Locked in a dispute about paying for photographs at the controversial 1st District Court of Appeal, the Florida Department of Management Services this week filed a lawsuit against state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and an agency he leads.

The dispute stems from Atwater's refusal to pay for $357,500 in historical photographs that had been planned for the 1st District Court of Appeal -- a nearly two-year-old building in Tallahassee whose opulence has led to it being derisively called the "Taj Mahal."

WASHINGTON -- I've written variations of this column a couple of times during the past 20 years, but certain occasions bear revisiting -- and surely the disappearance of a friend is one.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has targeted human trafficking, and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, who has sponsored his own efforts to curb the international trade, both offered support for President Barack Obamas executive order aimed at the sex trade. It was signed Tuesday.

Lenny Curry, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, said Monday that GOP Gov. Rick Scott had nothing to do with the party's drive to oust three justices from the state Supreme Court.

On Friday, the RPOF's executive board called for voters to fight against keeping Justices R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince on the high court, calling them "liberals" and accusing them of "judicial activism."

If voters remove the justices during the November election, Scott will appoint their replacements.

For Americans of the Greatest Generation that fought World War II and of the Silent Generation that came of age in the 1950s, the great moral and ideological cause was the Cold War.