The low-battery warning from your smoke alarm always seems to happen when youre trying to sleep or at some other unwelcome moment.

Too many people pull out the batteries when that happens, according to retired firefighter Rep. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater.

Hooper, on the Insurance and Banking Subcommittee, is pushing CS/HB 47, legislation that would require long-life lithium batteries in new and replacement smoke alarms in Florida.

Hooper says these new-generation units last at least 10 years.

Alysia Peddy, a mother from Tampa, is making her voice heard in the debate over Medicaid at the state Capitol.

Peddy considers her familys medical situation a prime example of why Medicaid is working and should be expanded in Florida.

Her 9-year-old son Pierce requires between 15 and 20 hours of nursing care a day because of a traumatic brain injury.

The family has private insurance. It costs $2,200 a month, but because Pierces care is so extensive, and expensive, the private insurance covers only a fraction of the expenses.

Controversial legislation known as the parent-trigger bill continues to spark debate at the state Capitol.

On Tuesday a House committee passed the bill over the objections of parents who spoke against the measure.

The bill allows parents to organize petition drives that would let them take control of failing schools.

Supporters say its just one more tool for parents, giving them extra leverage over the operation of their childrens school. But critics say it opens the door to for-profit charter school groups to gain control of public schools.

The Florida House Select Committee on Gaming Friday morning voted to shut down Internet cafes in Florida by a 15-1 vote.

But the bill, and the vote, includes maquinitas and adult game rooms, activities that have existed unhampered in South Florida for decades.

The bill is moving fast in the House as a result of the gambling investigation that led to the arrests this week of nearly 60 people associated with the nonprofit group Allied Veterans of the World, which is one of the main operators of Internet cafes in the state.

The state Capitol is still resounding with aftershocks following the abrupt resignation of Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll over an extensive Internet gambling investigation.

But theres a common reaction among lawmakers, especially those who worked with her in the Florida House before she became lieutenant governor in 2011.

Republicans and Democrats are expressing sadness for Carroll and saying its a painful way to leave office after a long career in public service.

Gov. Rick Scott met with reporters Wednesday afternoon, as expected, formalizing the announcement of Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll's resignation. He said he is very disappointed, but he calls Carroll's decision right for the state and for her family.

The big news in the story at that hour was his pronouncement that he will not choose another lieutenant governor until the legislative session ends May 3.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a petition Tuesday seeking a court order to exhume bodies at what has already become one of Florida's darkest shadows, the Dozier School for Boys. The Panhandle reform school closed in 2011.

Bondi says atrocities were committed at the school throughout the 1900s, and it is believed the property contains the bodies of boys who died there and never were accounted for.

All this week the Florida House appeared to close the door on the question of expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. But on Friday Senate President Don Gaetz reopened it -- just a crack.

Gaetz said he thinks theres a possibility Florida could pursue an alternative method to expand Medicaid, similar to the one Arkansas is proposing.

Arkansas wants to take the federal cash for Medicaid expansion and use it to buy health coverage for uninsured people from private insurers through a state health exchange.