With Florida receiving $19.9 billion from the federal government through the stimulus passed by Congress last year, Gov. Charlie Crist established the Governors Office of Economic Recovery to coordinate the efforts.
But while the stimulus remains a point of controversy, the office itself has been flying under the radar -- and there are reasons for that.
Calling it a mean-spirited measure and a draconian bill, Congressman Kendrick Meek called on Gov. Charlie Crist to veto HB 1143, the measure the Legislature passed requiring a woman considering an abortion to have an ultrasound. With Meek the leading Democrat in the primary field for the U.S. Senate, he may well face independent candidate Crist along with Republican Marco Rubio in Novembers general election.
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You might want to bring your magical broomstick on a future visit to one of Visit Florida's four Welcome Centers in North Florida.
Visit Florida, the state's official tourism marketing agency, is planning on bringing the Harry Potter franchise to the centers to promote the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios Orlando's Islands of Adventure theme park.
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Speculation continues that Broward County Property Appraiser Lori Parrish, a Democrat who has been prominent in South Florida politics for two and a half decades, will back Gov. Charlie Crists independent bid for the U.S. Senate if he vetoes a measure requiring mothers considering an abortion to have an ultrasound.
But while she has not revealed if she will back Crist, she has backed a candidate running for the congressional seat that U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, the Democratic frontrunner to take on Crist and Republican Marco Rubio for the Senate, is vacating.
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Business groups say the Legislature's latest raid on the state Transportation Trust Fund will put a screeching halt to new road projects and throw 11,000 workers off the job.
To help balance the budget, lawmakers pulled $160 million from the Florida Department of Transportation's trust fund. But contractors say that's just a down payment on a bigger problem down the road.
"That equals $450 million in projects," said Bill Burleson of the Florida Transportation Builders Association. "There's a lot at stake here."
While he generally focuses on Latin American affairs, Republican Congressman Connie Mack is now pointing to other regions of the globe -- and saying that the U.S. can learn a lesson. Mack said in a release today that the U.S. could end up like Greece, which just borrowed $40 billion from the International Monetary Fund to stabilize its sagging economic situation.
The debt crisis in Greece proves that unsustainable and out-of-control spending on big government programs will only lead to fiscal disaster, said Mack. Clearly, socialism doesnt work.
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The eyes of everyone affected by tourism in Florida will be on Orlando starting this weekend as the huge international trade show known as Pow Wow 2010 kicks off.
The annual show is staged for global tour operators and generates hundreds of millions of dollars for state tourism industries as U.S. tourism operators meet with big tourism package operators from around the world to cut deals on packaged tours, conventions and conferences. Approximately 5,000 people are expected to take part at this year's May 15-19 event.
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Its one of the best kept secrets of Floridas austere, $70.4 billion state budget.
Yet its also among the budget provisions most certain to become law this fractured election year.
A $1.4 million pay raise for the 720 law enforcement officers in the states Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is tucked into the spending plan approved by lawmakers last month and expected to be sent to Gov. Charlie Crist as early as Thursday.
Business and tourism advocates see the new Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando that lets children sleep in the company of little mermaid Ariel and lion king Simba as a sign the region is making an economic recovery.
The 1,984-unit Art of Animation Resort, which Disney announced it was moving forward with Wednesday, is Disneys first new resort in roughly seven years, and it could boost area businesses and push others to consider investing in the hospitality industry.
For those keeping the score: With the Republican National Convention heading to Tampa in 2012, Florida will now have hosted four national political conventions. But as important as Richard Nixon winning the 1968 GOP presidential nomination in Miami Beach was, and as dramatic as the 1972 Democratic convention in Miami Beach was, the most important political convention in Floridas history has long since been forgotten.
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