LEON COUNTY

The estimated cash value of Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot is $266 million.

A Leon County circuit judge heard arguments in a battle about a congressional redistricting plan that Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through the Legislature last year, amid clashing positions about the Florida Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday morning announced the suspension of Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell, effective immediately.

After the Senate gave final approval Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday quickly signed a bill aimed at helping shield businesses and insurance companies from lawsuits.

A 16-year-old girl died when multiple trees fell onto a vehicle she was in during a storm, according to sheriff's officials.

Florida lawmakers are announcing a bill that aims to make certain antisemitic acts a hate crime.

‘We need to just hear out these issues,’ judge says.

The Florida Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday about whether the identities of law-enforcement officers should be shielded to bolster crime victims’ rights.

A Leon County circuit judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a South Florida senator challenging the use of state funds to transport migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, but advised how to revamp the legal complaint so the case can move forward.

Police are investigating a shooting in Florida’s capital city that left one dead and eight wounded after “dozens and dozens” of shots were fired.

Florida’s governor and emergency management leaders say the Federal Emergency Management Agency is already assisting the state in preparing for Ian’s impact.

An appellate court has upheld a lower court ruling that a parentless 16-year-old girl in the Florida Panhandle is not “sufficiently mature” to end her pregnancy while seeking a waiver from a state law requiring minors to get parental consent for an abortion.

Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper said the new 15-week abortion ban, signed in April by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, violates Florida’s constitution.

A Tallahassee police officer died Wednesday after a crash with a man accused of shooting three members of his own family, according to a joint release from the Tallahassee Police Department and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.

The League of Women Voters was one of the first groups to file a lawsuit against the state of Florida after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off on new district maps in April.

Overriding objections from Democrats who called the measure “wrong on all levels,” the Republican-controlled Florida House on Thursday passed a bill that would limit how race-related concepts are taught in schools and in workplace training sessions.

The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition spent Wednesday in Tallahassee to observe Returning Citizens Legislative Advocacy Day 2022.

A state appeals court Thursday said a family did not have a “legal right” to force Mayo Clinic Florida to administer the controversial drug ivermectin to try to keep alive a COVID-19 patient who was on a ventilator.

A law named and filed in the honor of a murdered Central Florida student has cleared its first hurdle in the State Senate.

An accused arsonist was arrested in Tallahassee on Saturday after an Orlando house fire that left one man dead, police said.

Nearly a decade after concerns emerged about “medically fragile” children being placed in nursing homes, a federal appeals court will not reconsider a decision that allowed the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue a lawsuit against Florida.

A Florida lawmaker from Tallahassee has filed legislation to make sure Floridians in long-term care facilities have the right to designate an essential caregiver for in-person visits.

Gov. Ron DeSantis will speak at the state Capitol building Thursday where he’s expected to announce the 2022 Florida budget.

When Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature kicks off its special session Monday, lawmakers will consider several bills aimed at banning vaccine mandates and empowering parents to challenge vaccine and mask mandates in schools.

A Leon County circuit judge has refused to block a state law that bans so-called “vaccine passports,” rejecting arguments by a Sarasota business that the law violates First Amendment rights.

Two Central Florida school boards submitted letters Thursday responding to the state’s 48-hour notice to comply with mask requirements.

The Florida State Health Department has started sending out official notices of violations and fines for 'vaccination passport' violations.

The Florida Department of Health is now making good on Gov. Ron DeSantis's threats to punish any local government that mandated vaccines as a condition of employment for its workers.

Florida has issued its first fine to a county it says violated a new state law banning coronavirus vaccine mandates and for firing fired 14 workers who failed to get the shots.

A Florida missing child alert was issued for a 15-year-old boy in the Panhandle who last seen Wednesday.

A Florida woman convicted of helping mastermind the killing of her husband more than two decades ago has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after a previous life sentence was tossed on appeal.

Florida school districts can legally require their students to wear face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 after Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper filed his decision he made during a ruling last week.

A Leon County court ruled against a lawsuit that would have compelled the state ofl Florida to restore federal unemployment benefits.

Orange County Schools was the only school district in Central Florida to join 9 others, in enacting mask mandates despite the Governor's executive order banning school districts from doing so. However, after a Leon County judge ruled districts actually can enact masks mandates, Orange County School Board Chairwoman Teresa Jacobs felt relief.

