Dara Kam - News Service of Florida

Lawyers for the state are seeking to sidestep mediation ordered by a federal judge, in a legal challenge to a controversial law championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis aimed at cracking down on violent protests.

A 13-year-old Broward County soccer player and her parents are challenging a new state law that bans transgender female athletes from participating on girls’ and women’s sports teams, arguing that it is unconstitutional and “ignores basic medical science” about trans students.

As lawmakers prepare to decide whether to approve a $2.5 billion gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the tribe is trying to assuage concerns about part of the agreement that could open the door to the legalization of online betting in the state.

With Democrats likening the measure to Jim Crow-era practices aimed at keeping Black people from voting, the state Senate has passed an elections package that would make it harder for Floridians to cast ballots by mail.

Civil-rights attorneys are challenging a new set of state laws that establish a crime of “mob intimidation” and enhance penalties for riot-related violence and looting, arguing in a federal lawsuit that the measures unconstitutionally “seek to arrest the peaceful expression of free speech.”

One of the 2021 legislative session’s most-controversial issues --- a sweeping elections package that would make it harder for Floridians to vote by mail --- is headed to the Senate floor for a vote, after a Republican-dominated committee signed off on the proposal Tuesday.

Florida Republican lawmakers are pushing ahead with sweeping election changes largely focused on making it more difficult for people to vote by mail, an effort mirrored in GOP-led state houses throughout the country.

Despite impassioned pleas from LGBT advocates, a Florida House panel on Wednesday approved a controversial proposal that would ban transgender girls and women from competing in women’s high school and college sports.

Four months ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis bragged that other states should emulate voting procedures in Florida, where former President Donald Trump’s solid Election Day victory over President Joe Biden was done and dusted long before midnight.

Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Mark Inch has been making the rounds in Tallahassee to pitch lawmakers on a plan to spend more than $26 million to shorten prison guards’ regular daily work shifts.

A years-long effort to block local governments from regulating vacation rentals is on the move again, as House and Senate leaders revive a proposal to prevent cities and counties from inspecting and licensing properties offered on platforms such as Airbnb.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has put a bullseye on tech giants he contends censor conservatives’ speech, but the social media apps and platforms he’s targeting are blockbusters for the state’s financial portfolio.

Ending a legal battle that started before the 2018 elections, a federal judge on Monday approved a settlement in which 31 counties agreed to take steps to provide Spanish-language ballots and other materials to voters.

As supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to block congressional certification of the 2020 election on Wednesday, Republican leaders in Florida released legislation aimed at cracking down on violent protests.

A fired Florida Department of Health data analyst who contends Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has manipulated COVID-19 statistics filed a lawsuit Sunday alleging state law-enforcement agents violated her rights when they searched her home and hauled away computer equipment.

Florida students will be able to continue to learn remotely through the second half of the school year as the state grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said Wednesday.

Forget purple state. And don't even think about blue state.

Florida Republicans dominated Tuesday's elections from the top of the ballot on down, leaving Democrats searching for answers after more than two decades of GOP control of the state.

In a tumultuous race that could help determine the fate of the White House, President Donald Trump beat Democrat Joe Biden in the battle Tuesday for Florida’s 29 electoral votes.

Reversing historical trends during economic downturns, state college enrollment has dropped dramatically as the coronavirus pandemic continues to plague Florida.

Florida elections officials this week told local supervisors of elections that convicted felons with outstanding court-ordered debts will be included in lists of flagged voters who should potentially be removed from the rolls.

Saying “this court cannot remedy what the state broke,” a federal judge on Friday reluctantly refused to give Floridians more time to register to vote after a state online system crashed in the hours before Monday’s deadline to sign up for the November presidential election.

A federal judge on Thursday hammered lawyers for Florida elections officials over a meltdown of the state’s online voter-registration system in the hours leading up to a Monday deadline, suggesting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration did not take adequate steps to address the problems that prevented thousands of people from accessing the website.

Desmond Meade graduated from law school, made it onto Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people and was at the forefront of a successful crusade to restore voting rights to convicted felons in Florida.

In a rebuke to Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Supreme Court on Friday unanimously rejected his selection of a circuit judge to serve on the Supreme Court and gave the governor until noon Monday to appoint another candidate from a list of nominees offered early this year.

Just one week after health officials signed off on guidelines for edible pot products, Florida’s largest medical marijuana operator on Wednesday began selling THC-infused candies in Tallahassee.

Hot dogs, cold sandwiches and Hot Pockets admittedly aren’t fancy fare.

Accusing the state of ignoring the Florida Constitution, a Leon County circuit judge on Monday sided with teachers unions that challenged a state order mandating that schools resume in-person instruction this month amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

As children return to classrooms throughout Florida, local school officials, teachers and doctors are picking apart a state mandate requiring schools to resume in-person instruction this month amid the coronavirus pandemic.