Florida became the 30th state, along with the District of Columbia and the U.S Virgin Islands, to offer the game.

The next Powerball drawing will be held on Wednesday, for an estimated jackpot of $105 million. But the odds of winning are pretty long - or 1 in 195 million to be exact.

To learn more about the game and read stories from some of the recent winners, visit Powerball.com.

The Jaguars, Buccaneers, and Dolphins may soon have some pro-football competition. Well, sort of.

Orlando has been identified by the new United Football League as a likely site for a founding franchise to play during the league’s 2009 inaugural season. The new league is rumored to be partly backed by billionaire Mark Cuban who is expected to own a Las Vegas team.

Michael Huyghue has been selected as the UFL’s first commissioner. Prior to joining the upstart league, Huyghue was the first Vice-President for personnel for the Jaguars, joining the team in 1994. Huyghue was hired by the Jags primarily for his expertise regarding the salary cap, but he was also the first African American to be placed in charge of personnel decisions for any NFL team.

Huyghue left the Jaguars in 2001 to start his own business venture, Axcess Sports & Entertainment. Now he’s working overtime to create a viable professional-quality football alternative to the NFL.

And you really can’t say the UFL lacks ambition. The expectation is that they will play during the Fall, with games scheduled on Friday nights. That puts them in direct competition with High School football, and creates yet another football option at a time when fans will already have the NFL and college games to keep up with.

The league has chosen six cities thus far as the target sites for founding teams: New York, LA, San Francisco, Hartford, Orlando, and Las Vegas. That would be followed by expansion teams in places like Salt Lake City and elsewhere. With the exception of New York and San Francisco the UFL is mostly avoiding direct geographic competition with the NFL — at least for now.

This is not Orlando’s first brush with “professional” football. The city most recently hosted a franchise in the short-lived XFL, which folded following its 2001 season. The Orlando Rage went 8-2 in the regular season and then lost a playoff game. The team name has actually been revived in recent years as a minor league football team that plays in a Florida-based league.

Thus far, the UFL seems to be on the right track byhiring people with mainstream football and mass-media experience… and planning to offer fans real football. Hopefully, the new league will meet a bit more success than the wrestling-infused XFL did.

The team at InsideFlorida.com put together a list of they’re favorite holiday events in Florida. The highlights include Ice Carvings in Orlando, Sleigh Rides in St Augustine, and the world largest Christmas Theme Park in Miami. Click here to see a complete list of all of the holiday events.

Also highlighted are 23 Florida tree farms, including the farm that supplied the state’s Christmas tree to the Governor in Tallahassee. At these Florida Christmas Tree Farms customers can select and cut down a Christmas tree, get a potted tree, and pick strawberries.

Morton’s is located at 1510 Riverplace Blvd. - for information and reservations call 904-399-3933. You can also visit www.mortons.com to make online reservations or to view their full menu.

A more swanky miniature hamburger you will not find.

The following is the complete schedule of the drawings for next year:

POWERBALL Wed. and Sat., 10:59 p.m. ET
FLORIDA LOTTO Wed. and Sat., 11:15 p.m. ET
MEGA MONEY Tues. and Fri., 11:15 p.m. ET
FANTASY 5 Daily, 11:15 p.m. ET
PLAY 4 Daily, 1:30 p.m. and 7:57 p.m. ET
CASH 3 Daily, 1:30 p.m. and 7:57 p.m. ET

By a two-to-one margin, Florida voters in 1986 approved a constitutional amendment authorizing the state to operate a lottery for the purpose of generating significant additional funds for education. Operators boast that since 1988, the Florida Lottery has contributed more than $19 billion to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund, benefiting students and schools, as well as helping to fund more than a million Bright Futures scholarships.

The tree lighting ceremony is creeping closer on the calendar. It will be lit the day after Thanksgiving, this year on Nov. 28. The new artificial tree is much “greener” than the trees that have graced the courtyard in years past. In addition to not killing one of the planet’s 120-year-old oxygen generators, as was the case with the trees brought down from North Carolina, the new display didn’t have to be trucked to Florida on a flat-bed truck. The LED lights on this year’s “tannenbaum” consume less than 10 percent of the electricity previously required to spread holiday cheer on the Northbank Riverwalk, further reducing the carbon footprint.

Personally, I think it’s a good thing if they’ve come up with something to save money and energy… but it’s just not the same. And while it’s good they’re using LEDs… it’s a seperate issue from the fact that they’re not using a real tree this time around. Certainly a real tree could be decorated with LED lights.

Either way, the 22nd Annual Tree Lighting will happen on November 28, 2008 at 7pm.

Blais, pictured below on the left, is best known as the runner-up in Season Four of Bravo’s hit cooking competition Top Chef. He admitted in the final episode that he had “choked” in the last challenge on Top Chef. Currently, Blais works as the Executive Chef at a restaurant in Atlanta and his company is consulting on a modern hamburger restaurant called ‘Flip’.

To reserve tickets for this great event, click here.

Here’s a video from their recent performance on Letterman…

The Playtime was one of only six remaining drive-in theaters still in operation around the state.  According to their sign, the theather is currently showing Indiana Jones, the Chronicles of Narnia, What Happens in Vegas, and Iron Man.  Their website hasn’t been updated in a while, still listing movies from several years ago.

But frankly, I’m just not that excited about the line-up of films or the change in venues.  The San Marco locations from last year were, in my opinion, ideal for this event.

I’d much rather see a film at the San Marco Theater than the Times-Union Center… or visit Theatre Jacksonville rather than going down to Fuel in the middle of the night.  Not that I have anything against Five Points, but the atmosphere in San Marco seems like more of a fit for a film festival.

So I will probably check out a couple of the screenings, but if you’re looking for in depth coverage of the film fest I would suggest checking out Urban Jacksonville.  Joey Marchy and company are planning to cover the event and have already provided a pretty good list of resources for festival-goers.

Update: JaxCal.org is also going to be blogging the Film Festival.