The median price of a Florida home inched up 1 percent in April from a year ago as sales shot up 27 percent, according to figures released by Florida Realtors on Monday.

The median price of $140,100 was 2.3 percent higher than the median price in March, marking the second straight month of price increases, raising the prospect that the real estate market may be finally starting to head the other direction in price after two years of declining values.

Constitutional changes to class size restrictions and political boundaries passed their final hurdle Wednesday as they were given numbers for the Nov. 2 ballot.

On Wednesday, state election officials added the two proposals to the slate of amendments to greet voters. A proposal to modify the way lawmakers redraw political boundaries became Amendment 7. A proposal to relax class size restrictions that were passed by voters in 2002 will become Amendment 8.

Amendment 7 is the Legislatures response to a pair of amendments by FairDistrictsFlorida.org.

The number of Florida foreclosures fell in April from a year earlier, mirroring a national trend that indicates a slowing of defaults on mortgages, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac.

Floridas foreclosure fell 18 percent from March and was down 25 percent from April 2009. Despite the improvement, the state still posted the second highest number of foreclosures in the nation, with 48,384 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the month.

Existing home sales in Florida rose 24 percent during the first quarter of 2010, a healthy jump from the same period a year earlier, Florida Realtors reported Tuesday.

A total of 38,846 existing homes sold statewide in the three months ending March 31 compared to 31,410 existing homes sold during the same period in 2009. Meanwhile, median home values continued to fall, but not as steeply. Prices were down 5 percent for the quarter compared to a year earlier.

Florida had spent more than $16 billion from the federal stimulus dollars by the end of March and is on track to spend at least $1 billion more by the end of the year, the states recovery point man said Monday.

Don Winstead, appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist to oversee the collection and distribution of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds, said nearly $20 billion in federal stimulus dollars has been awarded or expected as the state continues to reap the benefits of federal tax dollars aimed at jump-starting the national economy.

Faced with the potential loss of millions of dollars and Floridas sand-between your toes reputation, Gov. Charlie Crist said Thursday hed consider calling lawmakers back to put an offshore drilling ban into the Florida Constitution.

Several Democratic lawmakers and Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink called for the ban, saying the timing may be right to pass what even a few weeks ago was unthinkable, a ban on offshore drilling etched in constitutional stone.

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSSEE, April 1, 2010. Democrats won a temporary battle, but ultimately were unable to prevent Republicans from voting to cut a monthly subsidy for state retirees in on Thursday.

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, March 8, 2010.With lawmakers already frustrated over a lack of oversight, recent reports on the states landmark $536 million Everglades agreement with U.S. Sugar Corp. may add momentum for a legislative response in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the controversial deal, a key House lawmaker said Monday.

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, March 4, 2009 Retirees arent the only group rushing to South Florida as a flood of addicts head south to get their drugs, legally and with a doctors prescription.

A wave of people have headed to Broward and Miami-Dade counties with cash in hand to buy a cornucopia of legally prescribed drugs including Oxycontin and other opiates. The result is that prescription medication deaths far outnumber those from illegal drugs.