The U.S. Department of Labor just opened the way for Florida and other states to grab as much as $1 million in federal funds each over three years, but the state has not decided whether it will compete for the funds.

States that overhaul the way they track their workforce statistics could receive a piece of $12 million being offered as part of the Workforce Data Quality Initiative, announced by the department Monday. The initiative attempts to get states to keep better track of the data and tie it to educational statistics.

A field of four Republicans and one Democrat are looking to challenge Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor in Floridas 11th Congressional District. Stretching around most of Tampa Bay, including most of Tampa and parts of St. Petersburg and Bradenton, the district remains one of the more reliable Democratic districts in the state. Nevertheless, some Republicans are optimistic they will do better there come November.

Among the mega-forces moving the tectonic plates and imperiling the nation-states of the world from above and below are these:

First, ethno-nationalism, which threatens nations with secession and break-up. We see it in the Uighurs of China, the Naga of India, the Baluch of Iran and Pakistan, the Kurds of Iran, Syria, Iraq and Turkey, the Chechens of the Russian Caucasus and the Walloons of Belgium.

Prospects for a special legislative session beginning Monday faded into the sunset Wednesday when Gov. Charlie Crist said he would not call for one next week.

Crist told the Miami Herald Editorial Board he still wants lawmakers to consider placing a constitutional ban on drilling on the Nov. 2 ballot, but also wants them to pass public corruption legislation.

In slapping down life sentences for teenage offenders in non-homicide cases, the U.S. Supreme Court ended life terms for 77 Florida inmates.

Saying Monday's ruling "will have a significant impact on our state's juvenile justice and corrections systems," Attorney General Bill McCollum said his office, along with the state Department of Juvenile Justice and Department of Corrections, has a lot of work to do.

Former House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader Dan Websters disappointing start for his congressional campaign is getting national attention from Politico.

British Petroleum agreed Monday to give Florida another $25 million to pay for an advertising campaign promising that the states beaches remain open and fishing is going strong even as the company struggles to stanch a massive oil spill off Louisianas Gulf coast.

The cash comes on top of $25 million the company has already pledged to help offset the states costs in preparing coastal regions for a possible landfall of the oil, which continues to mass roughly 350 miles from the St. Petersburg shoreline.

Florida is hoping BP will cut it a check large enough to deal with the consequences of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico every day for close to a month. But it hasnt been exactly generous with its own funds used to keep Florida lands and waters free of oil.

Run for election and you're a lot more courageous than you know.

Ask Denis Neuhut. The former candidate for Bay Harbor Islands Town Council is about to find out whether he'll recover any of the money he used to fight the charge he violated the states campaign laws. And, by the way, it's a charge that was dismissed for "no probable cause" last year -- and all the accusations with it.