While he may have entered the U.S. Senate contest late, former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, showed this weekend that he retains solid support in his backyard with a win in a straw poll.

Weldon won the Brevard County Hob Nob straw poll in Titusville, which was sponsored by the North Brevard Republican Club, on Saturday but the leading candidate for the Republican nomination -- U.S. Rep. Connie Mack -- was not even on the ballot.

Listen to Florida's short-sellers and you'd think the tax system in this state is crumbling like a moldy cracker.

With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, local officials from across Florida sought changes Friday as the state moves forward with new plans for collecting Medicaid payments from counties.

The issue has become highly controversial, after lawmakers in March required that the Agency for Health Care Administration recoup disputed Medicaid charges to the counties going back more than a decade. As of this week, 53 counties had joined a pending lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the Legislature's move.