The move to deregulate basic land line phone services got off to a smooth start Monday, with legislation clearing its first Senate committee hurdle.

Senate Bill 1524, sponsored by Sen. David Simmons, R-Maitland, along with an identical bill in the House, would strip the Public Service Commission of its authority to set prices and regulate companies that offer traditional land line phone services.

Florida Commissioner of Education Eric Smith, who has held that position since 2007, announced Monday that he will step down from his post in June.

Tampa scored big with fans of the NCAA Tournament and country singer Kenny Chesney over the past weekend.

Hosting more than 15,000 spectators for Thursday and Saturday basketball games at the St. Pete Times Forum, fans spent an estimated $10 million to $15 million at local hotels, restaurants, stores and attractions.

Hotels all over town were booked solid as college hoops fans flocked in from Kentucky and West Virginia. UCLA's small contingent was dwarfed by followers of the University of Florida, as Gator Nation reigned.

Florida Bar President Mayanne Downs appears ready to contest at least some of House Speaker Dean Cannon's judicial reform agenda.

In an e-mail obtained by Sunshine State News, Downs informs Florida's 90,000 Bar members:

"These are challenging times. I cannot promise that the results of this session will be everything we want, or that final legislation will be noncontroversial. I can promise, though, that your Bar leadership team is fully and completely engaged, and is passionately fighting for the very best outcomes we can obtain."

"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."
-- Mark Twain

Did the great American author and humorist have a premonition? Did he meet W.C. Gentry in some futuristic dream?

You have to wonder how Mark Twain would categorize Gentry, the Duval County School Board chairman who last week told district parents and taxpayers that the school system can't afford to educate their kids.

It is $97 million over budget.

Even though public sentiment, state laws and court opinions make labor organizing an uphill struggle in Florida, the number of unionized health-care workers in Florida has risen by a third over the past year.

National Nurses United enrolled 5,000 Florida nurses in that time, 3,000 of them in the past four months, said spokeswoman Liz Jacobs. She added, We expect to keep growing.