Approving gaming without fixes to workers and unemployment compensation would be a frivolity in the eyes of small-business owners.

The business owners, showing overwhelming support for Gov. Rick Scotts pro-jobs agenda over the past year, lean toward favoring the gambling bill, according to a National Federation of Independent Business/Florida poll. However, the same owners say there are bigger issues to dig into first in the upcoming legislative session.

Gov. Rick Scott is once again making travel plans. This time the destination is Spain, Floridas 34th largest trading partner.

The excursion would mix business development with possible tourist development tied to the pending quincentennial of Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon y Figueroas first expedition to Florida.

A spokeswoman for the governors office called the plans preliminary and deferred comment to Enterprise Florida.

Opponents and proponent of bills that would allow mega-casinos in South Florida and establish a statewide gaming commission aren't ready to fold with the approach of the first do-or-die committee vote.

On Thursday, representatives from a number of construction-based groups gathered at a Tallahassee employment center to highlight their support for the revamped bills they say means long-needed work for those in their industry.

See video here.

One of Floridas smaller ports, one that has few commercial prospects currently lined up in anticipation of the expansion of the Panama Canal and gets little federal recognition, the Port of Fort Pierces future may now rest with an anticipated four-month study by the state Department of Transportation.

Redistricting, gambling and the budget will dominate the coming session, but a leading insurance industry group says pressing issues must also be addressed in auto, home and workers compensation coverage.

The Florida Insurance Council, during a media conference at the Florida Press Center in Tallahassee on Wednesday, outlined its support for a number of bills heading into the 60-day session that begins next week. The council's goals include:

County-level voters across Florida would get to decide if they want to expand gambling in their community -- from slot machines to mega-casinos -- under changes proposed to the highly watched destination gaming bill now before state legislators.

Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, is expected to amend her 166-page destination gaming bill by the end of the week that would:

When it comes to missing votes, nobody among Floridas congressional delegation has done it better than Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami Gardens.

According to Govtrack.us, Wilson, a freshman lawmaker, has missed 117 of 948possible votes since recording her first vote in January 2011.

Wilson, who missed time due to gall bladder surgery, missed 12 percent of the votes taken since she took office, which places her sixth highest among all members of Congress.

The Florida Legislature's battles over expanded gambling in the state are spreading into new ground: barrel racing on cloverleaf patterns in Gadsden County, which supporters hope will open the door to lucrative slot machine business in the rural North Florida area.

Under a bill now before the state Senate, SB1376, sponsored by Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, cloverleaf barrel racing would be not be permitted. Instead, quarter horse racing will be required to be conducted on a straight path on a traditional oval or straight track.

Efforts to end a two-decade-old ban on bar contests where dwarfs are tossed, and another to allow middle school-aged kids to avoid gym class, appear doomed in the upcoming legislative session.

Historically, about 10 percent of the approximately 2,000 bills filed each year make it through both chambers during the regular 60-day session. House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, widened the odds for many of the bills that have been introduced for the 2012 session that begins Jan. 10.