Gulf Power, the largest electric utility in Northwest Florida, starts 2019 with a new owner.

Amid continuing political and legal battles about the insurance practice known as “assignment of benefits,” the Florida Supreme Court has agreed to take up a closely watched case stemming from water damage to a St. Lucie County home.

Defending a 2017 law that set regulations for the state’s medical-marijuana industry, Florida Department of Health attorneys have asked an appeals court to overturn a circuit judge’s ruling that they say “injected confusion and uncertainty” into the licensing of marijuana firms.

Describing the case as “specious, legally and factually baseless,” Florida Power & Light has asked state regulators to reject a petition that seeks to force the utility to refund as much as $736 million to customers and reduce base electric rates.

After losing an earlier challenge, Volusia County has filed a lawsuit seeking to be shielded from a newly approved constitutional amendment that deals with sheriffs and other types of county officials across the state.

With little more than three weeks before he takes office, Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis on Monday proposed bringing back a state-government veteran to run the Florida Department of Revenue --- while a transition committee continued delving into environmental and land issues.

T.K. Wetherell, a former state House speaker who went on to become president of his alma mater, Florida State University, died Sunday after a long battle with cancer, the university announced. He was 72.

The board of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. approved a plan Wednesday that would raise residential insurance rates by an average of 8.2 percent starting in September ---- with the hikes hitting almost all customers of the state-backed insurer.

With an execution looming Thursday, attorneys for Death Row inmate Jose Antonio Jimenez say he should be spared from lethal injection because of a constitutional amendment passed last month by Florida voters.

With the state-backed insurer blaming costly water-damage claims in South Florida, residential customers of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. could see an average 8.2 percent rate increase next year, according to a new proposal.