Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater formally delivered his letter of resignation on Monday, five months after announcing he was leaving for a job at Florida Atlantic University.

The letter said June 30 --- the end of the current fiscal year --- will be Atwater's final day in the statewide job.

He's held the Cabinet office, which has duties ranging from overseeing the state treasury to serving as the state fire marshal, since 2011.

The House and Senate continued Thursday trying to reach agreement on economic-development issues, with one of the sticking points involving tourism-marketing dollars being matched with small-county bed tax money.
 
Differences also dealt with oversight issues, as lawmakers consider $177 million proposals that would bolster tourism-marketing agency Visit Florida and create a new economic-development fund. Lawmakers are in a special session that started Wednesday and is scheduled to end Friday.

Florida's business-recruitment agency is bracing to operate with less money from the state but has not outlined changes that might need to be made.

Nor are Enterprise Florida officials publicly expressing hope that negotiations between Gov. Rick Scott and House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O' Lakes, will bolster the money available for the agency.

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, says he won't emulate the campaign strategy he ascribes to his party's past two candidates for governor.

Florida's largely dry conditions, which might appear to be more conducive to wildfires, shouldn't be seen as a reason to reduce vigilance in preventing the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

Noah Valenstein, an architect of Gov. Rick Scott's conservation platform during the 2014 election, will be the only applicant who will be interviewed next week to become the state's environmental secretary.

Gov. Rick Scott continued Monday to criticize legislative budget-slashing of the state's tourism marketing as he announced a record-setting quarter of visitors to Florida.

Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday that Florida won't be in the “game for economic development” after lawmakers rejected his proposals for spending on business incentives and tourism marketing.

Florida could bond up to $800 million --- two-thirds the amount previously sought by the Senate --- to speed construction of a reservoir intended to help clean South Florida waterways, under a compromise measure heading to Gov. Rick Scott.

A proposed property-tax break that would go before voters next year and a slimmed-down tax cut package, both tied to ongoing budget negotiations, got key approvals Monday in the Republican-dominated Senate.