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Here’s a look at how the Miami Dolphins (4-6) and New England Patriots (3-8) match up in six key areas ahead of Sunday’s Week 12 game at Hard Rock Stadium (1 p.m., CBS):

When the Dolphins run: It’s not so much a three-headed monster at running back for the Dolphins, but more so De’Von Achane handling the big workload. He did it again in last Sunday’s 34-19 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, with 17 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown. The second-year tailback has already stormed past his rookie year carry total (101), with 122, while also leading the team in receptions (46).

As he rushes for 4.3 yards per carry this season for Miami’s 11th-ranked rushing offense, it would be a welcome return if fullback Alec Ingold can play through his calf injury. There’s a direct correlation between his absence and the lack of a 100-yard team rushing output in back-to-back games. This after easily hitting that mark in four consecutive outings. Nonetheless, left tackle Terron Armstead and center Aaron Brewer are exceptional run blockers, while guards Robert Jones and Liam Eichenberg have been serviceable since the opening month of the season.

New England’s run defense ranks No. 20 in the NFL. Linebacker Jahlani Tavai leads the Patriots in tackles, and former Dolphins defensive tackle Davon Godchaux is key for coach Jerod Mayo’s defense in the middle. The Patriots were the team that got Miami going on the ground on Oct. 6, even as Achane left early that afternoon with a concussion, and they have allowed 100 yards rushing in eight of their past nine games. But Raheem Mostert said this week they have incorporated new schemes in run defense. Edge: Dolphins

When the Patriots run: When you face New England, you face a heavy dose of Rhamondre Stevenson. He already has a whopping 154 carries in 10 games and is averaging 3.8 yards per attempt, with 585 on the year and six touchdowns. It’s been no different of late, as the power runner got his 20 carries.

The Dolphins didn’t do a good job of stopping him nor Antonio Gibson in their first meeting. Stevenson went for 7.4 yards per carry (89 yards on 12 attempts), and Gibson had six carries for 52 yards (8.7 average). A big change for the Dolphins defense up front, though, has come in the demotion — and eventual cut — of linebacker David Long Jr., inserting Anthony Walker Jr. in his place. Since that move three games ago, the Dolphins have not allowed a 100-yard team rushing performance against them. This once-struggling run defense now ranks No. 10 in the league, and the defensive front has also benefited the past two games from the return of defensive tackle Zach Sieler. Edge: Dolphins

When the Dolphins pass: With quarterback Tua Tagovailoa back the past four games, Miami’s pass game has been incredibly efficient. He has thrown seven touchdowns to one interception and has been above 70 percent on completions every time out, including 89.3 percent against the stout Buffalo Bills defense. He also has the Dolphins as the NFL’s top team in converting third and fourth downs over the past four weeks.

So this area of Sunday’s game takes on a different outlook than Oct. 6 in Foxborough, when Tyler “Snoop” Huntley started at quarterback. The Dolphins could stand to start hitting the big plays more like they have in the past, but Tagovailoa has been taking what the defense gives him, and it led to methodical drives throughout the win over the Raiders, before eventually hitting the big play downfield to tight end Jonnu Smith. With Smith’s effectiveness, it could lead Mayo to instruct his secondary, led by cornerback Christian Gonzalez and safety Kyle Dugger, to play more honestly against star wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Under Bill Belichick, the Patriots were always known to create a focus on stopping that duo.

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New England’s 20th-ranked pass defense also has to worry about Achane getting his touches in the pass game. The Patriots’ pass rush isn’t too intimidating. Defensive ends Keion White and Deatrich Wise have five sacks apiece this season, but the Miami offensive line is coming off an effort in which it held stellar Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby at bay, between right tackle Kendall Lamm’s play and some effective chips from tight ends. Tagovailoa can continue to get the ball out on time, while using some of his newfound mobility when needed. Edge: Dolphins

When the Patriots pass: And on the New England side, it’s also a new look than the first pairing of these two teams. After the Dolphins sank the Patriots in Week 5, Mayo sat veteran Jacoby Brissett in favor of rookie No. 3 pick Drake Maye. In six starts, Maye is 2-4 and has completed 66.8 percent of passes for 1,236 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions. The youngster can make plays in the pocket and on off-schedule throws, but he may be a little more susceptible to turning it over than Brissett, who had just one interception in his time as New England starter.

