Session Roundup: All over but the budget

To the extent that any legislative session is remembered, the 2017 edition might be remembered as much for what lawmakers didn't do as for what they did. Even if last minute legislation is approved, this Legislature will not be able to avoid being one of the least active in terms of bills passed since at least 1998, as far back as online records go More from WJXT, the Times/Herald, and the Florida Times-Union.

See also:
» State budget headed for today's vote (PDF - 452 pages)
» If Rick Scott vetoes budget, House Speaker says they have votes to override
» What's $419 million and 278 pages? An education bill that state lawmakers vote on today
» Florida's medical marijuana deal goes up in smoke
» Winners, losers during the 2017 legislative session
» John Morgan and other medical pot supporters call for special session after Legislature's inaction

Your turn:
» Do you think Gov. Rick Scott veto all or part of the 2017 budget? (quick poll)

Offshore drilling opponents gear up for Gulf fight

Offshore drilling opponents in Florida are bracing for a potential fight as oil groups say they are eyeing potential exploration in the eastern Gulf, a prospect buoyed by the Trump administration's recent review of federal offshore drilling policies. [Source: The Hill]

Democrats hope health care vote could upend Florida GOP

Democrats think their chances of taking back the House next year got a major lift with Thursday’s approval of a Republican bill to fundamentally reshape Obamacare. Independent political handicappers predict that a number of seats held by Republicans in Florida could be more competitive as a result of the vote. [Source: Fort Myers News-Press]

Florida officials blame arsonists for 320 wildfires in 2017

Florida officials say arsonists have ignited about 320 wildfires so far this year, burning more than 20,000 acres across the state. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said severe drought conditions have increased the wildfire threat statewide, but arson causes many blazes. [Source: WFTX]

Push to legalize fantasy sports fails in Florida

A last-minute push to clear up the murky legal status of fantasy sports in Florida failed in the waning moments of the legislative session. Late Friday, the Florida House rejected a proposal that fantasy sports are legal and not subject to regulation. [Source: AP]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› After construction setbacks, science museum opens in Miami [AP]
A long-awaited science museum is set to open to the public in Miami. The Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science will open Monday in downtown Miami after five years of construction.

› Jacksonville mayor declines consideration as Florida chief financial officer [Florida Times-Union]
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry has taken himself out of consideration to become Florida’s next chief financial officer.

› Lockheed Martin is moving ballistic missile jobs to Florida [AP]
Lockheed Martin Corp. plans to move about 300 ballistic missile program jobs from California to Florida's Space Coast over the next two years.

› Ringling College’s Goldstein Library will draw archi-tourists to north Sarasota [Sarasota Herald Tribune]
Sarasota’s architectural tour circuit has a new attraction — the Alfred R. Goldstein Library at the Ringling College of Art and Design. Designed by Shepley Bulfinch, a large architecture firm in Boston, the building opened this year to much fanfare.

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› VISIT FLORIDA deal paid TV fishing show producer $2.8 million in taxpayers' money [Naples Daily News]
Since the first deal was made in 2012, VISIT FLORIDA paid Pat Roberts $2.8 million in taxpayer money for the show and allowed him to keep all of the advertising and sponsorship revenue. He even got a $175,000 boat out of the deal from one of the sponsors.

› Sonic boom shocks Central Florida [WFTV]
A sonic boom shocked Central Floridians early Sunday morning after the Air Force landed a secret military aircraft at Kennedy Space Center. The X37B is an unmanned secret military shuttle, which as been orbiting the Earth for more than a year on its fourth flight.

Florida's Movers & Influencers See some of Florida's top executive moves, board appointments, civic accomplishments, and more at Florida Trend's Movers & Influencers. Each profile appears in three places: in a weekly eNewsletter, online at FloridaTrend.com and in a monthly print issue of Florida Trend. Read more here.

› Chinese investors call St. Petersburg a gourmet paradise but some of their houses leave a bad taste [Tampa Bay Times]
More than 75,000 times, viewers in China have clicked on the website of a company touting investment opportunities overseas. And one of the best places Chinese citizens can put their money, the company says, is St. Petersburg, Florida.

› SegAna startup pitches 'phantom lung' innovation, seeks investors [Orlando Sentinel]
The concept for a lung simulator, which can help oncologists deliver radiation more precisely to tumors in the lungs, proved irresistible to a man who has built companies from the ground up into multi-million-dollar businesses.