After 10 Glorious Years, Sunshine State News and I Are Passing the Baton

If you know anything about the White House Correspondents Associaton Dinner, then you know that the networks vie to claim the nation's brightest stars as their own -- and bring those stars with them to the Saturday, April 30 dinner.

Representatives from Florida's immigrant community, traveling to the capital from throughout the Sunshine State, will conduct a continous three-day vigil, beginning at 4 p.m. Monday and running through Wednesday until 4 p.m. They will ask members of the state Senate to stop Arizona-like immigration bills -- particularly before the Budget Committee votes Wednesday, April 13, on SB 2040. By mid-afternoon Monday the location of the vigil near the Capitol was still to be determined.

On Monday, Gov. Rick Scott announced that BP was sending a $30 million grant to the Northwest Florida Tourism Council (NWFTC) to help promote tourism in that region which was hard hit by the Gulf oil spill last year.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, who is running in the 2012 Republican primary to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, announced on Monday that he was sponsoring a measure in the Legislature calling for a federal constitutional convention to place an amendment requiring the federal government to balance the budget. These are critical times for our country, said Haridopolois. The federal government is $14 trillion in debt and leaders in Congress needed the threat of a government shutdown before making a modest reduction in the countrys deficit.