After weeks of discussions between two powerful legislators, the possibility of a special session focused on perennially elusive gambling issues came to an end Wednesday.

Debates can’t usually help, but they can kill.

Three of the four Democrats vying to replace Rick Scott as governor of the third-largest state in the nation get their news first from The New York Times, and only one, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, relies on his hometown paper to find out what’s going on in the world.

The insight into who’s reading what was among the lighter moments of an hour-long debate Wednesday in Tampa, the first head-to-head matchup of the four major Democratic candidates before the August primary election.

For the second time in less than a week, a Tallahassee judge has given Tampa strip-club owner Joe Redner the go-ahead to grow his own pot, rejecting a request from state health officials to keep in place a stay blocking the cancer survivor from cultivating medical marijuana.

The suspense wasn’t exactly killing us, but Gov. Rick Scott put an end to it: He’s in.

A Tallahassee judge Wednesday gave the OK to Tampa entrepreneur Joe Redner to grow his own pot to treat cancer, prompting state health officials to immediately appeal a decision that could open the door to more legal skirmishes over Florida’s medical-marijuana regulations.

Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers ruled that the 77-year-old Redner --- who made his fortune as a strip-club owner --- can grow his own marijuana because state rules prohibit Florida medical-marijuana operators from selling whole plants or flowers.

Howard Simon began his career fighting for voting rights, and he’ll end more than four decades of civil-rights advocacy championing the same issue.

Along the way, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has plagued the Republican-dominated Legislature and more than one GOP governor, emerging victorious in court battles involving abortion, gay adoption and drug testing of some of Florida’s neediest people, to name just a few issues.

Tallahassee touts, who’ve barely had time to get the pollen sprayed off their luxury SUVs since the Legislature folded up its tent three weeks ago, may want to bide their time before booking luxury vacations.

As the nation girds for marches this weekend led by kids demanding stricter gun regulations, the always-heated debate over firearms continued in the state Capitol.

Gov. Rick Scott has ordered eight Florida Highway Patrol troopers to beef up security at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 14 students and three staff members and injured 17 others last month in one of the nation’s worst school shootings.