As the Dolphins have struggled in recent weeks covering talented tight ends like the Raiders’ Brock Bowers and Cardinals’ Trey McBride, it may behoove defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver to deploy a different strategy. As safety Jordan Poyer has struggled, maybe allow cornerback Jalen Ramsey to play in the box and cover Patriots tight end Hunter Henry, who leads the team in receptions and receiving yards? New England isn’t particularly scary on the outside, with Demario Douglas the only wide receiver with more than 300 receiving yards for the team’s passing offense ranked last in the NFL. With fellow cornerback Kendall Fuller expected to miss a second game due to his latest concussion, it could be either Storm Duck or Cam Smith who play as third up at the position behind Ramsey and Kader Kohou.

Maye can be elusive at times, but the Dolphins will have opportunities to get to him, as New England ranks 29th in the league, giving up 35 sacks. Rookie edge rusher Chop Robinson can build on his high pass rush win rate against Las Vegas and sacks in each of the two previous games, as he and Emmanuel Ogbah look to attack tackles Vederian Lowe and Mike Onwenu. Sieler and Calais Campbell should create an interior pass rush, or get their hands up to deflect Maye passes when they can’t get to him. Edge: Dolphins

Special teams: It’s a special teams disaster nearly every time the Dolphins play the Patriots. There’s no other way to put it. New England special teams ace Brenden Schooler blocked a punt when these two teams met earlier this season, and last year, he got the Dolphins for a blocked field goal. What will happen this time, as long snapper Blake Ferguson, who had a bad snap in the first Patriots matchup, remains on the non-football illness list and Tucker Addington handles those duties?

That said, Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders has made all his kicks over the past four weeks. And Jake Bailey didn’t even have to punt against the Raiders. You just never know what can happen in this phase of the game when Miami plays New England. Edge: Patriots

Intangibles: Miami comes in on two-game winning streak and has an opportunity at home to complete a season sweep of the Patriots in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000. The Dolphins know every week is pivotal toward their playoff hopes, so they won’t overlook New England and its young combination of rookie coach Mayo and rookie quarterback Maye. Tagovailoa, by the way, is 6-0 in his career against the Patriots. Edge: Dolphins

PREDICTION: Dolphins 31, Patriots 17

Dolphins Deep Dive: Prediction time — will Miami use Patriots game to open up offense? | VIDEO

A Coral Springs man was arrested Wednesday after an eight-month investigation where multiple undercover FBI employees posed as members of a “militia” and the suspect successfully built a piece for an explosive that he was allegedly planning to detonate at the New York Stock Exchange, according to federal court records.

Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, faces one count of attempted use of an explosive to damage or destroy a building used in interstate or foreign commerce, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

The investigation began in February after the FBI received a tip that Yener kept “bombmaking schematics” in a storage unit in Coral Springs, the criminal complaint said. He consented to the FBI searching the unit, where they found sketches and materials that could be used to make an improvised explosive. As the investigation continued, undercover FBI employees and a confidential source communicated with Yener, according to the criminal complaint.

Throughout the investigation, Yener told undercover FBI employees that the U.S. government needed a “reset”, that he wanted to join “an anti-government militia” and that he planned to target the New York Stock Exchange building on Wall Street the week of Thanksgiving, the criminal complaint said.

Last week, after he successfully built a remote trigger, Yener recorded a video statement he said he would send to news media after the attack was carried out, explaining that the attack was “just the beginning of a new era” and encouraging others to join his cause, the criminal complaint said.

