Floridas effort to increase international trade spawned an 18.3 percent growth in the value of traffic through its seaports last year, according to the Florida Ports Council.

Comments across the Sunshine State for Memorial Day:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott

This weekend Floridians throughout our state will remember the men and women of the United States armed forces who have lost their lives while serving our country throughout our nations history. As wecome together with family and friends to honor our fallen military and veterans, let us also bring to mind the tremendous sacrifice they have made for our benefit.

There should be little surprise that the states largest and most authoritative business advocates expect to be as -- or more -- engaged in the 2012 election cycle than they were in past campaigns.

This could mean more TV ads as the campaigns race to the wire, and even more attention to social media, such as YouTube and Twitter.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida, which have historically sided with the Republican Party and candidates in the Sunshine State, are already maintaining that trend in terms of where theyre spending their money.

The state won't give in to a request from a group of voting rights organizations to halt the ongoing purge of noncitizens from the roll of voters in Florida.

Project Vote, Fair Elections Legal Network, Advancement Project, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, LULAC Florida, and the Hillsborough Hispanic Coalition Inc. announced Thursday they had sent a letter to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, claiming the states effort to identify and remove people who may not be citizens violates federal law.

The groups also demanded the state immediately cease the review process.

Geo Group spent between $60,000 and $89,997 on three lobbying firms -- Ericks Consultants, Mirabella Smith and McKinnon Inc., and Ronald L. Book PA -- in the first quarter of the year.

Geos priority was to advance the bidding process to privatize prisons.

Another advocate of prison privatization was Corrections Corporation of America, which paid Smith BryanMyers Inc. between $10,000 and $19,999 in the quarter.

The effort failed to win Senate approval.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, wants to knowif White House access to filmmakers has resulted in the release of classified information involving the raid that killed terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Rooney, a member of the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, asked Department of Defense Acting Inspector General Lynne Halbrooks on Wednesday to investigate the potential leaks.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said hes heard significant interest in the Sunshine State from companies from Spain. But he acknowledged that long-term success from the ongoing business development mission in Madrid may be hard to fully quantify.

Officials from at least one tourism company in Madrid plan to do more business in Miami, while a Spanish woman may bring her childrens books and magazines to Florida, he said.

Senate President-designate Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, has already snagged three big names from inside the capital circle to help run his office through the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions.

Lisa Vickers, who recently stepped down as director of the Florida Department of Revenue, has been hired to be Gaetzs senior adviser. Carol Gormley, who previously worked for former Gov. Jeb Bush, is coming over from the House where she was staff director for the Health and Human Services Committee.She will serve as senior policy advisory on health care for Gaetz.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, has teamed with Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and others in an unlikely Washington alliance that seeks to expand on the Jobs Act signed into law earlier this year.

The Startup Act 2.0, a proposal by Rubio, Warner, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., is intended to aid new businesses, with an emphasis on those involving science, technology, engineering and math, as a means to boost the economy.

Before heading overseas, Gov. Scott said that he would like to see some people prosecuted if an arranged effort was made to put on the voter rolls non-Floridians and those ineligible to cast a ballot.

Interviewed by BIZPAC Review in Boca Raton last week, Scott said he hoped there would be prosecutions if people purposely register to vote when ineligible.

We have laws, you should comply with the laws of our state. You should not be voting if youre not a registered voter, Scott responded in a BIZPAC interview on May 16.