PIP -- Florida's mandatory personal injury insurance coverage for car
owners -- doesn't go away until October and lawmakers as well as the
governor say they are bound to attempt a rescue before then.

That doesn't stop State Farm from filing new car insurance rates
without the coverage, and promising customers they'll save money by
doing away with the no-fault protection, which guarantees coverage for
medical bills no matter who is at fault in an accident.

Senate Banking and Insurance Chairman Bill Posey accuses the company
of "getting its cart before the horse" in a deliberate attempt to make
it more difficult for lawmakers to work out a PIP compromise.

Posey and his House counterpart, Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, have been
working since May on a PIP program they can both live with. The
Rockledge senator says he expects to take it up in another special
session, and Gov. Charlie Crist has already mentioned September as a
likely month.

Florida officials got a dose of cynical caution with their monthly
briefing on global climate change.

The rise in sea level is minute, and in rural Florida, temperatures
are actually dropping, Florida State University climatologist James
O'Brien told CFO Alex Sink and Cabinet members at Tuesday's climate
change briefing. "Climate change is important, but the part we need to
pay attention to is how fast it is happening," O'Brien urged.

His remarks go against the general theme of the workshops, started by
Sink and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, who is advocating the
development of crop-based fuels in Florida.

However, they were embraced by Attorney General Bill McCollum, the
most conservative voice on the Cabinet. For his own part, McCollum
passed out copies of a CNN documentary, "Climate of Fear." "It does show
that some of the things we've been scared about are not going to happen
that fast," McCollum said.

"It's not tomorrow," conceded Sink, "but we need to be worried about
it today ... you can't wait until it is right upon you."