Yener, who is unhoused, kept his belongings in an unlocked storage unit in Coral Springs, according to the criminal complaint. He allowed law enforcement to search the unit in March, where they found numerous notebooks of drawings and diagrams of explosives, missiles and other improvised explosive devices. In some notebooks, he had written things about “preparing for combat” and how a “battle” was impending, the complaint said.

He told FBI agents in March that people who claimed to be members of ISIS messaged him on Facebook in 2015, attempting to recruit him but that he was waiting for a chance to “act” within the U.S. He said he knew how to build “rockets” and “bombs,” the complaint said, and his internet history showed he had been researching how to make explosives since at least 2017.

Yener was fired in July 2023 from a Coconut Creek restaurant where he worked after he threatened to bring guns to the restaurant because he believed his coworkers stole money from him, his former supervisor told law enforcement, according to the criminal complaint. He had made references to the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and the gunman.

A confidential source for the FBI began communicating with Yener in June. Yener told the source that he previously tried to join the Proud Boys and a separate group who subscribes to the “boogaloo” concept, a term which some violent extremists have rallied around and use to refer to “a violent uprising or impending civil war,” according to the complaint. He said the groups denied him because he “expressed a desire to pursue martyrdom.”

In the days afterward, the confidential source recorded multiple phone calls with Yener where he discussed having most of the supplies he would need to make an explosive and possible targets, including a power plant, retail stores, stadiums or schools, according to the complaint. In one call, Yener said he went to a shopping mall to find a drone capable of carrying a device like a grenade, but none were big enough.

“Yener told the (confidential source) any of the aforementioned targets would be good targets because they would all be full of densely packed crowds of people, which would ensure maximum casualties,” the criminal complaint said.

Yener and the confidential source met in person in August, where Yener talked about needing to be prepared for “civil unrest” after the presidential election in November, the complaint said. He told the confidential source he was preparing by gathering supplies to build an explosive.

Yener met with an undercover FBI employee in late September where he talked about wanting to join a militia and wanting to build an explosive for the militia, according to the complaint, because the country needs “a revolution,” he said. He told the undercover employee that he needed a place to build and store the device and that he would have a mental “list” of targets for their next meeting.

Yener then started keeping bombmaking supplies in a “secure location” that the undercover FBI employee said was part of the “militia” but was really controlled by authorities, the complaint said. In early October, Yener told the undercover employee that he decided the New York Stock Exchange would be the target, and on Oct. 30, he started building and testing an improvised explosive.

“There is one place that would be hella easy … the stock exchange, that would be a great hit,” Yener allegedly told the undercover employee on Oct. 3, the criminal complaint said. “Tons of people would support it. They would see it and think dude, this guy makes sense, they are [profanity] robbing us. So that’s perfect.”

He also claimed to have done research on the building’s security and would further research the best place to leave the explosive and how to disguise it, the criminal complaint said. He said he would travel to New York to carry out the attack.

Multiple undercover FBI employees met in Sunrise with Yener on Oct. 23. He was told that it was a meeting of “leaders of various like-minded groups” to discuss their “upcoming plots” and how they might coordinate them. At that meeting, Yener told the group how he would build and detonate an improvised explosive outside of the New York Stock Exchange the week before Thanksgiving, the criminal complaint said.

“The Stock Exchange, we want to hit that, because it will wake people up,” Yener allegedly said at the meeting, according to the complaint.

He repeatedly said news outlets should receive a statement explaining his motive for the attack and that the envelope the statement arrived in should have “a predetermined symbol or signature that would also be used during future attacks,” the complaint said.

Believing it was a site belonging to “the militia,” Yener traveled to law enforcement’s secured location and worked on his explosive on three separate dates in late October and early November while monitored by an undercover agent, the complaint said. On Nov. 4, he successfully created a remote trigger device. A few days later, he worked for several hours to try to “amplify the voltage” the remote trigger device generated.

In early November, the days leading up to his arrest, Yener texted one of the undercover agents a list of demands from the government after the attack that included mass deportation of “illegal and undocumented immigrants” and “programs intended to curb inflation,” among other things, the complaint said. He also made an audio recording of the demands that Yener wanted to be played by news outlets after the attack.

