The Obama administration has approved Florida’s two-year-old request to move almost all of the state’s 3.3 million low-income, Medicaid patients into managed care programs, Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday.

Scott and leading Republican lawmakers have long contended that managed care will squeeze savings out of Medicaid, which this year absorbed $21 billion of the state’s $70 billion budget.

Steve Schale, in a Thursday blog post, previewed this weekend’s Jefferson Jackson Dinner and took a “hard look at the evolving nature of the Democratic coalition” in a state where “two hyper competitive Presidentials sandwiched the most expensive Governor’s race in history” and in doing so, changed the make-up of Florida’s electorate.

It's just a formality since the deal was announced months ago, but today Florida officially received the waiver it needs to privatize Medicaid. Gov. Rick Scott first announced in February that the state had received conditional approval from the federal government to allow private companies to administer the Medicaid program for roughly 3 million participants.

It’s Tampa’s turn to show Rick Kriseman a little love.

Both sides of Tampa Bay are turning out to support the St. Petersburg mayoral candidate, with a number of Tampa and Hillsborough County luminaries hosting a fundraiser Thursday, June 20.

Headlining the reception is Alex Sink, former Florida CFO and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, as well as several Tampa-based political leaders and supporters:

The recommend title for the pier ballot question on the Aug. 27 primary will not include the words “Lens” or “new pier” if approved as it is written today, reports William Mansell of Patch.

Better late than never.

Just halfway through June, the St. Petersburg City Council proclaims it to be the city’s official LGBT month. It is the first time in St. Pete Pride’s history all eight Council Members signed the declaration.

The proclamation is just in time for the St. Pete Pride Carnivale, the biggest pride party of the year.

US Rep. Tom Rooney announced Thursday that the Agriculture Appropriations bill for FY 2014 includes funding for citrus disease research which he had worked hard to secure.

Rooney’s efforts come at an important time: the total citrus acreage in Florida has fallen by 26 percent since 1997, and unless this trend is reversed, many fear that the state’s annual crop will be too small to sustain existing processing plants.

A planned three-day air traffic controller strike in France has forced Enterprise Florida to scramble in getting its trade mission advance team on flights to reach the International Paris-Le Bourget Air Show, reports Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida.

A morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.

The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) announced today its new legislative affairs team. Timothy Parson will serve as the agency’s Legislative Affairs Director and Nicole Stookey will serve as the Deputy Legislative Affairs Director.   

State Sen. Jeff Brandes has been a staunch advocate of privacy rights, co-introducing a bill to limit the use of drones by law enforcement, and attempting to limit the ability for cell phones to be searched during routine arrests.

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball tweaks its 2014 House ratings and finds “small Republican gains — as in, less than five seats — look likelier than a similarly small gain for Democrats. That’s because the Republican targets just look a little better than the Democratic ones.” 

Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday announced a deal with online retail giant Amazon to bring 3,000 jobs to Florida by the end of 2016.

The company is prepared to spend more than $300 million on new warehouses, The Associated Press reported. Earlier, Scott had nixed a deal to bring Amazon to Florida out of concerns that such a deal would result in higher taxes for Floridians because it would make online purchases through Amazon subject to Florida sales tax, which they are not now.

Gov. Rick Scott and internet retailer Amazon aren’t saying much about where a company distribution warehouse could locate in Florida, part of a push to bring 3,000 jobs here by the end of 2016.

A centrally located site, with easy access to Florida highways, rail and air makes sense. So how about the Tampa area?