TALLAHASSEE—Gov. Rick Scott on Friday announced he will sign a statewide ban on texting while driving, making Florida the 40th state to enact a ban for all drivers.

Scott will sign the bill (SB 52) next Tuesday in Miami, at Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High School.

“As a father…

Christian Ziegler, 29, was continually forced into politics by his mother, who repeatedly brought him to political events — and it worked.  Some of Christian’s childhood encounters were with then Governor George W. Bush and a weekend on a campaign bus with House Speaker Newt Gingrich. He has been hooked on news, government and campaigns ever since.

In the aftermath of the 2012 hurricane season, Pinellas beaches are getting a makeover.

The Florida Legislature is setting aside nearly $4 million to renourish Pinellas County beaches for fiscal year 2013-2014, says State Rep. Kathleen Peters of South Pasadena. 

Gov. Scott will sign SB 52, legislation to ban texting while driving on Tuesday, according to a release from his office. 

The bill prohibits a person from manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers, symbols or other characters into a wireless communications device. This includes text messaging, emailing and instant messaging through smart phones.

Hillary Clinton’s forthcoming memoir has a simple book jacket but no title yet. 

Skylar Zander, 22, entered politics with a natural interest in the process which only grew after he realized he could be a part of making changes that better fellow Floridians.

Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon have finally caught a bit of a break for their F-35 program, with the selected acquisition report delivered to Congress yesterday showing a $4.5 billion reduction in acquisition, operating and support costs.

Justin York, 25, lives in Lake Mary and is preparing to graduate from law school at the University of Florida. He became interested in politics in 2000 as a 7th grader following a social studies assignment on election night. Watching news coverage to complete the homework, Justin became fascinated with discussions about the Electoral College, campaign issues, and candidates. He watched until the early hours of the morning that night, and still today.

The Board of Governors welcomes a new member this week. Carlo Fassi, the student body president of the University of North Florida, was chosen by a group of peer student leaders from across the State University System to serve as the board’s student representative. This role is in concurrence with Fassi’s newly elected chairmanship of the Florida Student Association.

A fast-paced deal to give a startup insurance company with ties to former CFO Tom Gallagher a $52 million take-out deal has drawn some political heat, as expected, for Gov. Rick Scott.

The social network’s advertising arm unveiled this week what it calls “lead generation” cards, and while the feature has obvious uses for businesses looking to sync up with potential customers, the move could have big political ramifications too.

As most everything of major national significance, the Boston Marathon bombing eventually had a link to Florida. Here's our tale:

Ibragim Todashev, the Chechen martial-arts fighter killed by an FBI agent in Orlando on Tuesday, was a bit of a mystery to his neighbors in his modest gated community in Kissimmee.

They knew little about his lifestyle, his travels or his relationship with one of the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Herbie Thiele, 28, grew up living and breathing local politics through his father, Leon County Attorney, and became hooked on politics himself after attending his first legislative committee meeting while interning with Sachs Media Group.

Herbie credits Ron Sachs for hiring him, and Alia Faraj-Johnson for not firing him, in his first role at the acclaimed public relations firm, and considers both to be sage mentors.