[JURIST] The government of Florida and a Florida judge engaged in a last-minute legal tussle late Wednesday as the state made what could be its final bid to restore Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. At a press conference held while the Florida Senate was still debating legislation that might have authorized tube reconnection [JURIST report], Governor Jeb Bush said that new evidence from neurologist Dr. William Cheshire [Mayo Clinic profile] suggested that Schiavo was minimally conscious and therefore that the current diagnosis of her being in a persistent vegetative state might not be correct [NBC WFLA-8 TV Tampa video]. The Florida Department of Children and Familes [official website] meanwhile petitioned [PDF] Pinellas County circuit judge George Greer, who has already made numerous rulings in the Schiavo case, for leave to intervene based on Cheshire's affidavit [PDF] and allegations of abuse and endangerment of Schiavo that video report with clips from court arguments before Greer; Knight Ridder has more. Greer is expected to make a formal ruling on the DCF petition by Noon Thursday.