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The Daystarter: Debating restaurants' right to refuse service; about the driver accused of mowing down bicyclists; latest on potential Pasco sinkhole

 
A video from the Instagram page of Mikese Morse, 30, who Tampa police said intentionally rammed his car into a father out biking with his two sons on Sunday. The father was fatally injured and Morse is now in custody. [Instagram]
A video from the Instagram page of Mikese Morse, 30, who Tampa police said intentionally rammed his car into a father out biking with his two sons on Sunday. The father was fatally injured and Morse is now in custody. [Instagram]
Published June 26, 2018

Catching you up on overnight happenings, and what to know today.

• Expect more thundershowers today, especially during the noon to 3 p.m. window, according to the National Weather Service. The chance of rain will drop as Thursday and Friday rolls in, but more wet weather is on its way in time for Sunday. And when it's not raining, it'll be hot with highs in the low 90s.

• As you head out for your morning commute, check out our live blog for the latest traffic updates and road conditions across Tampa Bay.

• Here are the top things to do today in Tampa Bay including Summer Circus Spectacular bringing Ringling veterans to the stage to feature acrobatics, juggling, comedy and aerial work. For updates on the situation there, check tampabay.com.

• We talked to local restaurateurs about the Sarah Huckabee Sanders dust-up when she was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant. What do local restaurants think about kicking people out? Read their reactions here.

• Meanwhile, the harassment of Attorney General Pam Bondi in a Tampa movie theater on Friday night was a sad example of today's look-at-me moral outrage, columnist John Romano writes. Somehow, he says, it seems befitting of our new era of reality-television politics.

• Find out the latest on the mentally disturbed 30-year-old man who Tampa police said intentionally rammed his vehicle into a father out biking with his two children on Sunday. Police said he walked into a substation 12 days earlier rambling that he might hurt someone. He was 30-year-old was taken into protective custody, officials said, but released days before the alleged attack.

• A hole measuring 15 feet across and 10 feet deep appeared in the backyards of two homes on Monday, authorities said, forcing residents out of four homes and shuttering a fifth unoccupied home. The depression appeared in the 11790 block of Pearl Drive, in the Caribbean Estates mobile home park, according to Pasco County Fire Rescue. Authorities initially asked residents of six homes to evacuate. Building inspectors eventually "red-tagged" five of them, closing them off to entry for the time being. Stay with tampabay.com for the latest.

• From our food editor: Try a patriotic poke cake for Fourth of July dessert.

• With prospects looking grim for a sales tax referendum, Hillsborough County School District officials will update the School Board at 9 a.m. on the district's financial picture. They'll make the case that severe spending cuts moved the district from a $126 million operating deficit in 2015 to a $10 million surplus in 2017. Stay with tampabay.com for updates.

• A prominent Donald Trump surrogate and member of Ron DeSantis's national finance team used a racial slur during an appearance on Fox News over the weekend. Monday evening, the Daily Beast reported that the comment had prompted the cable news channel to temporarily suspend him for two weeks. Read more from Emily L. Mahoney.

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• Restaurant review: Food critic Laura Reiley checks out Tampa's Viva Napoli and found it personal, intimate, charming, homey — "the kind of restaurant every Italophile perseverates about while scrolling through iPhone trip photos."

• Get the latest on the search for the University of South Florida's new athletic director from Matt Baker. The search committee released its criteria for USF's next AD on Monday and Baker explains how that could favor two veteran candidates regularly mentioned by insiders.

• There could also be a new athletic director in place by July 4. For the latest on USF's search keep checking the Tampa Bay Times' Bulls blog.

• Clearwater has moved four dozen city employees out of City Hall so that it can be torn down for redevelopment. But the city doesn't have plans to build a new one yet. Tracey McManus reports that's why Mayor Mayor George Cretekos is refusing to move into the new City Hall, which is the sixth floor of One Clearwater Tower.

• Tampa Bay once again makes radio history when Nanci Donnellan aka the Fabulous Sports Babe is inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.