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

Former U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., went after President Barack Obama and the Democrats on Tuesday. West painted the Democrats as a party of defeatists in an email sent out on Tuesday night. I call it as I see it, West insisted. Obama is the weakest American president since Jimmy Carter or maybe even in our entire history. He's just plain scared to fight for America.

Florida TaxWatch released a report on Wednesday which insists that paying assistant state attorneys and assistant public defenders more would actually save taxpayers. The report shows that the current pay leads to high turnover and costs more than $15 million each year. Currently new lawyers starting in those positions make around $41,700, about $20,000 below the national average for states with as much crime as Florida.

Tim Chastain, who told Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers he had to detour his kayak eco-tours of the Indian River Lagoon to avoid bloated manatee carcasses and dead pelicans, has filed a lawsuit in federal court against state permitting of hundreds of thousands of private septic systems.

The Florida Senate passed a tax cut of nearly $400 million on Tuesday. The tax cut will roll back motorist fee increases approved by the Legislature in 2009. It passed the Senate with a unanimous vote of 40-0. Gov. Rick Scott has pushed for the $395 million in tax cuts as a top priority as part of his $600 million tax cut pitch for Florida families. Should the Florida House concur with the Senate, average motorist fees would be reduced by about $25 per vehicle.