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

Workshops at the South Florida Water Management District are typically rather dry affairs. But Tea Party groups say they will stir things up Wednesday. A coalition of local Tea Party organizations and the Republican Majority Committee PAC plan to descend on SFWMD headquarters in Palm Beach to protest the district's $536 million purchase of 73,000 acres of U.S. Sugar property. Downsized from the original deal, the revised plan contains an option for 107,000 more acres at a yet-to-be-determined price.

Behind in the polls and short on cash, Republican gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Bill McCollums campaign, trying to catch up with Rick Scott, trumpeted an endorsement from Quin Hillyer, an editorial writer with the conservative Washington Times.

Former Rep. Loranne Ausley, the Democratic nominee for CFO, sent out an e-mail on Tuesday, trying to round up some donors in the last days before the deadline on Friday for campaign financial reports. In it, Ausley wrote that her internal polling found her just behind Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, the Republican nominee.

George Steinbrenner, a "Yankee" who Floridians actually liked, passed away this morning at his Tampa home. Felled by a massive heart attack, the 80-year-old baseball owner, businessman and philanthropist left a large legacy. Like Henry Flagler, another Ohio-based captain of industry, Steinbrenner left Cleveland for Florida to pursue business opportunities in sunnier climes. Thirty-five years later, Steinbrenner had parlayed the family's shipbuilding business and helped build his adopted hometown of Tampa.