Gil Kerlikowske, the nations drug czar, is scheduled to address the first meeting of the states new Task Force on Prescription Drug Abuse and Newborns on Tuesday in the state Capitol Cabinet meeting room.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, would be a special guest at the inaugural meeting of the task force.
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Virtually every day between now and Nov. 6, voters will be bombarded with political endorsements in campaigns ranging from county commissions to the White House.
Do they matter?
In some cases, a big-name supporter with a large following can have an impact at pivotal moments. But most political analysts say the electoral effect of endorsements is overblown and fleeting at best.
The auto insurance reform package that was one of Gov. Rick Scotts three major issues in the regular legislative session was among the bills reaching his desk Friday.
Scott and Florida CFO Jeff Atwater have repeatedly said fraud involving personal injury protection (PIP) auto insurance has cost Floridians $1 billion a year in higher premiums.
HB 119 was approved by the Legislature on the final day of the regular session, March 9.
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The watchdog group Florida TaxWatch issued a news release today announcing April 20 as Tax Independence Day, meaning the average Florida taxpayer had to work 110 days out of 366 just to satisfy tax obligations.
(Forgive a small digression but did you forget 2012 is a leap year? I had.)
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Four months ago, the states top economists, sitting as the Florida Economic Estimating Conference, forecast unemployment would hold at about 10.6 percent for the first quarter of 2012.
With sluggish growth expected to continue through the current fiscal year and a moderate increase in the next fiscal year, an 8.7 percent mark was foreseen as attainable in 2014.
On Friday, the latest numbers from the state Department of Economic Opportunity pushed the unemployment figure down to 9 percent, the lowest number since January 2009.
George Zimmerman, who once dreamed of becoming a police officer, had bond set at $150,000 Friday on a second-degree murder charge in the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. accepted the arguments that Zimmerman, 28, wont be a flight risk in what has become an intensely racially-charged case drawing international attention.
Florida has been the largest swing state in recent presidential elections and a new poll from Fox News shows the Sunshine State -- and its 29 Electoral College votes -- will be up for grabs in November.
The poll of registered Florida voters has President Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney, the almost certain Republican presidential nominee, by a slim margin. Obama takes 45 percent of those surveyed while Romney, who won the Florida Republican primary at the end of January, takes 43 percent.
The TEA Party of Florida endorsed Republican Connie Mack for U.S. Senate on Friday.
The only tea organization registered as a political party in Florida lauded Mack, saying, "Connie was 'TEA Party' before there was a TEA Party."
Party Chairman John Long praised the Naples congressman on several fronts, including "his notable fiscal defections from his own Republican leadership in the Florida and U.S. House, and his Penny Plan, which, more than any other plan, balances the budget faster and restores our economic freedom."
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The states unemployment number continued to decline, falling to 9.0 percent, according to figures released Friday.
The latest figures estimate that 836,000 Floridians were jobless last month, down from 869,000 in February, when the statewide unemployment mark was 9.4 percent, according to the state Department of Economic Opportunity.
The monthly total is 1.7 percent lower than where the state was a year ago.
The 0.4 percent drop was the largest one-month decline since Oct. 1992.
More to come.
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After a three-week lull, the Republican presidential primaries resume on Tuesday when five Northeastern states -- Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island -- have their say. With Rick Santorum having dropped out of the race earlier in the month, Mitt Romney has an overwhelming lead in the delegate count, but both Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul remain in the race.
