Jim Saunders/News Service of Florida

A Florida federal judge Wednesday refused to allow conservation groups to intervene in a lawsuit to help defend a rule aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales, after the groups expressed concerns about the Trump administration’s commitment to the protections.

Florida Power & Light says its proposed base-rate increases will provide stability and keep customers’ electric bills below the national average.Opponents describe the multibillion-dollar proposal in terms such as “extravagant” and “excessive” and say it needs to be reduced.

Environmental groups Friday gave formal notice that they could sue federal and state agencies over alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act at an immigrant-detention center in the Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”The notice was in addition to a lawsuit filed June 27 that alleges violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, a federal law that requires evaluating potential environmental impacts before such a project can move forward.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier that would have at least temporarily allowed enforcement of a new state law targeting undocumented immigrants who enter the state.Uthmeier last month asked the Supreme Court for a stay of a temporary injunction that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued in April to block the law. Such a stay, if granted, would have allowed enforcement of the law while an underlying legal battle about the injunction played out.

Jacob Rodgers was a passenger in a friend’s pickup truck on the evening of Oct. 7, 2015, when the driver of a Gainesville city utility vehicle ran a stop sign and hit the pickup.Rodgers, then 20, was thrown from the pickup and suffered injuries that left him paralyzed. Now, nearly a decade later, Florida lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis have approved a bill directing the city to pay $10.8 million to Rodgers.The bill (HB 6521) was one of nine “claim” bills that lawmakers approved this year directing state and local government agencies to provide compensation for injuries, a death and a case of wrongful incarceration.

The Trump administration Thursday argued a federal judge should deny a request to block operation of a detention center in the Everglades for undocumented immigrants, saying Florida has been responsible for the project dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”U.S. Department of Justice attorneys filed a nine-page document opposing a request by environmental groups for a temporary restraining order to halt operation of the facility. Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit last week, accompanied by the request for a temporary restraining order.And the first group of immigrants has arrived at the new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades, a spokesperson for Republican state Attorney General James Uthmeier told The Associated Press.

A divided federal appeals court Wednesday backed a 2023 Florida law that requires teachers to use pronouns that align with their sex assigned at birth, rejecting arguments that the law violated First Amendment rights of a transgender teacher in Hillsborough County.A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, overturned a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued last year to block enforcement of the law against high-school teacher Katie Wood.

As Minnesota reels from the murder of one state lawmaker and the shooting of another, Florida could shield from public disclosure the home addresses of legislators, other elected officials and their family members.

Nearly a month after leaving the Capitol without passing a budget, House and Senate leaders said Friday night they had reached an agreement that will clear the way for lawmakers to begin hammering out details of a spending plan Tuesday.

The company that operates Snapchat asked a federal judge this week to put on hold — or reject — a lawsuit filed by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier alleging violations of a 2024 state law aimed at keeping children off some social-media platforms.Attorneys for Snap Inc. argued in a 49-page filing Wednesday that Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker should issue a stay of Uthmeier’s lawsuit while a case filed last year by the tech-industry groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association plays out. The industry groups, which allege the law (HB 3) violates First Amendment rights, are seeking a preliminary injunction to block the measure.