@Mdixon55

Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown is blasting Gov. Rick Scott's veto of $500,000 for Learn2Earn, one of his priority projects.

"The Governor and his team have once again let down hundreds of Jacksonville children and families," read a statement from Brown's office.

Florida TaxWatch is commending Governor Rick Scott for “removing from the state budget so many of the Budget Turkeys as identified in this year’s annual Turkey Watch Report.”

By its math, Scott vetoed more than two-thirds of the Budget Turkeys TaxWatch identified, saving taxpayers an estimated $71 million.

Sarasota resident Vickie Brill, 25, was working campaigns from the time she was old enough to walk — as in door to door — with her father.  She interned for Senator Mel Martinez on Capitol Hill during college and then as a PAC fundraiser for congressional members with Hammond and Associates. She ran Rep. Jim Boyd’s campaign; helped fundraise for Congressman Vern Buchanan and Rep. Ray Pilon; and is currently a legislative aide to Sen. Bill Galvano. 

@Mdixon55

Gov. Rick Scott Monday announced that he has slashed $368 million from lawmaker's proposed $74.5 million budget before signing the spending plan into law.

That number is up from last year when Scott vetoed $147 million from the budget, but down from his first year when he cut $615 million.

@Mdixon55

A Tallahassee appeals court has ruled that a Duval County judge used flawed logic in 2011 when awarding a Jacksonville family nearly $15 million as part of a tobacco settlement.

@Mdixon55

A union representing Clay County workers is calling recent health care insurance changes “retaliation” by county officials because they filed a complaint with a state labor relations board.

Google “Katie Betta”, formerly Gordon, and the mountain of search results reveals her wide breadth of skill and her steady rise within Florida’s political scene, despite (and perhaps thanks to) no lack of challenging circumstances surrounding her various posts. Betta, 29, lives in Tallahassee and graduated from Florida State, is an accomplished long-distance runner, and among the most respected communications professionals in the state.

Samantha Bowden, 25, lives in Tampa and earned dual degrees at USF in international affairs and geography.  She entered politics for “an abiding rational and moral conscious to do what I can to improve the world we live in.” Not shy for words, Samantha describes herself as “blessed with intellect and the opportunity of having been born in the US, while other are born into squaller (here and abroad).”

A number of organizations up for state funding in the budget agreed to potential repayment terms set down by Gov. Rick Scott.

Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a $74.1 billion state budget for the year beginning July 1 — vetoing $368 million Monday from the proposal approved by lawmakers earlier this month.

Unlike in his statement last week when he unloaded on the annual report highlighting budget items that TaxWatch says didn’t go through the normal budget process and are ripe for a veto, Senate President Don Gaetz strikes a conciliatory tone in reaction to Governor Scott’s signing of the budget and his vetoing of nearly $400 million in line-items.

Gov. Rick Scott has signed the $74.5 billion budget into law, while using his line item veto power to cut $368 billion in state spending.

Among the things Scott vetoed is a three percent tuition increase for university students. The Associated Press reported Sunday, citing an advanced copy of the veto message, that Scott, would reject the tuition hike.

Gov. Rick Scott vetoed nearly $368 million in spending from the state’s budget, using his line-item authority to strike out scores of projects ranging from a $50 million coast-to-coast bike trail to tens of millions in college and university tuition hikes.

Why is Dan Barrow on a  list of the “30 under 30″ rising stars in Florida politics? Because Scott Dudley, David Johnson, and Adam Hasner says so. When three politicos of Dudley, Johnson, and Hasner’s caliber say a guy belongs on the list, you pretty much pencil in his name.

@MarcACaputo

Lincoln Gabriel Diaz-Balart, son and namesake of a former congressman and nephew of a current U.S. representative, died Sunday at the age of 29.

The family has asked for privacy and time to grieve.

The Diaz-Balart family is, perhaps, the most-politically powerful in Miami's Cuban-exile community.