Trying to unravel questions about costs and potential damage, Progress Energy Florida said Tuesday a decision could still be months away about whether to repair or permanently shut down an idled nuclear power plant at Crystal River.

Progress officials, in an update to state regulators, said the high-stakes decision could come in December at the earliest -- and might not be made until as late as next summer.

A federal appeals court will hear arguments this week in a battle about a 2011 Florida law that would require people to pass drug tests before they can start receiving public-assistance benefits.

The state is asking the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a district judge's ruling that blocked the law because of concerns it violated the federal Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches.

In a highly unusual move, a state consumer advocate asked the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday to block regulators from considering a controversial rate settlement proposed by Florida Power & Light.

Public Counsel J.R. Kelly, whose office represents consumers statewide in utility issues, wants to halt the Florida Public Service Commission from acting on the proposed settlement, which was announced in August by FPL and some major power users. Kelly said in a petition filed with the court that a settlement should not go forward without his office agreeing to it.

A Leon County circuit judge said last week that two South Florida counties can pursue a legal challenge against Gov. Rick Scott about a state crackdown on local gun restrictions, though the House and Senate will be dropped from the case.

Palm Beach County commissioners late last year filed a constitutional challenge to a 2011 law that subjects city and county officials to personal fines and possible removal from office if they try to stiffen gun regulations. Broward County was allowed to formally intervene in the case Wednesday.

When former Rep. Aaron Bean won a nasty Republican primary in August, it looked like he might have cleared the biggest hurdle in his bid to represent Northeast Florida in the state Senate.

But new campaign-finance reports show Bean still faces a challenge.

Democrat Nancy Soderberg, a Jacksonville Beach college professor and former national-security official in the Clinton administration, raised $32,589 between Sept. 15 and Sept. 28, the reports show. Maybe more importantly, her campaign shelled out $75,000 for television ad time.

Locked in a dispute about paying for photographs at the controversial 1st District Court of Appeal, the Florida Department of Management Services this week filed a lawsuit against state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and an agency he leads.

The dispute stems from Atwater's refusal to pay for $357,500 in historical photographs that had been planned for the 1st District Court of Appeal -- a nearly two-year-old building in Tallahassee whose opulence has led to it being derisively called the "Taj Mahal."

Now facing opposition from leaders of the state Republican Party, three Florida Supreme Court justices curtailed fundraising this summer for their merit-retention campaigns, according to state campaign finance records.

Justices R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince raised a combined $40,758 between Aug. 10 and Sept. 14, reports filed Friday show. Since July 7, they have raised a combined $92,693.

With party primaries finished and the general election looming, new campaign-finance reports show where some of the state's top legislative races will play out in November.

Money flowed between Aug. 10 and Sept. 14 to districts where Republican and Democratic leaders see opportunities to pick up seats -- or fear incumbents could be threatened.