Federal prosecutors said in a news release Wednesday evening that Yener made his initial appearance in court earlier in the day and remains in custody.

Yener’s attorney information was not available Wednesday. His arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 4 in Miami.

TALLAHASSEE — Florida education leaders want parents to be reminded annually that they can face consequences if their children report false threats of violence.

The State Board of Education on Wednesday approved a rule change that will require school districts to make training available to parents and guardians on the use of FortifyFL, an app where anonymous tips can be submitted about suspicious activities. Students already receive such training.

The training outlines potential fallout for students who make threats or false reports.

“Parents need to understand that all threats will be taken seriously and will result in severe consequences, including for parents,” Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said during a state board meeting at the Caribe Royale Orlando.

Board Chairman Ben Gibson said it’s important parents and guardians understand the potential repercussions of false threats.

“False threats will not be tolerated,” Gibson said. “School safety is (our) number one priority. And anything that interferes with that and interferes with the safety of our students, we’re going to get to the bottom of and make sure that that’s not going to be tolerated.”

Under the new rule, the “training must explain the potential consequences for anyone making a threat or false report concerning school or school personnel’s property, school transportation, or a school sponsored activity, including disciplinary actions that may occur at school and possible criminal charges.”

When the board met at Tallahassee State College in October, member Ryan Petty suggested parental accountability when threats are involved “may be something that the Legislature needs to take up next year.”

The rule change is tied to a new state law (HB 1473) that included safety training provided to students in the first five days of the school year. Part of the training includes instructions on FortifyFL.

Office of Safe Schools Vice Chancellor Darren Norris said since the initial training sessions this year, “we have seen a tremendous uptick in the number of tips to FortifyFL, predominantly false tips.”

In September, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood pointed to a rash of false tips made through FortifyFL. Chitwood also followed through with a threat to publicly embarrass minors who made school-violence threats, releasing the mugshot of an 11-year-old accused of making threats at a middle school.

“Since parents, you don’t want to raise your kids, I’m going to start raising them,” Chitwood said during a Sept. 14 news conference. “Every time we make an arrest, your kid’s photo is going to be put out there. And if I could do it, I’m going to perp walk your kid so that everybody can see what your kid is up to.”

Chitwood added if he could prove parents knew what was going on and didn’t do anything, they would “get perp walked with (their child.)”

MIAMI GARDENS — Spirits are high around the Miami Dolphins right now because they’re riding the wave of back-to-back victories for the first time since December when they defeated the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys in consecutive games.

Playoff hopes are still alive for the Dolphins (4-6), and they’ll rise even higher if they defeat the New England Patriots (3-8) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.

Coach Mike McDaniel has re-tooled the offense, going from a big-play passing game to a ball control run game with a short passing game.

The Dolphins hope to awaken the deep passing game led by quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.

But until then, they seem content to utilize the new offense led by Tagovailoa, running back De’Von Achane and tight end Jonnu Smith.

The Dolphins likely need to win five of their remaining seven games to earn a playoff berth, and most have the Patriots game penciled in as a victory.

Here are some keys to the game: 

Dolphins’ new offense fits historical trend

The Dolphins’ revamped offense still bears watching. It’s in its infancy stage.

But the Dolphins have been here before as an organization. The offense is floundering. The record is disappointing. Then, out of nowhere, a midseason offensive re-birth leads to a playoff berth.

We saw it in 2008 with the unexpected emergence of the Wildcat offense.

We saw it in 2016, eight years later, with the unexpected emergence of running back Jay Ajayi.

Now, in 2024, eight years after that, we might see it again with the unexpected emergence of a ball-control offense.

We’ll see if history repeats.

Ingold, and his effect on the run game

Pro Bowl fullback Alec Ingold has missed the past two games with a calf injury and it’s shown in the rushing results.

