The following is the complete text of Gov. Rick Scott's radio address, released Friday:
"This is Governor Rick Scott. This week, all Americans witnessed the final launch of Atlantis from Kennedy Space Center.
"This is a historic time, and its sad to see the program end. However, I am optimistic that we can attract high-tech aviation and aerospace jobs to the space coast because of our highly skilled work force.
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Space shuttle Atlantis displayed its breathtaking power, rocketing into space from Kennedy Space Center at 11:26 a.m. EST Friday. It marked the final launch after 30 years for NASA's storied fleet of shuttles -- and there were more than a few damp eyes watching.
"I wasn't prepared for this," said Mavis Shannon, 34, a tech support worker in Tallahassee, who watched the launch from Po'Boys restaurant on East College Avenue. "So soon it's gone. A couple of years ago, who knew we would have a president prepared to lose a national tradition like the shuttle program?"
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Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam is ready to deliver on his promise to provide fresh Florida produce from local farms to school cafeterias across the state, beginning in the fall semester.
Putnam says the fact that his department, rather than the Department of Education, is now in charge of lunches will provide a double benefit: It will help provide better sources of nutrition to Florida's schoolchildren and support local farms, too.
Republican presidential candidate and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann slammed President Obama Friday, criticizing his administration for the latest unemployment report that shows the nations jobless rate rising one-tenth of a percentage point, to 9.2 percent.
Todays unemployment report is another stark reminder of the failure of President Obamas economic policies, Ms. Bachmann said. The president promised if we passed the massive stimulus package that unemployment wouldnt go above 8 percent. We are now at 9.2 percent.
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President Barack Obama managed to wedge comments on Friday's bad jobs report in-between news of the depressing national numbers and the successful launch of Atlantis, the final shuttle in the NASA program.
It confirms what most Americans already know: We still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do, the president commented.
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In surprisingly grim new data, national job growth virtually ground to a near-halt in June, the federal government reports.
The figures, a paltry 18,000 jobs added during the sixth month of 2011, is what Bloomberg News calls "an alarming challenge to predictions that the economy will bounce back later this year." Economists had forecast 105,000 new jobs.
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Stuart Rothenberg, editor of Roll Call's Rothenberg Political Report, devoted his Thursday column to debunking a Democratic PPP poll released in June claiming Florida Gov. Rick Scott is an "ambiguous problem" for the GOP presidential nominee in 2012.
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Friends of former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley claim he's done a great job -- in fact, a classy job -- of rehabbing his life since scandal forced his resignation from Congress in 2006. But on Friday he faces a new challenge.
Diagnosed with prostate cancer, he will enter the hospital for surgery that "involves complete removal of the prostate," but that should have him up and running again in about a week. He said doctors have told him it's unlikely the cancer has spread.
Foley explained that he was diagnosed during a routine checkup.
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Pointing to potentially higher electric rates, the Florida Public Service Commission is expected this month to raise concerns with the federal government about new air-pollution standards.
Utilities such as Florida Power & Light and Progress Energy Florida and the states municipal electric industry also are wary of the proposed standards, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to finalize in November.
By refusing to accept tax increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, Republicans are behaving like "fanatics," writes David Brooks of The New York Times.
