Unemployment rate dips to 8.6 percent in May

June 16, 2012, (Written by Gray Rohrer – The Florida Current). Florida added 5,300 nonagricultural jobs in May as the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percent to 8.6 percent, according to numbers released Friday by the Department of Economic Opportunity. The rate is the lowest in Florida since December 2008 when it stood at 8.2 percent, but the recent decline in the jobless rate has been aided by a shrinking workforce.

Latvala says he has votes for Senate presidency in 2016

June 15, 2012, (Written by The News Service of Florida, Herald Tribune). On the same day Sen. John Thrasher made it official that he will not run for the Senate presidency in 2016, Sen. Jack Latvala said he believes he has rounded up enough support to claim the office barring too many losses in this year’s elections. Latvala, R-Clearwater, did not specify how many pledge cards he had collected from members of the Senate’s GOP caucus, which will decide who will serve as president unless Democrats seize control of the chamber in this year’s elections, 2014 or 2016.

Race for Pinellas Senate seat getting nasty early

June 16, 2012, (Written by Steve Bousquet – Tampa Bay Times). TALLAHASSEE — The battle between a pair of Pinellas County House members for an open Senate seat is getting mean, and it’s just getting started. Reps. Jeff Brandes and Jim Frishe both want to be the new senator from District 22, which takes in South Pinellas and a chunk of Tampa.

Is the GOP Senate primary over? Connie Mack says so

June 18, 2012, (Written by Katie Sanders – Tampa Bay Times). U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV’s strategy to win the Republican primary for U.S. Senate is simple: ignore it. “We have a 33-point lead,” Mack said last week, explaining his decision to skip three televised GOP primary debates.

Is the GOP Senate primary over? Connie Mack says so

High court decision on health-care bill will set off a Florida scramble

June 17, 2012, (Writeen by Ledyard King – Florida Today). WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the 2010 health care reform law will set off a scramble in Florida — no matter what the court decides. A ruling upholding the entire law is expected to kick-start efforts to set up health exchanges for consumers, identify as many as 2 million uninsured Floridians who will be newly eligible for Medicaid, and dish out millions in insurance rebates to individuals and businesses.

Supervisors won’t purge voters without more proof

June 17, 2012, Written by Jeremy Wallace – Hearld-Tribune). Area election officials are not happy about being caught in the middle of a political war between Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the U.S. Justice Department over purging potential noncitizens from Florida’s voter rolls. Both Sarasota Elections Supervisor Kathy Dent and Manatee Supervisor Bob Sweat say they want noncitizens taken off their rolls as Scott is pushing for, but that they are finding errors in the lists of ineligible voters that the state has sent them.

Governor says Florida won’t push e-Verify law

June 15,2012, (Written by Tampa Bay Business Journal).At a Florida citrus industry annual conference in Bonita Springs, Gov. Rick Scott said that he would not support an e-Verify bill and knew of no effort to advance such a bill in the state assembly. That statement reversed a position Scott took two years ago, according to the Lakeland Ledger.

Obama sets campaign stop for Friday in Tampa

June 18, 2012, (Written by Times Staff – Tampa Bay Times). TAMPA — President Barack Obama is scheduled to make a campaign stop Friday at Hillsborough Community College’s Dale Mabry campus. His speech is free and open to the public, but tickets are required.

Poll: Big support for immigration plan

June 19, 2012, (Written by William Bergstrom – Politico). President Barack Obama’s order to halt the deportation of certain young illegal immigrants enjoys big public support, a new poll Tuesday found. The survey by Bloomberg found that 64 percent of likely voters approved of Obama’s new policy, while 30 percent disagreed