After a five-game stretch of rushing for at least 100 yards, and a four-game stretch of rushing for at least 149 yards, the Dolphins have rushed for 67 yards (vs. Los Angeles Rams) and 82 yards (vs. Las Vegas).

Ingold usually takes care of the defender nearest the line of scrimmage so that running backs De’Von Achane, Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Wright have some room to maneuver. 

The confusing thing is the Dolphins won both of the past two games but went 1-4 during the stretch of 100-yard rushing games and 1-3 in the games rushing for 149 or more yards.

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Re-establishing home field advantage

The Dolphins must win Sunday to re-establish home field advantage.

The Dolphins are 2-3 at home this season and 3-6 in their past nine home games, including two losses to Tennessee.

After New England, the Dolphins have home games remaining against the New York Jets (Dec. 8) and San Francisco (Dec. 22).

The Dolphins’ road to the playoffs will be much easier if they win their three remaining home games. 

After all, the Dolphins are 9-15 (.375) on the road under McDaniel. They won’t want to be required to win both of their final two games, at Cleveland and at the New York Jets, to make the playoffs.

Defense stopping Maye

The Dolphins defense is No. 9 in the league (308 yards allowed per game) – No. 10 against the pass (199 ypg allowed), No. 10 against the run (109 ypg allowed), and No. 15 in points allowed (22.1 per game).

The job this week is stopping New England rookie quarterback Drake Maye (nine touchdowns, six interceptions, 87.5 passer rating).

Maye is aided by running back Rhamondre Stevenson (585 yards rushing, 3.8 yards per carry, six touchdowns) and tight end Hunter Henry (46 receptions, 491 yards, one touchdown).

Miami’s defensive game plan will likely begin with stopping the run to make the Patriots one dimensional. And then they’ll attack Maye, perhaps with early blitzes to test his response.

McDaniel’s play-calling

McDaniel has done well as a play-caller in recent weeks. He has resisted the temptation to force the deep passes to Hill and Waddle. Instead he’s taken advantage of the underneath space created from the two-high safety scheme opposing defenses are utilizing in the passing game to use Smith and he’s taken advantage of the seven-man fronts in the run game to run the ball.

If McDaniel stays patient, and at some point re-discovers how to hit Hill and Waddle deep, this becomes a dangerous offense.

Dolphins Deep Dive: Prediction time — will Miami use Patriots game to open up offense? | VIDEO

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders forced an effort in the Senate on Wednesday to block the sale of some offensive weapons to Israel for its war in Gaza over mounting civilian deaths there.

The Vermont lawmaker and a small group of Democrats put legislation up for a Senate vote that would block the transfer of some tank and mortar rounds, as well as kits that convert bombs into more precisely targeted weapons, to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “has not simply waged war against against Hamas. It has waged an all-out war against the Palestinian people,” Sanders told lawmakers from the Senate floor.

Known as joint resolutions of disapproval, the measure would have to pass both houses of Congress and withstand any presidential veto to become binding. Congress has never succeeded in blocking arms sales with the joint resolutions. But the vote served as a test of broader frustration among Democrats at the war and President Joe Biden’s handling of relations with Israel.

Lawmakers’ move comes after a 30-day Biden administration deadline came and went earlier this month for Netanyahu to meet specific U.S. targets to improve its treatment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza trapped in the war. U.S. demands included that Israel lift a near-total ban on delivery of aid to hard-hit north Gaza for starving civilians there.

Leading global aid organizations say Israel — which is heavily dependent on U.S. arms and military aid — fell far short of meeting the U.S. demand to allow in an adequate number of aid trucks, and in some other ways worsened conditions for civilians.

That includes Israeli lawmakers newly banning the main U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians.

U.N. officials said as the end of the U.S. deadline neared that the entire population of north Gaza is now at imminent risk of dying from famine, airstrikes or other threats.

“We would expect that there be some consequences when things get even worse,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said in the run-up to the vote on the measures. Fellow Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Peter Welch of Vermont also joined Sanders in the appeal.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor that he will “strongly oppose” the measures.

