Highlights from a news story in today’s St. Pete Times on the budget just approved by NRSC-endorsed candidate Charlie Crist:

TALLAHASSEE — Breaking a pledge against raising taxes, Gov. Charlie Crist signed Florida’s $66.5 billion budget into law Wednesday and barely used his veto pen. … Also, the budget includes $2.2 billion in new fees and taxes. … Democrats, particularly in the House, assailed the tax hikes. … By not vetoing the new taxes, Crist violated a no-new-taxes pledge he made on the campaign trail in 2006. He also has signed an antitax pledge geared toward governors, written by the conservative Washington group Americans for Tax Reform. Earlier this month, the Republican governor signed a similar no-new-taxes pledge for federal candidates now that he’s running for the U.S. Senate.