Tampa scored big with fans of the NCAA Tournament and country singer Kenny Chesney over the past weekend.

Hosting more than 15,000 spectators for Thursday and Saturday basketball games at the St. Pete Times Forum, fans spent an estimated $10 million to $15 million at local hotels, restaurants, stores and attractions.

Hotels all over town were booked solid as college hoops fans flocked in from Kentucky and West Virginia. UCLA's small contingent was dwarfed by followers of the University of Florida, as Gator Nation reigned.

Florida Bar President Mayanne Downs appears ready to contest at least some of House Speaker Dean Cannon's judicial reform agenda.

In an e-mail obtained by Sunshine State News, Downs informs Florida's 90,000 Bar members:

"These are challenging times. I cannot promise that the results of this session will be everything we want, or that final legislation will be noncontroversial. I can promise, though, that your Bar leadership team is fully and completely engaged, and is passionately fighting for the very best outcomes we can obtain."

Laying out a "21st century battlefield" at home and abroad, U.S. Rep. Allen West warned Friday that America's economic and national security are under siege.

Speaking to a full house of 600-plus at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, the retired Army lieutenant colonel said China's military and economic expansion pose a direct threat to the United States.

Forecasting "an economic conflagration with China," the Boca Raton Republican noted that nearly 20 percent of America's $14.3 trillion debt is owned by Beijing.

The sales pitch for medical marijuana is rooted in claims of compassion and healing. It's also a budding commercial enterprise that relentlessly presses the legal system.

Since 1997, prescription pot has become a $1 billion-a-year industry in California. Though nominally a "not-for-profit" business, cannabis growers and dispensers find ways to make their efforts pay off.

Operating in 14 states, marijuana growers and dispensers are banking on wholesale legalization to yield bigger profits in the years ahead. Corporate stock pickers have taken note.

A survey of the nation's largest metropolitan centers delivered dreary news for the Sunshine State -- particularly the West Coast.

None of the eight Florida markets rated higher than middle of the pack in terms of economic performance, and five ranked among the weakest in the country.

A cluster of three of those weakest metro markets -- Tampa, Bradenton and Fort Myers -- spurred concern that Florida's West Coast remains mired in recession.

Up briefly, a website on which Gov. Rick Scott hailed the work of tea party activists has been taken down by the Republican Party of Florida.

"The site was launched prematurely without final content and legal review from the party," said RPOF spokesman Trey Stapleton.

"We have been coordinating with the governor and he agreed with Chairman [Dave Bitner's] decision to pull the site until the review process is complete."

While newspaper editorial boards and some GOP leaders bang the drum for a state prescription-drug monitoring system, a zero-cost and seemingly more effective alternative is quietly proceeding through the House.

A proposed bill by the Health and Human Services Committee would attack the "pill mill" problem by banning physicians from dispensing controlled substances at their offices or clinics.

Restricting the dispensing of controlled substances to established pharmacies, the bill (PCB HHSC 11-03) would:

If you think pill mills are a problem in Florida, wait until you see medical marijuana "dispensaries."

That's the word from states that have legalized prescription pot. And it's a warning that wary Florida lawmakers appear to be heeding.

Citing social costs, legal complications and a human weakness for easy money, critics say Florida will be courting trouble if it starts distributing cannabis for medicinal purposes.

In California, law-enforcement agencies routinely raid medical-marijuana dispensaries and charge licensed operators with a host of illegal activities.

A day after an E-Verify requirement was tossed from a Senate immigration bill, GOP leaders said the provision would be put back in.

Sources told Sunshine State News on Tuesday that the proposed committee bill would be "fixed" to reinstate wording that mandates the use of E-Verify, a federal database that screens job applicants for employment eligibility.

Speaking on background, one source said Senate leaders would reverse the action taken by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.