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

While a 4-H meeting is not exactly ground zero for political junkies, members of that organization could not escape politics when they rallied at the Capitol. As hundreds of teenagers in the 4-H assembled in Tallahassee to celebrate Earth Day and kicking off a second century of being in Florida, speakers from the Florida Forever Coalition spoke in favor of that program and said they hope the Legislature will continue to fund it. Leaders of the 4-H praised the Legislature for keeping money in the state budget to keep funding the organization and its efforts.

The Air Force's Boeing-made X-37B spaceship is poised to launch Thursday night aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The scheduled 7:52 p.m. liftoff, without an astronaut on board, will send the craft into orbit from Cape Canaveral. When it makes its return landing at Vendenberg Air Force Base in California is still to be determined, but officials say it will be within nine months, since X-37B is designed to remain in space for up to 270 days.

One more prominent conservative Republican has endorsed Marco Rubios Senate campaign. This morning former VP Dick Cheney announced he was backing Rubio over Gov. Charlie Crist. Cheney blasted Crist, saying Floridians cannot trust him to stand up to President Barack Obama, or even to remain a member of the Republican Party.

Sen. Joe Negron's unpopular attempt to have voters decide regularly whether to close or continue a Children's Services Council with independent taxing authority has been revised. It is moving toward a vote in the Senate as an amendment to another bill. The changed proposal was added to SB 2014, which was rolled over to third reading Wednesday afternoon.