Jim Saunders/News Service of Florida

After a district judge found “animus” toward transgender people, a federal appeals court Wednesday heard arguments in a battle about a Florida law and regulations that restrict treatments for people with gender dysphoria.A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals took up Florida’s appeal of a decision last year by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle that the restrictions were unconstitutionally discriminatory.

Proposed rate increases that could have taken effect Jan. 1 for customers of the state’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. remain unresolved — with any hikes now unlikely to hit customers’ bills for months.The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has not ruled on the proposal, which the Citizens Board of Governors approved in June. The proposal, for example, could lead to an average 13.5 percent rate increase for the most-common type of Citizens policy, known as homeowners’ multi-peril coverage.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for a man convicted of brutally murdering a couple at a Charlotte County sod farm in 1997.James D. Ford, 64, is scheduled to be executed Feb. 13 at Florida State Prison in the murders of Greg and Kimberly Malnory. It would be the first execution this year in Florida and would come after one inmate was executed in 2024.

Two years after Republican lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a controversial measure restricting the use of personal pronouns in schools, legislative debate about the gender-related issue could shift to cities and counties.John Labriola, a lobbyist for Christian Family Coalition Florida, told Marion County lawmakers Wednesday that his organization would like to see restrictions in the 2023 education law extended to city and county governments.

In what could be a first-of-its-kind ruling in Florida, an appeals court Tuesday said a drug-sniffing dog's alert did not justify police searching a car because the dog could not differentiate between medical marijuana and illegal pot.The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal in a Lake County case could add complexity to police searching vehicles without obtaining warrants.

An Alico news release Monday described the changes as a “strategic transformation to become a diversified land company.” It said the company owns 53,371 acres of land in eight Florida counties and about 48,700 acres of oil, gas and mineral rights.

Florida's Attorney General is continuing a fight against what her office calls a violation of state Civil Rights laws by Starbucks.

he U.S. House Committee on Ethics released a report Monday alleging that former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz “regularly” paid women for sex, used illegal drugs and violated state laws.The committee released the 37-page report more than a month after Gaetz, a Republican, resigned from Congress. The report followed years of allegations and investigations into Gaetz’s conduct, including accusations that he engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl.

Growing faster than almost any other state, Florida’s estimated population topped 23.3 million people this year, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.The Census Bureau estimated that Florida had 23,372,215 people as of July 1, up from 22,904,868 a year earlier. Florida’s increase of 467,347 people was second only to Texas, which gained 562,941.

Florida education leaders are trying to fend off a lawsuit filed by major publishing companies and authors over the removal of books from school libraries, disputing allegations that a controversial state law violates the First Amendment.