Dara Kam, News Service of Florida

Florida Republicans gained four seats in the state Senate on Tuesday, ousting two incumbents as Democrats were eclipsed in the midterm elections up and down the ballot.

State Rep. Jackie Toledo, a Tampa Republican who lost a primary bid for a congressional seat in August, has filed a lawsuit accusing campaign manager Fred Piccolo --- a former spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis --- of sending her “unwanted, unsolicited, inappropriate and grossly offensive harassing text messages and images.”

Pay hikes, shorter shifts and shuttering facilities are some of the strategies Florida has employed to try to rehabilitate a prison system that leaders have said is in crisis.

With both claiming to be Florida Democrats’ best bet to defeat Gov. Ron DeSantis in November, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried traded barbs Thursday in their only debate before next month’s primary election.

As a national debate rages over gun laws after last month’s mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, proponents of “red-flag” policies point to a Florida law as a model for states seeking to strip deadly weapons from people who could cause harm.

In a closely watched case that could have national repercussions, a federal appeals court on Tuesday peppered attorneys with questions in a lawsuit over whether a Northeast Florida high school should have prevented a transgender male student from using boys’ bathrooms.

Gambling on sports is off the table in Florida, at least for now, after the Seminole Tribe suspended its online sports-betting operations Saturday morning.

As Republicans throughout the nation continue to refuse to acknowledge former President Donald Trump’s re-election loss to Democrat Joe Biden nearly a year ago, Florida supervisors of elections are pleading with candidates and elected officials to tamp down the rhetoric.

A labor shortage has unleashed a litany of problems for Florida employers scrambling to fill vacant slots and hold on to workers. But for some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens who receive around-the-clock care in residential facilities, the competition for workers is having more dire consequences.

Trulieve, the state’s largest medical marijuana operator, is now the nation’s biggest cannabis retailer, after closing on a $2.1 billion deal to acquire former competitor Harvest Health & Recreation Inc.

Despite pushback earlier this year for a plan to shutter some state prisons in Florida’s rural regions where the communities rely on their economic impact, the Florida Department of Corrections is moving forward with “strategically consolidating” several Northeast Florida prisons.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ management of COVID-19 may be boosing his countrywide cachet among Republicans but is drawing fire as Democrats and local health leaders.