“Israel needs to protect itself not just today, but also tomorrow and next year and beyond,” Schumer said. “It has been a cornerstone of American policy to give Israel the resources it needs to defend against its enemies. We should not stray from that policy today.”

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham also argued for defeat of the bills. “This signal will be seen as the enemies of Israel, and the enemies of peace, that if they just stick with it they will win,” he said.

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Centrist and progressive Democratic lawmakers and Sanders have made repeated runs during the more than 1-year-old war at convincing the White House and Congress to condition U.S. arms shipments to Israel on improved treatment of Palestinian civilians in the offensive.

The Biden administration has increased its warnings and appeals to Netanyahu to do more to spare civilians in airstrikes and other attacks, and to allow more aid to reach Gaza. The Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks that started the war killed about 1,200. The death toll of Gazans killed since then was nearing 44,000 on Wednesday.

Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, and European Union.

Other than pausing one planned shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, Biden — at 82, a lifetime stalwart supporter of Israel since its modern founding — has rejected calls to limit military support to Israel.

Republicans have stood firmly behind Netanyahu and will control both chambers of Congress next year as President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The U.S.’s roughly $18 billion in military support for Israel during the war was a politically divisive issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, with Republicans vowing to keep up undiminished backing for Israel.

Trump has vowed strong support for Israel and has called on Netanyahu to bring the Gaza war to a quick close. He has offered few specifics on his plans on that.

By FARNOUSH AMIRI

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson declared Wednesday that lawmakers and staff will have to use the restroom corresponding with their biological sex, a statement directed at Sarah McBride, the first transgender person to be elected to Congress, months before she is set to arrive on Capitol Hill.

“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” the Louisiana Republican said. “Women deserve women’s only spaces.”

The statement comes a day after Johnson was questioned on the issue and emphasized the need to “treat all persons with dignity and respect.” He also acknowledged that ”this is an issue that Congress has never had to address before, and we’re going to do that in deliberate fashion with member consensus on it.”

A resolution to restrict McBride’s access to women’s restrooms was introduced Monday by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who pledged to fight to “keep men out of women’s spaces.” Mace said the bill was aimed specifically at McBride, who was elected to the House this month from Delaware.

In response, McBride called the effort a way to “distract from the real issues facing this country.”

“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families,” the incoming member said.

She added, “Like all members, I will follow the rules outlined by Speaker Johnson, even if I disagree with them.”

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Referring to transgender people by the sex they were assigned at birth rather than by the gender they identify as is a tactic often used by opponents of transgender rights. The larger debate over whether transgender people should be allowed to use the bathrooms that align with their gender identity has been prevalent across the U.S. and became a focal point of President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign.

At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls and women’s bathrooms at public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.

Democrats have called the GOP campaign against McBride as bullying. Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., said Tuesday that Mace’s comments are “absolutely ignorant.”

“There’s no statistic anywhere that any trans person commits any crimes at any higher rates that anyone else, so I don’t know where her worry is from,” Sorenson, who is gay, said.

McBride is coming to Congress next year after spending years building a national profile as an LGBTQ+ activist and raising more than $3 million in campaign contributions from around the country. She became the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention in the United States in 2016, when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

TALLAHASSEE — Florida has agreed to pay $725,000 in legal fees and costs for businesses that successfully challenged part of a 2022 law that Gov. Ron DeSantis dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act.”

A court filing Tuesday said the state and the plaintiffs reached a settlement Nov. 4 on attorney fees and other legal costs. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker quickly issued an order Tuesday directing the parties to comply with the settlement.

The filings came after attorneys for the businesses filed a motion Sept. 27 seeking $749,642 in fees and $41,144 in additional costs related to the lengthy legal battle.

The underlying lawsuit involved a challenge to part of the law that placed restrictions on addressing race-related issues in workplace training. Walker in 2022 issued a preliminary injunction against the restrictions on free-speech grounds. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March upheld the preliminary injunction, and Walker followed in July by issuing a permanent injunction.

