Jim Saunders - News Service of Florida

As part of a flurry of last-minute pardons and commutations, President Donald Trump granted pardons to five former executives of WellCare Health Plans who were convicted in a case involving allegations of defrauding Florida’s Medicaid program.

Florida House attorneys next week will try to convince an appeals court that a former legislator should be shielded from a lawsuit filed by a one-time aide who alleges she was fired after reporting improper conduct.

Federal prosecutors have asked an appeals court to uphold the conviction of former Congresswoman Corrine Brown on fraud and tax charges, pushing back against arguments that a juror was improperly replaced after he said the “Holy Spirit” told him Brown was not guilty.

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.

It will be a lot harder to put proposed constitutional amendments on the 2022 ballot in Florida.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp. leaders Wednesday supported looking for ways to increase homeowners’ rates, as they try to stem a flood of new policies at the state-backed insurer.

An appeals court has tossed out a challenge by the Leon County Republican Party chairman to a county requirement that people wear face masks to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

More than seven years after an 8-year-old girl was abducted from a Jacksonville Walmart, raped and murdered, the Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments this week about whether a man sentenced to death in the slaying should receive a new trial.

State regulators Tuesday approved a Florida Power & Light pilot program aimed at adding electric-vehicle charging stations, while also signing off on an FPL plan that will offer help with electric bills to some small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 1, just weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic, 7,773 people in Florida had tested positive for the insidious disease. By July 1, that total was up to 158,997. On Oct. 1, it had leaped to 709,144.

Saying judges should use “utmost caution” when disqualifying jurors based on religious beliefs, attorneys for former Jacksonville area Congresswoman Corrine Brown urged a federal appeals court Monday to order a new trial in her challenge to a conviction on fraud and tax charges.

A federal appeals court next week will wade into a battle about whether Jacksonville-based Florida Blue, the state’s largest health insurer, violated antitrust laws by preventing agents from selling policies for a rival insurance company.

As he defeated Democrat Joe Biden in Florida, President Donald Trump on Tuesday used a familiar Republican playbook for statewide races: dominate in rural and mid-sized counties and try to hold down losses in urban areas.

In a legal fight that started after the 2018 mass shooting at a Parkland high school, attorneys for the state and the National Rifle Association this month detailed dueling arguments about the constitutionality of a Florida law that prevents people under age 21 from buying guns.

Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum said in a television interview aired Monday that he is bisexual, as he continues to re-enter the public spotlight after a March incident in which he was found intoxicated in a Miami Beach hotel room.

As the possibility of another close presidential race looms in Florida, elections supervisors in eight large counties have gone to a state appeals court in a dispute about whether they should be required to preserve digital images generated when voters cast ballots.

State House members Kimberly Daniels and Mike Hill, who clashed with other members of their parties because of sometimes-controversial positions and statements, were unseated Tuesday, while Rep. Al Jacquet also appeared headed toward defeat.

Community organizer Angie Nixon easily defeated Daniels in the Democratic primary in Duval County’s House District 14. With only a write-in opponent on the November ballot, the primary win virtually assured that Nixon will become the district’s next representative.

Weighing privacy issues, a federal appeals court has sided with a transgender student who argued his constitutional rights were violated when the St. Johns County school district prevented him from using boys’ restrooms at his high school.

Florida’s COVID-19 cases have raced passed 200,000 with thousands of positive test results pouring in every day.

In the second similar ruling in recent months, a federal judge has rejected UF Health Jacksonville’s arguments in a case about whether it should be shielded from being required to turn over records to a patient in a medical-malpractice dispute.

Alleging “inferior” online classes after campuses closed this spring because of the coronavirus, a Florida International University student has filed what is at least the third potential class-action lawsuit seeking refunds for students in the state university system.

Turning down arguments about property rights, a federal judge has rejected a challenge to a 2018 constitutional amendment that will end greyhound racing in Florida.