Five of today’s top Florida political stories at your fingertips:

Five state attorneys attack Charlie Crist’s comments on revising gun laws: A group of five state attorneys criticized former Gov. Charlie Crist over comments he made last week saying Florida’s 10-20-Life laws needed to be reviewed. Crist said the state should review its Stand Your Ground law as well as the 10-20-Life law during the Florida Press Association and the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors’ convention in Coral Gables. “I’m always open-minded to looking at those kinds of things,” Crist said. “When you’re faced with new facts, I think you ought to listen.” Crist supported both measures while he was governor. “Laws like 10-20-Life give us the ability to keep violent criminals off the streets and are a big reason why Florida is at a 43-year crime low,” wrote the attorneys. Read more

Saying ‘time is of the essence’ plaintiffs want remedy in redistricting case: The voters groups who succeeded in getting the state’s congressional map thrown out of court last week asked a judge on Monday to expedite a hearing to set a schedule for repairing the state’s congressional redistricting map. “In light of forthcoming congressional elections, time is of the essence for drawing a remedial congressional plan and completing the proceedings necessary for completion of this case,” wrote the League of Women Voters and the voters who brought the case asked in a motion filed wth Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis. Read more

NRCC: Nancy Pelosi’s fingerprints all over Gwen Graham’s campaign: Democratic congressional candidate Gwen Graham is drawing fire from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) for going after Washington, even as she follows a game plan honed by national Democrats and used by their candidates across the nation. Graham, the daughter of Bob Graham, who served three terms in the U.S. Senate and two terms as governor, is running against U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla. Despite serving as an aide to her father and two Democratic presidential candidates in the 2004 election cycle, then-U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and former Gov. Howard Dean, D-Vt.. Graham is stressing she is a political outsider. Read more

‘Training Tests’ give sneak peek at new statewide assessment: Move over, FCAT — there’s a new test in town. Earlier this year, the Florida Department of Education debuted the state’s new education standards, which were more closely aligned with the Common Core State Standards. As a result of the new education standards, the department selected the American Institutes for Research to develop a new assessment test, and the Florida Standards Assessment was born. The Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) will be hitting schools in the Sunshine State for the 2014-2015 academic year, replacing the FCAT which has dominated Florida’s student testing for the last 15 years. Read more

John Morgan: I’ve rounded up $6 million for medical marijuana amendment: Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan has seen casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, and he’s raising him. The primary booster for Florida’s medical marijuana constitutional amendment says he has rustled up roughly $6 million in donations to pay for ads and voter-mobilization efforts — a direct response to Sheldon, the Las Vegas casino magnate who has given $2.5 million to a Drug Free Florida group founded by law enforcement officials fighting the amendment. “It seems like the more the other side comes up with money, the more comes to us,” Morgan said Monday. Read more

For more Florida political news, visit BPR’s FLORIDA NEWS page

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Tom Tillison

Senior Staff Writer
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.

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