Republicans and Democrats cast ballots in 10 state Senate districts across Florida Tuesday. While some incumbents faced primary challenges, all of them prevailed. And look for some different faces in the Senate -- even if they have familiar names.

Health care executive Rick Scott has hit the campaign trail. The Republican gubernatorial candidate, now leading in the polls over Attorney General Bill McCollum for the GOP nomination, campaigned through the Panhandle over the weekend, hit Bartow on Monday and will speak in Tallahassee on Thursday.

Bowing to resistance from the Department of Corrections, Senate Republicans scaled back their prison privatization plans Wednesday.

But the DOC is still directed to open the new 2,224-bed Blackwater River Correctional Facility as a privately operated facility by the GEO Group.

GEO, which built the $110 million Panhandle prison per state contract, can operate the facility for $5.7 million less per year than the state, according to the Department of Management Services. Those savings are based on GEO's daily contract cost of $41 per inmate vs. $48 projected by the DOC.