Gov. Rick Scott says he wants to get Florida back to work, but things aren't working out so well at the Bureau of Rehabilitation and Re-employment Services, which is tasked with helping injured employees get back on the job.

Effective Friday, the BRRS will lose 55 of its 82 staff positions and see its funding reduced by two-thirds. Regional offices are being consolidated, leaving some residents hundreds of miles away from services.

It's no coincidence that the four-year-old story about state Sen. Mike Haridopolos' "book deal" resurfaced this week. After all, he's running for U.S. Senate, and that makes him target practice for both the right and left.

Florida led the nation in employment gains from April to May with 28,000 new jobs, but a report released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors paints a somewhat dimmer picture.

Using economic models from IHS Global Insight, the report identifies years by which U.S. cities will return to pre-recession employment levels. No Florida metro market is expected to hit that target this year or next. Just one -- the relatively small Palm Coast region south of Jacksonville -- is expected to reach that target by 2013.

Two big-spending candidates trumpeting their reform credentials are vying in Miami-Dade's closely contested mayoral runoff election, but have voters just tuned them out?

Julio Robaina and Carlos Gimenez are fighting down to the wire. Robaina, the mayor of Hialeah, edged Gimenez, a county commissioner, in the initial round of voting and he maintains a sizable fundraising lead, as well as the backing of the influential Latin Builders Association.