Representing almost 2.3 million Catholics in the Sunshine State, the Florida Catholic Conference unveiled its goals for the 2011 legislative session, promoting policy that will win the backing -- and the opposition -- of liberals and conservatives alike.

Florida’s political leaders are continuing to pressure the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), hoping that more than half of the state will be declared as a disaster area due to the inclement weather.

Dear Charlie,

I'm going to miss you in Florida politics.  Well, eventually. When you really do leave for good, I'll be the first one burying my head in a hankie. Nobody -- not even the dour Bill McCollum -- has provided me with more column fodder. In the meantime, Charlie, as Gov.-elect Rick Scott takes his oath to replace you, I offer this little bit of parting advice:

As the battle to become the next chairman of the Republican Party of Florida enters its final week, candidates angling for the post continue to unveil endorsements.

As Rick Scott takes the reins of Florida government, some longtime political players find themselves marginalized or cut out of the decision-making loop altogether.

Multimillionaire Gov. Rick Scott is taking a single penny for his gubernatorial salary, but he’s stocking his staff with people commanding six-figure salaries while promising to cut state spending as the state faces a $3.5 billion shortfall and 12 percent unemployment.

Besides outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist, there were three former governors attending Rick Scott’s inauguration as the state’s 45th governor: Claude Kirk, who was elected in 1966; Bob Martinez, who won office in 1986; and Jeb Bush, who was elected in 1998 and 2002.

Gov.-elect Rick Scott picked the director of a Jacksonville shipyard on Monday to run his Department of Environmental Protection, turning to an unconventional source for the state’s top natural resources watchdog.

Gov. Charlie Crist sent a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Thursday, arguing the cold weather has so devastated Florida’s agriculture that the USDA should declare more than half of the state’s 67 counties a disaster area.