Two more presidential hopefuls announced Monday they will show up in Orlando next month for the Republican Party of Florida’s Sunshine Summit. 

Sunshine State News (SSN), in collaboration with Ed Dean, the No. 1 radio talk show host in Florida, announces the launch of Florida Minute, an informative and compelling series of radio news breaks covering the latest in state news and politics. 

The state is inching closer to a bear hunt, but ursine mammals aren't the only things being targeted in Florida government and politics.

In Leon County, a judge is hunting for the right map of the state's congressional districts to send to the Florida Supreme Court. And Gov. Rick Scott is aiming at what he calls "price-gouging" by some of the state's hospitals --- raising the prospect of another health-care showdown in the legislative session that begins in January.

Businessman Donald Trump signaled this week that he intends to take his Republican presidential campaign to Florida, home state of two of his main rivals: former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. Trump is leading the national polls and surveys of key states, including Florida. 

Santa Rosa County Commissioner Jayer Williamson, the scion of a family with deep roots in local politics, announced on Thursday that he will not run for a second term and will make a second bid for the Florida House. 

Maybe the Republican Party of Florida didn't need to toughen the rules on how 2016 GOP presidential candidates can qualify for the state's primary ballot after all.

A week after the party eased a plan that would have required candidates to submit their qualifying papers at the party's "Sunshine Summit" event in November, several candidates have already confirmed they'll stop by the fall shindig.

The petition to get medical marijuana back on the ballot for 2016 is quickly gaining momentum in Florida, with the People United for Medical Marijuana (United for Care) collecting over 220,000 valid signatures as of Thursday.

Jeff Atwater passed on running for the U.S. Senate in 2012 and did so again earlier this year but now his name is resurfacing as a possible candidate. 

Chief Financial Officer Atwater has a long background in both the private and the public sectors, serving as president and CEO for Barnett Bank in key areas before leading Riverside National Bank in parts of South Florida.

Looks like less tricks and less treats this October across the nation--but maybe not in the Sunshine State. The Florida Retail Federation (FRF) offered a forecast on Thursday showing less Halloween spending across the nation with the average American spending less this year. Rick McAllister, the president and CEO of the FRF, said on Thursday he expected Florida to buck that trend. 

Adrian Wyllie has resigned his post as chairman of the Libertarian Party of Florida (LPF), leaving in something of a huff. He opposes the only Libertarian candidate currently running for the U.S. Senate in the Sunshine State in 2016.