From the News Service of Florida:

1 – The Economy and dismal budget it wrought

2 – Gov. Charlie Crist’s decision to run for Senate instead of a second term, leading to a host of other career move ideas for the state’s politicians.

3 – The ongoing saga of former Speaker Ray Sansom, indicted then largely cleared of criminal charges, but still under scrutiny for his role in steering budget money to a college that then gave him a job, and potentially to a contributor for what some said was a dubious project.

4 – The fracturing of the Republican Party of Florida and the pressure on its chairman, Jim Greer.

5 – In a special session, lawmakers approve a passenger rail package aimed at showing the state’s commitment to train travel in hopes of getting federal support for a broad network of rails to carry people around the state and get some of them off the choked highways. This could, in the long run, prove a visionary move that changes dramatically the way people get around here, or a huge boondoggle that dots the landscape with un-used train tracks seemingly to nowhere.

6 – New oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could also change for the state dramatically over the long run for the better or worse, depending on who you ask. This may also end up being one of the top 10 stories of 2010.

7 – Unemployment reaches a 34-year high.

8 – The state’s efforts to get a cut of Seminole gambling expansion get mired in philosophical disagreements about gaming.

9 – A bit below the radar, but there was a notable shift this year in thinking on insurance rates. After several years of dealing with high premiums through government intervention, or price controls, lawmakers in Florida have decided to shift toward a market approach. A deregulation bill passed the House and Senate but was vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist. Lawmakers voted to end a two-year freeze on rates for customers of Citizens Property Insurance.

10 – Tea anyone? The Tea Partiers held up health care town halls, propped up the candidacies of a couple unlikely outsiders, and by the end of the year, tried to join the mainstream by creating a new political party.

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