Lawyers for the state and the Seminole Tribe fired opening salvos Monday in a legal battle that could determine whether the tribe can continue to offer "banked" card games, such as blackjack, at most of its Florida casinos.
A federal judge on Thursday appeared skeptical of the state's defense of how gambling regulators handled controversial "designated player" card games at the heart of a legal challenge by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
During a pre-trial hearing, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle repeatedly questioned J. Carter Andersen, a lawyer representing the state, about the games, also the subject of recent decisions by state administrative law judges in disputes involving cardroom operators.
Florida gambling overseers were wrong to do away with a rule governing controversial "designated player" card games at pari-mutuel facilities without replacing the regulations, an administrative law judge said Friday.
Judge E. Gary Early's ruling could have widespread implications within the state's gambling industry and could have an impact on a lawsuit filed by the Seminole Tribe of Florida challenging the card games.
A lawyer for Death Row inmate Terrance Phillips wants the Florida Supreme Court to order an investigation into allegations of racism involving the circuit judge who sentenced the Jacksonville man to death --- including accusations that the judge once said blacks should "go back to Africa."
In a decision that could have wide-ranging implications for pari-mutuels throughout the state, an administrative law judge ruled Monday that the way "designated-player" card games are being operated by a Jacksonville poker room violates the state's ban on so-called banked card games.
Monday's ruling that the popular card games are being played illegally comes more than four years after Florida gambling regulators first signed off on the games, which have eclipsed other card games like Texas Hold 'Em in popularity among patrons.
The intramural infighting is finally over.
Medical marijuana could be available to a select group of Florida patients as early as next week, after health officials gave the go-ahead for the state's first pot dispensary to begin distributing products.
The Northwest Florida operation, known as "Trulieve," is one of six dispensing organizations licensed by the state Department of Health to grow, process and distribute pot that purportedly does not get users high but is believed to alleviate life-threatening seizures.
In the aftermath of fatal attacks on police in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La., black leaders say Florida --- which has a long and ugly history of racism --- has reached a race-relations crossroads.
Meanwhile, one sheriff says the African-American community needs to "mature" as law enforcement officials seek to keep a lid on the violence that has erupted in other states.
Panhandle developer Jay Odom is bankrolling a Northeast Florida operation licensed by health officials to grow, process and distribute non-euphoric marijuana products, a lawyer for Chestnut Hill Tree Farm confirmed Wednesday.
Odom was sentenced to six months in prison three years ago after pleading guilty in a 2007 scheme to funnel $23,000 in campaign contributions through employees or their family members to a presidential candidate.
Siding with Planned Parenthood affiliates, a federal judge late Thursday blocked key provisions of a sweeping new state law that would have barred abortion providers from receiving public funds for other services and required a dramatic increase in inspections of abortion records by health officials.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle's preliminary injunction came just hours before the new law would have gone into effect.
