A proposal to create a statewide gaming commission and allow voters to approve up to three mega casinos cleared its first hurdle Monday in the Florida Senate. However, the odds appear to have grown longer against the success of the bill.

The Senate Regulated Industries Committee voted 7-3 on Monday in support of the Destination Gaming bill.

Alleging that campus visits by a Muslim activist are "tantamount to advocating overturning the Constitution in favor of Sharia Law," a conservative coalition on Monday demanded that the Hillsborough County School District "sever all connections" to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

A letter signed by Conservative Theological University president Gene Youngblood and 14 others representing conservative educational and religious groups also "respectfully requested":

Dozens of tea parties, including the state's largest, say they will support an E-Verify immigration bill at the 2012 Legislature.

But with some libertarian-leaning conservatives balking at the issue, the path to passage looks more precarious than ever.

"Most in the tea party are concerned about anything that is illegal and does not uphold the rule of law. E-Verify is one way to uphold our legal immigration laws and we support it," said Billie Tucker, who chairs the First Coast Tea Party in Jacksonville.

State Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, has halted his effort to ask voters if they want to select the education commissioner and make the post once again part of the Florida Cabinet.

Instead, Negron said he wants to pursue a different constitutional amendment, this one to abolish the once-a-generation constitutional revision and the taxation and budget reform commissions.

As it stands right now, I do not intend to move forward, Negron said Monday. Im putting my energy into the revision commission.