Walker in August ruled that the plaintiffs were entitled to seek attorney fees, leading to the Sept. 27 motion.

Attorneys from the international law firm Ropes & Gray LLP and the non-profit group Protect Democracy represented the plaintiffs — Primo Tampa, LLC, a Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream franchisee; Honeyfund.com, Inc., a Clearwater-based technology company that provides wedding registries; and Chevara Orrin and her company, Collective Concepts, LLC. Orrin and her company provide consulting and training to employers about issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion.

Tuesday’s filing about the settlement said attorneys for the plaintiffs had provided to the state’s lawyers “all information necessary for the state to issue payment of $725,000.00 divided between Ropes & Gray LLP and Protect Democracy Project as instructed once all required authorizations have been obtained.”

The filing did not provide a more-detailed breakdown, but the plaintiffs’ Sept. 27 motion sought $458,676 in legal fees and $32,128 in costs for Ropes & Gray and $290,966 in legal fees and $2,641 in costs for Protect Democracy. It also sought $6,375 in expert fees.

The state was represented in the case by the Washington, D.C.-based firm Cooper & Kirk PLLC and Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office. It was not immediately clear Wednesday how much the state paid to Cooper & Kirk, but the plaintiffs’ Sept. 27 motion cited state data and said Florida paid a “blended rate” of $725 an hour for each Cooper & Kirk lawyer who worked on the case.

The Stop WOKE Act — short for what DeSantis called the “Stop Wrongs To Our Kids and Employees Act” — drew fierce debate in 2022 before being approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Part of the law put restrictions on workplace training, while another part included restrictions for the education system.

The workplace-training part listed eight race-related concepts and said that a required training program or other activity that “espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels such individual (an employee) to believe any of the following concepts constitutes discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin.”

As an example of the concepts, the law targeted compelling employees to believe that an “individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the individual played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex, or national origin.”

In court documents, the state disputed that the law violated speech rights, saying that it regulated “conduct.” It said businesses could still address the targeted concepts in workplace training — but couldn’t force employees to take part.

But, for example, the appeals court described the law as the “latest attempt to control speech by recharacterizing it as conduct. Florida may be exactly right about the nature of the ideas it targets. Or it may not. Either way, the merits of these views will be decided in the clanging marketplace of ideas rather than a codebook or a courtroom.”

Walker also separately issued a preliminary injunction against the law’s restrictions on the way race-related concepts can be taught in universities. A panel of the appeals court held a hearing in that case in June but has not issued a ruling.

Federal investigators established a trail of payments from Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be attorney general, to women including some who testified that Gaetz hired them for sex, according to a document obtained by The New York Times and a lawyer representing some of the women.

The document, assembled by investigators during a three-year sex-trafficking investigation into Gaetz, is a chart that shows a web of thousands of dollars in Venmo payments between Gaetz and a group of his friends, associates and women who had drug-fueled sex parties between 2017 and 2020, according to testimony that participants are said to have given to federal and congressional investigators.

At the parties, women, and a girl who was 17 at the time, were paid for sex, according to accounts of the participants’ testimony from people briefed on what they said.

The document bolsters recent claims by a lawyer for two of the women who say they had sex with Gaetz for money. It shows thousands of dollars in payments Gaetz made to both of the lawyer’s clients.

Gaetz, 42, represented Florida in Congress from 2017 until last week. He has vehemently denied their accounts, and the federal investigation was closed by the Justice Department without any charges against him. Vice President-elect JD Vance accompanied Gaetz to Capitol Hill on Wednesday in an effort to build support for his nomination from Republican senators, some of whom have expressed doubt that he is confirmable.

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The document was obtained by the House Ethics Committee, which met Wednesday amid growing pressure to release a report it has compiled on Gaetz but deadlocked on whether to do so.

