Completely virtual 7th period classes. Teacher furloughs. Layoffs of hundreds of school employees. Four-day school weeks. Fewer school buses.

Those are just a few of the options school districts across the state are mulling to close budget gaps that range from $6 million to $144 million. The budget holes are blamed in part on falling property tax revenue, the disappearance of federal stimulus dollars and proposed reductions in state funding for schools of nearly 7 percent per student.

Remember the famed U.S. Senate session debates that occurred over the 2009 Christmas holiday? They brought us Obamacare. These were the marathon sessions needed in the Senate in order to slug through the GOP filibuster on the presidents health care bill.

In Tallahassee, you cant throw out a line without hooking a flack. The water is black with 'em.

The state lists them in all kinds of ways as press secretaries, public information specialists, communications directors/coordinators/assistants, you name it. Titles boggle the mind. But the truth is, flacks feeding at the public trough actually outnumber legislators. They did before the new governor was sworn in, they do now.

Florida continues to pile grief on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the standards it set for the Sunshine State to comply with the federal Clean Water Act.

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, wrote a stinging, three-page, all-business letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, challenging her to prove -- paper trail included -- that the federal numeric nutrient rulemaking is necessary to keep Floridas lakes and flowing waters clean.