Jim Saunders | News Service of Florida

More than four months after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the idea, the Florida House on Wednesday began a renewed effort to repeal a decades-old law that has prevented some people from pursuing key damages in medical-malpractice lawsuits.

After jettisoning a “counter proposal,” state regulators Monday waded into a rate case that could lead to Florida Power & Light customers paying billions of additional dollars in the coming years.

Pointing to laws allowing use of medical marijuana and hemp, a state appeals court Wednesday reversed course and said police officers can’t search vehicles only on the basis of smelling cannabis.

The state Office of Public Counsel, which is designated by law to represent utility customers, and allied consumer groups urged the Florida Public Service Commission this week to reconsider a decision that dismissed the counter proposal.

Three major hospital systems have challenged a new state proposal about approving organ-transplant programs, alleging it does not include adequate safeguards for quality of care.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for a man convicted in the 1990 murders of a couple in Miami-Dade County, as the state continues a record-setting year for executions.

FPL quickly criticized the new proposal, which was filed Tuesday by the state Office of Public Counsel — an agency designated in law to represent consumers in utility issues — and four groups that are parties in the FPL case.

The state filed a notice of appealing a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams that prevents additional construction and bringing additional detainees to the facility, which the state has dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Williams also ordered the removal within 60 days of temporary fencing, detention-center lighting and such things as generators.

FPL reached the proposed settlement with the Florida Industrial Power Users Group; the Florida Retail Federation; Americans for Affordable Clean Energy; the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy; Walmart Inc. and others.

Details of the potential settlement have not been released, and some parties in the case — including the state Office of Public Counsel, which is designated by law to represent consumers — have not signed on.

The developments late Friday afternoon added uncertainty to a closely watched case that has involved FPL seeking rate increases that would lead to customers paying billions of dollars in the coming years.

The case centered on Congressional District 5, which in the past stretched from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee, and elected Black Democrat Al Lawson. During the 2022 redistricting process, DeSantis argued that keeping such a district would be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander and successfully pressured lawmakers to overhaul the district.