The campaign trail took a number of prominent politicians to South Florida on Tuesday. U.S. Senate candidates Gov. Charlie Crist and U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek spoke to the Florida Sheriff's Association 2010 Annual Summer Conference in Fort Lauderdale. So did Republican gubernatorial primary candidate Rick Scott. Meek later spoke to the United Democratic Club of Century Village in West Palm Beach …

The House sprinted toward the end of the legislative session Wednesday, tackling almost 120 legislative items in an lengthy meeting that extended through most of the day.

The House will be set to vote on the budget after 2:59 p.m. Friday in accordance with the mandate that there need to be at least 72 hours between the publication of the budget and the final vote on it.

With more than 100 bills on the calendar when it convened Friday morning, the House plowed through a host of measures and amendments. Members passed a few, including a measure to expand placing cameras on stoplights, but they mostly set the stage to tackle more bills next week.

The seven-hour session Friday focused on amending measures that the House will vote on next week. But the House also passed efforts that increased legal penalties for credit and debit card crimes and exempted All-Star games and Pro Bowls from sales taxes.