The Latest Breaking News from Fla

NORTH PORT, Fla. — With a week until the season starts, the Rays are down to filling the final spots in their bullpen.

TAMPA, Fla. — The University of Florida violated its own hiring procedures while bringing aboard Joseph Ladapo to a tenured position, according to a faculty committee report released Wednesday.

TAMPA, Fla. — The morning after the Bruce Arians bombshell fell on Tampa Bay, another offseason Bucs subplot grew a bit more intriguing.

TAMPA, Fla. — In Joel Glazer’s mind, Bruce Arians’ farewell spawned a foregone conclusion.

TAMPA, Fla. — Bruce Arians held a Zoom call with members of the Bucs coaching staff to inform them he was stepping down as head coach to take a role in the front office only minutes before the news broke Wednesday night.

ORLANDO, Fla. — LGBTQ advocacy groups are seeking to block what they call the “don’t say gay” law from taking effect, arguing in a federal lawsuit that it is discriminatory, vague and runs afoul of the free speech rights of students and teachers.

INGLIS, Fla. — Five students were hospitalized Wednesday after a Seffner man driving a semitractor-trailer crashed into the back of a stopped school bus in Levy County, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — As Joe Girardi walked through the back corridors of the Phillies’ clubhouse Monday morning, he came upon Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins, dressed in shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops, pantomiming phantom swings. Two hours later, Schwarber hit his first home run of spring training.

ORLANDO, Fla. — After two years of alphabet-depleting hurricane seasons, 2022 looks to be more of the same, according to predictions from weather site AccuWeather.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Stadium Court is typically the stage for marquee players at the Miami Open, but the most electric crowds so far this week were at the 5,000-seat Grandstand, where two of the sport’s rising stars — Carlos “Carlitos” Alcaraz and Francisco Cerundolo — played their fourth-round matches.

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Bruce Arians, two-time NFL coach of the year who led Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl victory in the 2020 season, is stepping down immediately as head coach of the Buccaneers. That prompts questions that Los Angeles Times NFL writer Sam Farmer can address: