The Bay Area remains under a Flood Watch through the evening hours.  The National Weather Service says we could see many places pick up another 0.5”-1” of rain.  However, there may be some isolated areas that pick up 3-6 inches if multiple thunderstorms “train” over the same area.  Because the ground is saturated, those areas picking up the higher rain totals may see more flooded streets.  River flooding also continues on the Little Manatee and the Manatee Rivers.

Some drier air will move in for the July 4th Weekend.  We drop the rain chances to just 30% for Saturday and Sunday.  We will see morning sunshine and a few storms develop along the seabreeze in the afternoon.  With the extra sunshine, it will be a HOT weekend.  Highs will stay in the low-mid 90s!

For Saturday’s fireworks, temperatures should be in the low to mid 80s.  It will be muggy, but the rain will diminish after sunset.

The federal stimulus money is starting to flow to local communities across the country. Pasco County is counting on about $35 million, and some of it should have been in county coffers yesterday. Pasco officials plan on using the bulk of that money for a road-widening project in the busy central Pasco development corridor.

Other federal stimulus money will go for:

* Replacing buses on the county public transit system and installing security cameras
* Offering rental assistance for people at-risk of becoming homeless
* Rehabbing and reselling foreclosed homes

Money is going from Washington all over the country. To see where it’s going, check out: http://tinyurl.com/nk5g3b

It should come as no surprise that CSX Transportation has agreed to extend negotiations with the state, which wants to buy 61 miles of track for commuter rail near Orlando.

The railroad, which picked an arbitrary deadline to force lawmakers to make a deal in quick order, stands to make a killing if the $1.2 billion proposal comes to fruition. It would lease the track from the state and still run freight trains on it during off-peak hours.

The question is what has changed in the two months since the Florida Senate, for the second time in two years, rejected the plan because CSX insisted on the state assuming responsibility for any legal claims resulting from a commuter rail accident, even if a freight train was at fault. Lawmakers balked at approving a $200 million insurance policy. That was a bad deal for the state then and now.

Editor’s note: Items labelled “Tribune Editorial” are commentary and are the opinion of the Tampa Tribune editorial board. See the full editorial here later tonight, or in tomorrow’s Tribune.

The Florida Supreme Court has ruled against Gov. Charlie Crist in a case that arose from a fight over diversity in judicial appointments. The court said Crist must choose an appointee from a judicial nominating commission’s list that Crist said didn’t include enough racial diversity.

Last year, Crist rejected the list of potential appointees for a vacancy on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal. He told the judicial nominating commission to reconsider its nominees, in particularly three black applicants it had rejected. The nominating commission refused and the issue ended up going to court.

Today, the Supreme Court issued a decision saying Crist didn’t have the authority to tell the commission to reconsider its list, and is bound by law to choose an appiontee from the list. It ruled that the state Constitution requires Crist “to make an appointment within the mandated time frame from the certified list of nominees.”

The issue has strong political overtones. Crist, now running for the U.S. Senate, won the governor’s race with the help of a record number of black votes for a Florida Republican, and has intensively sought greater racial diversity in his judicial appointments.
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Update: Crist’s response: In a statement a few minutes ago, Crist said he’ll abide by the court’s decision.

“While I am disappointed by today’s decision that the Judicial Nominating Commission cannot reconsider these important nominations, I respect the Supreme Court’s decision and their consideration of this case.  I remain committed to ensuring that the diversity of the people of Florida is represented in our judiciary.”

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