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

Robin Wescott, Florida's newly-appointed insurance consumer advocate, is calling for a thorough review of a request by Citizens Property Insurance to raise sinkhole coverage premiums by 429 percent statewide; and even if the increase is warranted, to slowly implement it. Wescott wrote letters Wednesday to Office of Insurance Regulation Commissioner Kevin McCarty and Citizens' executive director Scott Wallace, urging an "incremental" approach to the proposed rate increase.

Meeting in Stowe, Vt. -- a town that calls itself the "Maple Sugar Capital of the World" -- Americas sugar industry learned Wednesday that it is still generating nearly 130,000 direct and indirect jobs and almost $20 billion in annual revenue. That's according to a study released Wednesday at the 28th International Sweetener Symposium.

Sunshine State News ranks among "The Best State Political Blogs," according to a national compilation by the Washington Post.

On Wednesday, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, running in the Republican primary to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, announced that he had signed the pledge backed by Americans for Tax Reform to oppose tax increases. Americans for Tax Reform is led by conservative activist Grover Norquist who has been on center stage during the recent debate on the federal debt ceiling.