Titled “VENMO TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN ALL INDIVIDUALS AS OF 09/14/20,” the document uses thumbnail photos of Gaetz, dozens of women and several other men to show how payments flowed between them. Lines with arrows connect the men and the women, showing, among other things, how much Gaetz and his associates paid the women.

Because the department declined to charge Gaetz with a crime, the documents amassed during the investigation have remained secret, as the department almost never releases materials that law enforcement agencies develop in investigations in which no charges are brought. But a copy of the chart was obtained by the House Ethics Committee during its own wide-ranging investigation into Gaetz’s conduct, including whether he had sex with the then-17-year-old.

Steven Cheung, the communications director for Trump, blamed the Justice Department for disclosure of the document, which he claimed was classified even though it has no classified markings and does not relate to national security.

“This purposeful leaking of classified investigative materials is the sort of politicized DOJ weaponization that Matt Gaetz will end,” Cheung said. “The Justice Department investigated Gaetz for years, failed to find a crime and are now leaking material with false information to smear the next attorney general.”

The chart does not say what the payments were for, nor does it show that Gaetz made a payment to the 17-year-old girl. But the chart shows payments the authorities believed Gaetz and his associates made to other women, including the two whose lawyer has said they testified to the House Ethics Committee that they had sex with Gaetz in exchange for money.

It has been publicly known for several years that women have claimed that Gaetz paid them for sex. Shortly after the Times revealed the existence of the federal sex trafficking investigation into Gaetz in 2021, it reported that investigators were focusing on Gaetz’s involvement with multiple women who were recruited online for sex and how they received payments.

The Times reported at the time that it had reviewed receipts from Cash App, a mobile payments app, and Apple Pay showing how Gaetz and Joel Greenberg, his associate and friend, had paid one of the women for sex with them.

The charts show different payments, all through Venmo, and provide the first documentary evidence from inside the federal investigation, showing how investigators examined Gaetz’s activities in meticulous detail, tracking not just his payments but also those of a large network of people said to have been involved in the parties.

The lawyer, Joel Leppard, said that two women he represents testified before the House committee that Gaetz had paid them in exchange for sex. One of the women said that she had witnessed Gaetz having sex with the 17-year-old but that she did not believe Gaetz thought the girl was younger than 18, according to Leppard.

The chart shows that one of Leppard’s clients received $4,025.27 and the other $3,500. It does not show the dates of the payments. Those amounts appear to be figures that combine several payments the women received from Gaetz; Leppard said that the women were typically paid $200 to $500 for each encounter with Gaetz.

Leppard confirmed in a telephone interview that his clients had received Venmo payments from Gaetz. Some of his remarks about the payments were reported earlier by ABC News.

Leppard said that along with Venmo payments, his clients had received money from Gaetz on PayPal. He said that he initially thought that his clients had received the amounts listed in the chart but said that when his clients were interviewed by the House committee, it turned out that the panel had obtained other evidence that showed additional payments.

Records the committee had, he said, showed payments from Gaetz to one of his clients totaling around $6,000, and showed payments to the other of $4,000.

He said he believed the committee had obtained the payment information by sending subpoenas to Venmo and PayPal.

The chart also helps to solidify the testimony of Gaetz’s chief accuser, Greenberg, a former local tax collector from Florida. He cooperated with the Justice Department in the federal investigation, telling authorities about how he and Gaetz both had sex with the 17-year-old, although he said they believed she was older than 18. Greenberg pleaded guilty in 2021 to an array of charges — including sex trafficking — and agreed to cooperate against Gaetz. He was later sentenced to 11 years in prison.

The chart shows that Greenberg paid the 17-year-old girl $450.

And it demonstrates that despite an unwillingness by the Justice Department to hand over to the House committee much of the evidence it developed about Gaetz during its investigation, the panel was able to obtain some of the information that investigators gathered as prosecutors weighed whether to charge Gaetz.

The House committee sought a range of information from the Justice Department about Gaetz but was repeatedly rebuffed.

Devlin Barrett contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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