Stacked with lawyers from both parties, the Legislature's judiciary committees are again expected to address a host of perennially controversial topics such as civil litigation, foreclosures and malpractice that often pit businesses against trial attorneys.

This session, the men directing traffic in both chambers are not members of the legal profession. Instead, Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, and Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, hail from a business community that has long complained that the legal system is tilted against it.

Florida's housing market continued to rebound in November, with existing home sales and median prices making double-digit increases over last year.

Existing home sales closed during the month were 24.4 percent higher than a year ago. Pending sales, those signed but not closed, were even stronger. Sales expected to close within 90 days catapulted 45.8 percent last month from November 2011.

The increase was accompanied by a boost in median price, a combination that Florida Realtors President Summer Greene said is expected to continue through 2013.

Armed citizens would not be able to automatically cite "stand your ground" protections if they provoke or pursue their assailants following confrontations, under a measure filed Wednesday by the Senate Democratic leader.

Responding to the death earlier this year of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old who was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer, Minority Leader Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, introduced a bill (SB 136) that would also allow law enforcement officers to arrest suspects who invoke the state's controversial stand-your-ground law under questionable circumstances.

Gov. Rick Scott bid hasta la vista to Colombia and to the head of the Department of Economic Opportunity this week as state lawmakers held a meet and greet of their own in preparation for the 2013 legislative session.

During a series of introductory committee sessions, lawmakers heard from a host of state agencies and a rabble of tea partiers who shouted down lawmakers in what was later characterized as an overzealous and ill-mannered exhibition of patriotic exuberance.

Florida's top insurance official on Wednesday was given a January deadline to come up with a series of proposals to reduce the size of the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and to further reduce costs in the state's auto-insurance market.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said he would comply with requests from Senate Banking and Insurance Committee Chairman David Simmons, R-Maitland, who said depopulating Citizens and restoring the state's private insurance market was one of his top priorities as he starts two years as head of the committee.

Hit with a heavy spike in requests for changes in forms, the Office of Insurance Regulation on Monday issued a rule allowing companies to go forward with changes without prior approval in certain cases.

The order, signed Monday by Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, doesnt affect rate filings by insurance companies only filings involving forms the companies must file.

Local government whistleblowers cannot bank on being protected unless they alert their local bosses of their allegations, the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday.

In a unanimous ruling, the appellate court said former Panama City Housing Authority maintenance man Kenneth Quintini could not be protected under state whistleblower protections after making charges to federal officials before he was laid off in 2008.