Lynn Hatter

Florida’s 2013 lawmaking session is slowly fading into the mists of history.  But although lawmakers may have finished their work, some of what they did or didn’t do could prompt much more work on the part of the state’s courts.  It’s a bit like a game of legal ping pong.

Florida used to have a law that fined people whose car radios could be heard more than 25 feet away. Last year, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in favor of a man who challenged that law. The verdict? Turn it up.

Four people have reached plea deals in the 2011 hazing death of a Florida A & M University Drum Major and all have settled for less than the maximum penalties of their charges. Experts say hazing is a crime that has proved difficult for prosecutors, but some say they expect others charged in the FAMU case to see stiffer penalties as a trial date nears.

Who won during the 2013 legislative session?  Teachers and state workers won. They’re getting pay raises. Democrats helped kill a controversial bill giving parents a greater say in the fate of failing schools.  Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford can claim victory. They got bills through revising the state’s ethics, elections and campaign finance laws.  A budget surplus this year means there were plenty of goodies to go around. So who, or what, came out on the losing side?

FAMU attorney and interim Title III Compliance Officer Rosalind Fuse-Hall has a new job. President of Bennett College, a private, all-women's school in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The college announced Monday that Fuse-Hall will become the school’s 17th president July 1.

 A graduate of  UNC-Chapel Hill, Fuse-Hall earned her law degree at Rutgers University. She has also worked in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s New York office.