Florida Gov. Rick Scott this week found his policies on the receiving end of numerous challenges as the governor's calls for less government, privatization and less red tape wound their way through the courts.

Florida individuals and businesses have so far received more than $2 billion in payouts because of the BP oil spill, but the going may get tougher for some with federal overseers having earlier this week tightened requirements for future payments under the $20 billion program.

Citing signs of economic recovery around the region, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility has said publicly that the effects of the April 2010 spill are dissipating rapidly. The group reiterated that message on Tuesday with a notice on its website that modifications were being made to its payout parameters.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday defended legislative actions that prompted a leading rating agency to downgrade the credit rating of the South Florida Water Management District, which oversees billions in debt for a host of issues from flood protection to Everglades restoration.

Following on the heels of its decision to downgrade its debt rating on the U.S. government from AAA to AA+, Standard & Poor's last week did the same for the water management district.

The ever-shifting sands of political popularity swirled around the capital city this week as Florida's unpopular governor became less so, the nation's unpopular president became more so, and undecided Republican voters remained so as the GOP looks for a challenger to unseat a popular U.S. senator.

Environmentalists, industrial water users and bureaucrats on Wednesday continued trying to determine how Florida might be able to police its own water cleanliness to avert a federal takeover of water quality in the state.

For hours, Department of Environmental Protection staffers slogged through the details of what they hope will be a slate of water standards for Florida lakes, rivers, springs and other freshwater bodies acceptable to federal officials who have established a set of criteria of their own that many business groups in the state say would be too pricey.

Saying that financial capital goes where it feels most welcome, former state Rep. Tom Grady became Florida's newest commissioner of the Office of Financial Regulation after unanimous approval Tuesday by the governor and Cabinet.

A former state representative from Naples, Grady comes to the post after a career as an investment and financial services lawyer with knowledge of the industry his office will regulate.

Florida officials this week made sinkhole rates go higher and hoped prison costs would go lower in an effort to save state taxpayers money on both.

Sinkhole coverage got a lot more expensive for tens of thousands of coastal residents who will see their rates leap toward the heavens as state insurers this week tried to make up for decisions made a few years ago that critics say were politically expedient, but actuarially irresponsible.