Jim Turner/News Service of Florida

A conservation group has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission from holding the state’s first bear hunt in a decade.Bear Warriors United filed the 15-page lawsuit Wednesday in Leon County circuit court, contending the commission violated several legal requirements, including approving a hunt using “obsolete” bear population numbers. The 23-day hunt, approved by the commission last month, is scheduled to start Dec. 6.

Animal rights groups are encouraging supporters to apply for bear hunting permits to limit the number of bears killed in December.Starting Friday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will begin accepting applications for 187 permits that will be issued for a December hunting period. The permits will be awarded through a lottery-style process and would entitle people to each kill one bear.

Days after the city of Miami Beach filed a similar case, Fort Lauderdale has challenged the legality of directives by the Florida Department of Transportation to remove art and markings on streets.Fort Lauderdale filed its challenge Monday at the state Division of Administrative Hearings, arguing that the department did not go through a legally required rule-making process. Such directives went to local governments across the state and have drawn heavy attention, in part, because they required removing LGBTQ-themed rainbow crosswalks.

Florida's once-dominant citrus industry is being squeezed for land at an accelerating rate.The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week reported that the industry is entering the 2025-2026 growing season with 208,183 acres in use for producing oranges, grapefruit and specialty fruits, 24 percent fewer acres than a year ago.

Florida plans to resume taking in immigrants at a controversial detention center in the Everglades if an appeals court pauses a judge's order that required winding down operations at the facility, a new court filing says.The filing Tuesday came after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said last week it had stopped sending detainees to the facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” because of a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams.

U.S. travelers continue to bolster Florida's tourism industry, while the state hopes to make up for a decline in Canadian visitors by drawing people from other countries.Visit Florida on Tuesday estimated 34.435 million people traveled to Florida from April 1 through June 30, up from 34.279 million people during the same period last year. The estimate for this year would be a second-quarter record, according to the state tourism-marketing agency.

Praised by retailers, derided as a gimmick by critics, Florida on Friday will start a month-long sales-tax “holiday” for back-to-school shoppers, along with eliminating sales taxes on other types of items.While Florida has held back-to-school tax holidays of varying lengths in most years, lawmakers this spring approved making it an every-August occurrence. Shoppers will be able to avoid paying sales taxes on clothes, shoes and backpacks that cost $100 or less, school supplies that cost $50 or less, learning aids that cost $30 or less and personal computers that cost $1,500 or less.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed what he said was a $117.4 billion budget for the fiscal year that will start Tuesday and issued $567 million in line-item vetoes, while saying the plan better prepares the state for potential economic downturns.The budget includes $580 million to pay off state debt, and lawmakers approved a separate bill (HB 5017) that requires an annual $250 million repayment of state bonds.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a $1.6 billion tax-cut package that is dominated by eliminating a commercial-lease tax and providing sales-tax breaks on back-to-school items, hurricane-preparedness supplies and guns and ammo.At the same event where DeSantis signed the tax-cut package he also approved a new state budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which will start July 1.