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

A bill that would allow public-private partnerships to seek oil or natural gas on state lands may be limited to the western Panhandle. The House Committee on Appropriations gave its backing Wednesday to HB 695, which would authorize a state land-management agency to enter the public-private partnerships on state-owned lands after an amendment was added to limit the search area to lands west of Tallahassee.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday finds Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has moved ahead of Mitt Romney in the pivotal state of Ohio, which holds its primary on March 6. The poll of likely primary voters has Santorum on top in the Buckeye State with 36 percent, followed by Romney with 29 percent and Newt Gingrich in third with 20 percent. Ron Paul lags in the single digits, taking 9 percent in the poll. However, Ohio Republicans remain up for grabs -- with 50 percent of those surveyed open to changing their minds before the primary.

The Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame Foundation inducted four during the Florida State Fair in Tampa on Tuesday. The 2012 Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame inductees were chosen not only because of their commitment to improving their own craft through technology and innovation, but also because of their willingness to share these advancements with the industry as a whole, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam stated in a release. This years inductees are:

Central Florida political consultant Doug Guetzloe was found guilty Wednesday afternoon of failing to file tax returns -- in what the Orlando Sentinel calls "the latest setback" in his scrimmage with the Internal Revenue Service. It took a 12-member jury only 30 minutes to find Guetzloe, one of the founders of the Florida TEA Party, guilty of two misdemeanor counts of wilful failure to file tax returns. He now faces up to two years in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for May 21.