Now that the special session in Tallahassee is over, Rick Scott will be taking a bow. On Monday, Scott will be criss-crossing Florida with seven stops on his “Tax Cut Victory Tour.”

A deceptively deadly force is slithering its way through the Florida Everglades. Sinuous and stealthy, this invasive species is one of the greatest threats to the ecosystem. And it’s not a python.

Old World climbing fern, Lygodium microphyllum, is arguably the worst of many invasive species in the Everglades.

“It grows quickly, spreads easily, and is changing the entire ecosystem,” says Kristina Serbesoff-King, the associate director of conservation for the Conservancy’s Florida chapter.

Finally, some might say mercifully, the special legislative session is done.

An outside chance remains that lawmakers might have to return to Tallahassee to address redistricting --- a challenge to congressional districts is pending in the Florida Supreme Court --- and there is a more-remote possibility that health care could bring people back to the Capitol.

But for now, lawmakers have completed their constitutional duty of passing an annual spending plan.

Don't mistake that for everybody being happy, though.

With a $78.7 billion state budget approved -- and approved unanimously in both chambers -- two white handkerchiefs fell to the fourth floor of the Capitol Rotunda Friday evening, ending the marathon 2015 Legislature, including a three-week-long special session. It now rests with Gov. Rick Scott.

The Florida Senate, on the special session's last day, improved the lot of people with unique abilities when it passed SB 2500-A, an appropriations bill that increases funding for adults and children with disabilities by more than $230 million over base funding.
 

With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to rule next week on King v. Burwell, two Florida Republicans promoted alternatives to President Barack Obama’s federal health-care law this week. 

King v. Burwell is a challenge to Obama’s law, specifically focused on whether health insurance tax credits can be run at both the federal and state levels. The plaintiffs insist only state exchanges can promote the tax credits. 

From his perch as chairman of the U.S. Senate Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard Subcommittee, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, brought out a bill focused on improving the Coast Guard on Thursday. Rubio was joined in his efforts by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

The long-delayed end of the 2015 legislative process drew into view Thursday, as lawmakers prepared to pass a budget for the year that begins July 1 and leave Tallahassee after a nearly three-week special session.

In the House, members sparred over the spending plan ahead of a final vote Friday. While a 72-hour "cooling off" period prevented them from actually approving the budget until Friday evening, the chamber went ahead and finished off debate over the $78.7 billion plan.

Former Florida Gov. and newly-announced GOP primary candidate Jeb Bush shouldn’t expect cheers, sunshine and roses when he comes to Tampa Friday for the Hillsborough County Republican Party’s dinner.