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

The Senate just adjourned, ending the special session that Gov. Charlie Crist called to forward a proposed amendment banning oil drilling in state waters to the voters in November. Backers of the measure in the Senate said they were ready to forward that measure to the voters -- only to have the House adjourn. We are ready, willing and able to go, said Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, who sponsored the measure in the Senate.Villalobos said that he had the votes to get the measure through the Senate. The House is not here. I cant prevail because they left.

Marco Rubios team is not the only conservative Republican campaign weighing in on Gov. Charlie Crists interview with the Wall Street Journal in which the governor said he is now open to backing new federal health-care laws endorsed by President Barack Obama. Republican gubernatorial front-runner Rick Scott blasted Crist for his comments -- and took a swipe at Attorney General Bill McCollum who is also running in the Republican primary.

While Florida lawmakers buzz around the Capitol, called back in the middle of the summer for Charlie Crist's overkill special session, the rest of the country is virtually split down the middle over whether offshore drilling -- even deepwater drilling -- should be allowed.

While legal and political wrangling continues over the U.S. Sugar land deal, the U.S. government is moving forward with an $89 million purchase of development rights to restore the Everglades. The acquisition of conservation easements on a portion of state Sen. J.D. Alexander's Blue Head Ranch in Highlands County is part of an overall 26,000-acre purchase by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency said the deal, which allows participating landowners to continue working their land, will help restore the upper reaches of the Everglades ecosystem.