This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

The former House speaker and state education commissioner just waltzed into a massive – albeit temporary – payday. As interim president of New College of Florida, Richard Corcoran’s annual salary is going to be almost $700,000, double that of the last president. Aside from the salary, he is also getting $104,850 annually in retirement compensation, $84,000 for housing and $12,000 for his car allowance. It’s gotta be impossible to beat a substitute gig like this.

As you no doubt know by now, the feds decided not to charge the Panhandle congressman in a long-standing sex trafficking investigation. Matt Gaetz told Glenn Greenwald that he wasn’t surprised, but we did expect him to quote Raymond Donovan, the Reagan-era labor secretary who was acquitted of fraud charges: “Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?”

During a special session filled with controversial legislation, state Rep. Chip LaMarca carried a bill that everyone agreed on. It tweaks the state’s name, image and likeness law, got unanimous support in both chambers of the state Legislature, and was promptly signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. College athletes in the state will now be able to receive recommendations about endorsements from coaches, schools and support organizations, but pay-for-play agreements will still be banned under NCAA rules.

It’s a lede that journalists dream about writing: “Palm Bay City Council Member Pete Filiberto was arrested … on charges of riding his motorcycle while impaired and carrying 10 grams of cocaine in his shoe.” It’s peak 1980s throwback, like stumbling across a “Miami Vice” rerun on late night TV. Of course, he’s innocent until proven guilty. But still: “Chopper Sock Coke”? Just brainstorming for the book title.

The recent Washington Post story about U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has its troubles, including an awkward correction. But there are things that don’t add up. Like Luna claiming she had Jewish heritage and was “raised as a Messianic Jew by her father.” But family members said “her father was Catholic, and that they were not aware of him practicing any form of Judaism while Luna was growing up.” And she had a grandfather who served in the armed forces of Nazi Germany?

The billionaire owner of the Florida Panthers hockey team has been accused – in a civil lawsuit, to be clear – of using “his control of a large publicly traded financial services company to improperly divert hundreds of millions of dollars to himself, his family and his cronies.” Getting past the fact that we at first confused Vincent Viola for a character from a Quentin Tarantino movie, we’re sure that a guy with a net worth of $3.4 billion will get this all worked out.