After a distinguished 40-year career in public service, Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Aventura, has announced she will retire from the Senate when her term is up in November.

The announcement came abruptly in a press release Thursday morning, less than four days after Margolis, 81, came under fire in media reports across the state for disparaging and racist references she made particularly about three of her five competitors in the SD 38 race.

Law-abiding Floridians should be allowed to openly carry firearms in public, a gun-rights groups argued Wednesday to the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of a man arrested four years ago while strolling with a visibly holstered weapon in Fort Pierce.

From his perches on the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees, Marco Rubio continued his efforts against Hezbollah this week. 

On Tuesday, the U.S. House passed without opposition a resolution from two Florida representatives urging Germany to “fulfill its moral responsibility to Holocaust survivors and urgently provide the financial resources necessary to ensure that Survivors live in dignity and comfort in their remaining years.”

A new poll shows Marco Rubio will have a tough fight if he runs for a second term in the Senate. 

While Rubio closed the door to running for a second term, pressure is building on him to run again. Republican leaders including presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and the NRSC have been pushing Rubio to seek another term. 

Florida, the largest swing state on the map, will be up for grabs in November, a new poll shows. 

Democratic aligned Public Policy Polling (PPP) released a poll on Tuesday showing the Sunshine State is very close. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump edges like Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton 45 percent to 44 percent in the poll. 

In a case that could have broad implications for the state's gambling footprint, a tiny horse track on Tuesday tried to convince Florida Supreme Court justices that it should have slot machines, even without the express approval of the Legislature.

Marc Dunbar, a lawyer and part-owner of Gretna Racing in Gadsden County, relied on a semantic analysis to try to persuade the justices that a 2009 state law gave the track permission to let voters decide whether slots should be allowed at the pari-mutuel.

Facing wire-fraud and tax charges, state Rep. Reggie Fullwood is asking a federal judge to block prosecutors from arguing that the Florida Division of Elections is a victim of an alleged scheme to divert campaign funds to personal use.

Fullwood's attorney, Robert Willis, filed the request last week as he prepares to seek a dismissal of wire-fraud charges that are a major part of a federal indictment unsealed in April. Fullwood, a Jacksonville Democrat who has served in the House since 2010, was accused of illegally using campaign contributions to pay a wide range of expenses.

Tropical Storm Colin hammered much of Florida Monday, dumping fast-accumulating rain and causing flooding in certain parts of the Sunshine State. 

If Marco Rubio doesn’t run for a second term in the Senate, there’s no clear favorite for the Republican nomination, a new poll shows.