This is a shot from the fourth floor of the state Capitol today, where the official state motto, song, fruit, beverage, etc., etc., are fastened to the marble walls.

If you’ll notice — just below mention of the state reptile — some jokester has identified the state car as “The Electric Hasner.”

We should make clear there is no state car (yet) or particular automobile manufactured in Florida or anywhere else under the name “The Electric Hasner.”

But there is a House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, who trumpeted his use of an electric car during his campaign last year and is pushing a bill this year to create sales tax exemptions for electric cars.

Gov. Charlie Crist holds a press conference in front of a ginormous (his word) backdrop of the Everglades that the Department of Environmental Protection printed for the occasion. He's flanked by Highwayman paintings that normally hang in his office. (Bender | Post)

Listen to the press conference here
(Questions for Crist start at the 16:40 mark.)

New deal with U.S. Sugar:
• The price: $533 million, down from $1.34 billion
• The land: 72,500 acres south and west of Lake Okeechobee, down from 180,000 acres
• Other terms: The state has 10 years to decide whether to buy the remaining 107,500 acres. Through 2012, the state can match anyone else’s offer to purchase U.S. Sugar land between the Miami Canal and U.S. 27.
• Closing Date: Sept. 25

Reactions:
State Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid: “It’s a much better deal. It gives the company time to decide what their direction is and residents time to plan. It was the not knowing that was the scariest thing for the residents.”

Florida Crystals Vice President Gaston Cantens: “The issue is whether or not the governor is going to be able to get the flow-way. How will he acquire it? We own the land he needs for the flow-way. … It doesn’t appear they will have the money to buy more.”

(more…)

The U.S. Department of Education this morning published its application for a handful of states — including Florida — that need a special consideration to receive federal stimulus money for schools.

Congress wanted to withhold education money from states that have cut K-12 spending in recent years, but the U.S. DOE will approve the stabilization cash if states can prove that public schools still receive the same proportion of the state’s budget.

Commissioner Eric Smith said he hoped to return the application by the end of the week in order to get a ruling from the U.S. DOE by mid-April.

Here’s the link to the document the feds published. And we extracted the relevant part here.