U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who spent much of Friday in Captiva surveying area damage from blue-green algae and red tide, afterward moderated a roundtable discussion with local officials to discuss water quality issues and the local economic impacts of the devastating algal outbreaks.

George Sheldon, whose long career in state government ranged from serving in the Florida House to running the Department of Children and Families, died Thursday in Miami-Dade County.

Five downtown Tampa special interests contributed $150,000 each to fund the “All for Transportation” (AFT) transit tax-hike petition effort, literally buying their way onto the November ballot in Hillsborough County.

The $750,000 was used to fast-track a proposed massive and unnecessary 30-year transit tax hike that would raise the sales tax to 8 percent -- highest in the state -- if the referendum passes.

The tax will reel in $15-$18 billion. Most of the funds will be earmarked for inside the City of Tampa with about 30 percent of the county’s population.

Politics always turns dirtier a week ahead of voting day, but somebody involved in the Republican primary for commissioner of agriculture crossed the line this year -- flooding phones with text blasts of candidate Baxter Troutman in an orange jumpsuit with a link to a 6-year-old Lakeland Ledger story, "Baxter Troutman Accused of Hitting His Wife with a Bedspread."