Florida's new 9th Congressional District is designated for "Latino access," but so far, the majority of candidates seeking the Central Florida seat are non-Hispanic.

Former Rep. Alan Grayson appears to have the inside track to the Democratic nomination. Having represented more than a third of the current constituency of CD 9 -- until he was ousted by Daniel Webster in 2010 -- Grayson has the name recognition and the war chest to shut down primary competition and wage a general election campaign.

Florida is the only state in the nation that allows Social Security numbers to be distributed for the purpose of locating owners of unclaimed property.

And state Sen. Jack Latvala wants to keep it that way.

Currently, the state Department of Financial Services has a database of Social Security numbers it receives from holders of unclaimed property where the rightful owner cannot be located, such as abandoned safe deposit boxes or uncollected utility security deposits.

The environmentalists are coming for Big Sugar, again.

Unslaked by the billions of dollars of public and private money poured into Everglades restoration, billionaire environmentalist Paul Tudor Jones wants to wring more cash out of Florida's sugar growers.

At an Everglades Foundation forum in Tallahassee last month, Jones darkly compared pollution leaching from Everglades Agricultural Area to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Sugar producers resent the analogy, and flatly reject it.

The 7th Congressional District primary battle pitting Republican Reps. Sandy Adams and John Mica is starting out as a contest of fire and ice.

The freshman Adams turned a flamethrower on Mica Thursday, saying, "I don't believe in backing down because someone tries to bully me out of a race."

Mica, a 10-term congressman, coolly deflected the broadside before formally announcing his campaign for CD 7, centered mainly in Seminole, Orange and southern Volusia counties.

Two more Republicans jumped into the 6th Congressional District contest Thursday, ensuring at least a three-way GOP primary there.

Freshman state Rep. Fred Costello, R-Ormond Beach, announced his intentions a day after Rep. John Mica, R-Orlando, declared he would run for re-election in theneighboring 7th Congressional District. Mica's move sets up a primary showdown with freshman Rep. Sandy Adams there.

Hours later, former federal prosecutor Ron DeSantis joined the CD 6 race.

Businessman Craig Miller was the first to file for that contest last week.

After voting for the National Defense Authorization Act last year, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney is taking a second look at some of its controversial provisions.

"People have raised concerns and he's looking into it," said Michael Mahaffey, spokesman for the Tequesta Republican.

Approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama, the NDAA has become a lightning rod for the left and right. Civil libertarians at the ACLU and libertarian-leaning conservatives say the act tramples on citizens' constitutional rights.

Though Adams is a freshman and Mica is a 10-term veteran and chairman of the House Transportation Committee, he might opt for neighboring CD 6, which runs northeast of Orlando to include Daytona Beach up to Flagler and St. Johns counties.

CD 6 contains about 70 percent of Mica's existing Orlando area district.

Craig Miller, a Republican businessman who recently dropped out of the U.S. Senate race, is the first and, so far, only GOP candidate to file for that district.

Democrats can play musical chairs, too. But voters may not like their tune.

Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy is following Republican Rep. Allen West up Florida's east coast to take on the first-term congressman in his newly adopted district.

Murphy had planned to vie with Lois Frankel for the Democratic nomination in West's current South Florida district. Now, with West relocating to the Treasure Coast, Murphy figures to take the inside track in contending with West for the newly drawn 18th Congressional District.

A billboard "welcoming" illegal aliens to Florida and sarcastically thanking Gov. Rick Scott appeared on Interstate 75 Wednesday.

Produced byFloridians for Immigration Enforcement, the billboard calls out Scott for the state's failure to adopt an E-Verify law.

"This is a wake-up call for Governor Scott, who promised Floridians he would work to get mandatory E-Verify in the state to protect our legal workers," said Jack Oliver, legislative director of the group that goes by the name FLIMEN.