A hearing in a high-profile lawsuit challenging Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order aimed at preventing local school boards from imposing student mask mandates is ready for closing arguments on Thursday.

Outside of the Orange County Public School headquarters, pressure is mounting for the school board to enact mask mandates with no option of opting out as parents, teachers and educators call for a mask mandate.

New developments are expected this week involving two lawsuits that could impact students across the state as the debate over masks in the classroom returns to the courtroom.

A key committee in the Florida House moved a police training bill forward Thursday which includes a provision preventing the arrest of children 7 and younger.

Ron DeSantis signed a new bill into law, protecting businesses, schools and other institutions from liability related to the COVID-19 pandemic during a somewhat unconventional news conference Monday in Tallahassee. Before the governor spoke, Highway 85, a band based in Tallahassee, performed a rendition of The Beatles’ “With a little help from my friends.”When The Governor’s calls and wants Highway 85, they get Highway 85! Tune in to The Florida Channel at 12:55 for the press conference 😎😎😎 Posted by Highway 85 on Monday, March 29, 2021Following the song, the governor spoke about SB 72. “What this bill does, it says if you’re doing the right things, you’re protected,” Sprowls said. Ad“I also think that this particular vaccine would be totally inappropriate to mandate for kids, given how low of a risk kids are to COVID-19,” DeSantis said.

Leon County jail records showed most were taken into custody for resisting officers and assembling unlawfully. They were met by a phalanx of law officers from the Tallahassee Police Department, Leon County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Highway Patrol, as well officers from the nearby Capitol and Florida State University. For months, activists have staged rallies in Tallahassee to bring attention to police killings they say were unjustified. The incident led Leon County to put in place a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. While the grand jury declined to hand down indictments against the police officers, it found areas of concern.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida education leaders joined the governor and medical professionals Monday to reinforce the state’s stance on reopening schools and allowing in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. Do the virtual, and really not fall far behind,” DeSantis said about the enhanced virtual opportunities available to students. Atlas was making at least three stops with DeSantis around the state Monday, including in Tampa and The Villages. “If you have a cough you’re three times as likely to spread than if you don’t have a cough,” he said. “We have the data, there’s extraordinarily low risk in children, there’s extraordinarily very low risk in everybody else in the school.

Siding with teachers unions, a Leon County circuit judge Thursday lifted a stay of his earlier ruling that a state order requiring schools to reopen in August is unconstitutional. Under law, that notice of appeal automatically placed a stay on Dodson’s ruling --- effectively putting it on hold until the Tallahassee-based appeals court can resolve the case. Late Tuesday, attorneys for the Florida Education Association and the Orange County teachers union asked Dodson to lift the stay. In Thursday’s order, Dodson scolded the state for misrepresenting his temporary injunction. What the order did, for the reasons stated, is require that local school districts be given authority under their individual circumstances to open or close the local schools, based on local conditions,” the judge wrote.

After four hours of arguments Monday, a Leon County circuit judge will decide whether to move forward with a potential class-action lawsuit stemming from massive problems in Florida’s unemployment-compensation system. Attorneys for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and Deloitte Consulting, a contractor that helped put the online system in place in 2013, argued that Judge John Cooper should dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed after a crush of coronavirus-caused unemployment claims overwhelmed the system this spring. Cooper last month rejected a preliminary injunction that plaintiffs sought to force the Department of Economic Opportunity to “fix” the system. Department of Economic Opportunity attorney Daniel Nordby argued Monday, in part, that the lawsuit should be dismissed because of the constitutional separation of powers between judges and the executive branch. The plaintiffs’ attorneys filed the lawsuit in April after major problems with Florida’s CONNECT online unemployment system, which even Gov.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The couple at the center of an Amber Alert for a 3-year-old Apopka girl was transferred Thursday from Leon County to Orange County to face charges. Officers said Madeline Meija was taken Monday morning without force by her biological mother Tania Duarte, 19, and her mothers’ boyfriend Kevin Smith Olmedo-Velis, 19. Both 19-year-old suspects were booked into the Orange County Jail Thursday at 2:50 p.m.Police said Madeline’s father mislead officers at first, saying his daughter abducted by strangers from the front yard. Investigators said Lester Mejia was contacted by a relative while at work and informed him Duarte had taken the child. Officers said Mejia called 911 but authorities said Mejia was allegedly told by an unknown dispatcher there was no crime if the mother has the child.