michigan filed paperwork indicating that he is entering the contest.

First elected to Congress in 2002, McCotter joins two other House Republicans -- Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Ron Paul of Texas -- in seeking to defy history and become the first sitting member of that body to be elected president since James Garfield won the 1880 presidential election.

All of a sudden 177,000 Bright Futures scholarship families are getting hip to what Sen. Evelyn Lynn and the rest of the lugheads in the Legislature did to one of the most successful Republican initiatives in Florida history.

The four Republican candidates for U.S. Senate generally agree on most issues facing the nation, with a couple of minor exceptions, and spent most of a debate on Thursday directing most jabs not at each other but at Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, President Barack Obama and former Gov. Charlie Crist.

"The opponents (of same-sex marriage) have no case other than ignorance and misconception and prejudice."