Florida taxpayers -- in the comfort of their homes -- can now start to shift through more than 23,400 state contracts that make up more than 50 percent of the states budget and have long been inaccessible without the time-consuming public records request process.

And the move to provide more transparency could precede efforts by the state's top financial officer to push legislators to define what the contract process is, requiring contracts to be bid upon rather than simply awarded, and what they believe could remain shielded from public view.

There is a strong link between economic mobility and education that still remains, even in these toughest of times.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott has a good opportunity to rally Republicans behind him -- and he may have an old political foe to thank for it.

Scott won a bloody Republican primary over then-Attorney General Bill McCollum in 2010. While Scott went on to defeat Democratic nominee Alex Sink, who was then serving as state CFO, in the closest gubernatorial election in more than 165 years of Florida statehood, McCollum sulked in his tent, refusing to endorse either of the candidates.