A bill designed to save Florida businesses and workers millions of dollars in taxes has been amended to keep cash flowing to local governments.

House Bill 311 aimed to block cities and counties from expanding their business license taxes to a vast cadre of license-holding employees. Rep. Ken Roberson, R-Port Charlotte, said his measure was in response to a 2010 attorney general's opinion that such taxes could be imposed on individual workers who hold professional licenses.

Amid a hail of public mockery, Workforce Central Florida abruptly shut down a marketing campaign to distribute 6,000 red capes to job seekers and employers.

But it doesn't end there. A state investigation is now under way, marking the third time Workforce Central Florida has come under scrutiny for questionable spending practices.

The agency said its "out-of-the-box" initiative was designed to "introduce our programs and services to job seekers and employers who need them."

In a statement issued Wednesday, the agency said the cape giveaway produced quick results.

Despite little press, few screens and a tiny budget by Hollywood standards, Ayn Rand's magnum opus, "Atlas Shrugged: Part I," placed a respectable 14th in the box office standings on its opening weekend.

The No. 1 movie was the kid-friendly "Rio," which grossed $39 million at 3,826 screens (including 3D) nationally. "Atlas" took in $1.7 million at just 299 screens. Along with a hefty promotional budget, "Rio" cost $90 million to produce. "Atlas," by contrast, carried just a $10 million price tag.

The sponsor of a bill to raise fees on Florida-based Dosal Tobacco Co. says the measure is dead -- again.

Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne, said Gov. Rick Scott's vow last week to veto House Bill 1207 "pretty much closes the issue this year."

Tobia's comments to Sunshine State News came less than two hours after the Florida Retail Federation reiterated its support for the bill, which would raise fees on Dosal cigarettes to bring them in line with those paid by Big Tobacco companies.

Two "tea party stars" from Florida say they're not scared by the doomsday scenarios over the national debt ceiling.

Saying he doesn't think much of "leadership by fear and intimidation" coming from the Obama administration and Wall Street financiers, U.S. Rep. Allen West calls the pending increase in the nation's $14 trillion debt a "debt suggestion."

"This will be the 73rd or 74th time Congress has done this," West, R-Fort Lauderdale, said on ABC's "This Week with Christian Amanpour."

U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Tallahassee, was equally adamant.

The businessman who led the recall of Miami-Dade's mayor and pushed to reform county government says he will vote against all the charter amendments at the May 24 special election.

Norman Braman told Sunshine State News he cannot support any of the so-called reform measures tweaked, retooled or simply made up by county commissioners.

The South Florida auto magnate said that instead of cleaning up county government, as he initially proposed in a set of "covenants," the charter amendments were "perverted" by commissioners to maintain the status quo -- or worse.

Republicans on the House Economic Affairs Committee withstood heavy opposition from business interests and Bible-quoting migrants to approve an immigration reform bill Thursday.

While Democrats tried to portray House Bill 7089 as the second coming of Arizona's controversial law, sponsor Bill Snyder said his Florida bill legally balances border enforcement and employment verification.

A coalition of pro-Israel activists is calling for the ouster of a Florida Atlantic University professor with ties to a controversial Islamic center near campus.

Bassem Alhalabi is "a very dangerous professor who has ties to terrorists," said Joe Kaufman, head of Americans Against Hate. There is plenty of documented evidence that shows that Professor Bassem Alhalabi does not merit employment at FAU."

Kaufman's group, along with the Church of All Nations and the Christian Family Coalition, has scheduled a Thursday protest at FAU's Boca Raton campus.