Heeding the pleas of parents whose children were slaughtered in the state’s worst school shooting, the Florida Senate delivered a major victory Wednesday to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis by removing embattled Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel from office.

DeSantis, as a candidate for governor last year, pledged to oust the Democratic sheriff for failures associated with the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 14 students and three staff members dead and another 17 people injured.

Ignoring the conclusions of a Senate special master, a key committee voted along party lines Monday night to uphold Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ouster of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.

The Senate Rules Committee’s 9-7 vote was a prelude to a Wednesday vote by the full Senate, which is meeting in a special session to decide the embattled law enforcement official’s fate.

With two looming ballot proposals that would legalize recreational marijuana in Florida, state House leaders are going on offense on the issue.

The House Health & Human Services Committee on Tuesday heard an hour-long presentation from Harvard Medical School psychobiologist Bertha Madras, who issued dire warnings about the dangers of marijuana use, particularly for youngsters.

“Marijuana is not benign. It is not safe. It is addictive. … It interferes with learning and memory,” cautioned Madras, who specializes in substance use disorders.

After the loss of roughly $350 million a year in payments from the Seminole Tribe of Florida, House and Senate leaders are rethinking the state’s approach to gambling, one of the Legislature’s most-complicated and elusive issues.

The shift in direction could be good news for the state’s pari-mutuel operators.

“What we need to start doing is looking at what’s available to us on the private side of the equation, versus just the compact,” Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, told The News Service of Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is facing a showdown about one of his highest-profile decisions: the ouster of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, whose fate now rests in the hands of the Florida Senate.

The Republican governor’s legal team failed to persuade a Senate special master that Israel’s suspension was warranted, but DeSantis has a cadre of allies who might have the power to do what his lawyers could not.

In one of his earliest --- and most far-reaching --- actions as the state’s chief executive, Gov. Ron DeSantis reshaped the Florida Supreme Court, with the appointment of three justices who have cemented a decidedly conservative majority.

And now, with the help of two fellow Republicans who serve on the Florida Cabinet, DeSantis has delivered the same brand of conservative jurisprudence to an administrative court system that has been a go-to place for citizens and businesses to redress grievances against state agencies.

Delivering a stunning blow to Gov. Ron DeSantis, a special master has recommended the Florida Senate reinstate suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, after finding the governor failed to prove allegations of neglect of duty and incompetence that sparked the law enforcement official’s suspension.

After the recommendation, Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, called a special session next month for the Senate to consider the removal or reinstatement of Israel.

A former executive director of a state transportation commission has filed a lawsuit alleging she was forced to resign in retaliation for exposing a $5.5 billion budget “irregularity” proposed by the Florida Department of Transportation.

Teddi Pitts also accused the chairman of the Florida Transportation Commission of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the lawsuit filed last week in Leon County circuit court.

Richard Corcoran liked to stir the pot when he served as speaker of the Florida House, and he’s equally bold since taking over as the state’s education czar.

Corcoran has brought his firebrand style to the Florida Department of Education after Gov. Ron DeSantis picked the Land O’ Lakes Republican --- who branded public schools as “failure factories” during his tenure as House speaker --- to head the agency.

Florida education czar Richard Corcoran bristles at being called a disrupter.

He prefers the gentler label of "transformer," a brand Corcoran burnished during his two-year tenure as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

As speaker, the Republican father of six pushed through a series of what were touted as “transformational” education policies that included major expansions of charter schools and private-school vouchers.

And now, as Florida’s education commissioner, Corcoran is aiming to make changes in the state college system.