A group of Floridians and aerospace proponents, headed by Gov. Rick Scott, will jet across the pond this weekend to showcase the Sunshine State at one of the largest aviation industry trade events in the world.
Enterprise Florida will have a booth for a number of Florida companies to showcase their wares with others in the 86-strong delegation at the Farnborough International Airshow.
Floridas three Cabinet members -- Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam -- are worth a collective $8,846,996, according to recently filed financial disclosure reports.
The overall mark is slightly downfrom the prior year, 2010, with Putnam, the wealthiest, dropping $300,000. Bondi has the least but now is able to report an income, showing the largest single-year gain at $200,000.
In a state with leadership strongly opposed to expanding gambling, people are playing Floridas games of chance at a record clip.
The Florida lottery, which last fall inked a deal to make the Sunshine State the first state to offer lottery tickets in Wal-Mart stores, announced this week that sales for the recently completed fiscal year were a one-year record of $4.45 billion.
A flurry oflawsuits is expected as the new aspects of Floridas personal injury protection auto insurance reform take hold.
Measures designed to eliminate the rampant fraud that has used the system as a financial syphon will be challenged, most likely over the provision that drops coverage from $10,000 to $2,500 based upon the definition of emergency medical condition.
U.S. Rep. John Mica, the Florida Republican who chairs the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, scored points in Washington last week -- a clear victor in the massively approved package that extends federal highway dollars through 2014.
The bill also keeps federal college-loan interest rates from doubling and the National Flood Insurance Program alive for another five years.
The next step in Floridas struggle with the federal government over how to find non-U.S. citizens among the list of registered voters will come out later this week.
And that could mean the effort to check for noncitizens is restarted.
But dont expect county elections officials to immediately go along -- at least, not until the state can do a better job of backing up claims that an individual shouldnt be registered as a voter.
Floridas fight against Obamacare isnt over, no matter what the U.S. Supreme Court rules, Gov. Rick Scott reiterated in televised interviews on Monday.
And the Affordable Care Act should be one of the defining issues of this years presidential and other federal elections.
Mark Wilson, Florida Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that keeps mandates in place making people pay for health care coverage will harm Americas long-term global competitiveness.
But he also said the continued squabbling in Washington, D.C., over health care has caused many businesses to hold back on their plans for hiring and expansion because of the uncertainty on where health coverage is headed. And in many cases, employers are considering ending employer-based insurance plans because of the cost.
The state is going to take its time deciding just how to react to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that imposes health care as a tax on all citizens.
But Florida officials who were at the heart of the challenge to the law wasted little time criticizing the court for upholding what they view as the White House's imposition on individual freedoms.
Attorney General Pam Bondi blamed the Obama administration for a lack of political accountability in disguising the mandates in the Affordable Care Act as not being a $4 billion tax.
