The anxiety leading up to white nationalist Richard Spencer's speech Thursday at the University of Florida nearly eclipsed the tension on campus, where the alt-right leader struggled to deliver his message amid defiant chants of “Spencer go home!” from an audience dominated by opponents.

A few new faces, and some familiar ones that sprouted hipster beards over the summer, joined the hubbub in the Capitol for the first week of committee meetings before the legislative session kicks off in January.

Even apart from the newbies this week, a bustling downtown Tallahassee bore a somewhat different aura than it has over the past few years as lobbyists, lawmakers, aides and onlookers prepares red for the 60-day crush looming on the horizon.

Skyrocketing numbers of overdoses. Burned-out first responders. Families torn apart.

Facing what one expert called “chemical warfare,” a key Senate panel Tuesday began tackling the opioid crisis that has engulfed the nation and state, ripped families apart and created a public health crisis bound to get worse.

A medical marijuana operator is demanding that the Florida Department of Health develop a regulation so vendors can begin processing and selling edible marijuana products to patients.

In a petition filed Friday, Surterra Florida asked health officials to start a rule-making process involving a new law designed to implement a voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana for a broad swath of patients.

With piles of debris rotting in the Florida sun and rain after Hurricane Irma tattooed much of the state, officials are turning their attention to an even more dire disaster in Puerto Rico.

In a race viewed as a litmus test of President Donald Trump and Florida Democrats' ability to make gains in local and statewide elections next year, Miami businesswoman Annette Taddeo coasted to victory Tuesday in a race to replace a disgraced former state senator.

More than 10 days after Hurricane Irma crashed through the state, thousands of Floridians were still in the dark as estimates of damage in nearly all parts of the peninsula continued to escalate.

Days after Hurricane Irma slashed a destructive swath through Florida, it's still unclear exactly how much damage the state and its inhabitants have suffered. And it might be weeks --- or even months --- before the massive storm's impact is known.

A heated contest for an open Senate seat in Miami just got hotter --- literally.

With power knocked out in large parts of Miami-Dade County, Florida Democrats have asked Gov. Rick Scott to postpone the Sept. 26 special election in Senate District 40. Early voting in the runoff between Democrat Annette Taddeo and Republican former state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz begins Saturday.

Scott set the special election after former Sen. Frank Artiles resigned earlier this year after a racially tinged outburst at a private club near the Capitol.