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

Citing budget cuts -- not necessarily a reduced threat -- the U.S. Department of Homeland Security removed Jacksonville from the list of cities receiving counterterrorism funds this year. Jacksonville was one of 33 cities cut from the list, leaving 31 metropolitan areas on the list. Florida's remaining recipients are Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Orlando. In 2011, Congress cut DHS state and local preparedness grants by $780 million compared to the FY 2010 enacted level, nearly a quarter of DHS grant funding," said DHS spokesman Chris Ortman.

Get ready for an above-normal hurricane season in the Atlantic basin this year. That comes straight from the crystal ball at NOAAs Climate Prediction Center a division of the National Weather Service -- and for the last several years, it hasn't been far wrong when it's assessed the next hurricane season. Here's what NOAA predicts across the entire Atlantic Basin for the six-month season beginning June 1:

U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, called President Barack Obama's endorsement of a Hamas-led Palestinian state "the most egregious foreign policy decision his administration has made to date, and could be the beginning of the end" of Israel. West, who represents a heavily Jewish district straddling Palm Beach and Broward counties, said in a statement responding to Obama's Thursday speech:

President Barack Obama offered a new vision of American policy in the Middle East in a major speech on Thursday -- but Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan is not buying parts of it. Buchanan, who called for a re-evaluation of foreign aid last week, said on Thursday that the president should not be sending billions overseas to help develop democracies in the Middle East.