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The Daystarter: Here are Tampa Bay's biggest water users; Clearwater man in court in human trafficking deaths; email sheds light on sewage crisis; paralysis patients fear nursing home placement

 
At 1.2 million gallons, the house of Harry Barkett in South Tampa used more water than anyone else in the Tampa Bay region between Jan. 1 and May 31 of this year, when Tampa was in a severe drought. ALESSANDRA DA PRA  |   Times
At 1.2 million gallons, the house of Harry Barkett in South Tampa used more water than anyone else in the Tampa Bay region between Jan. 1 and May 31 of this year, when Tampa was in a severe drought. ALESSANDRA DA PRA | Times
Published July 24, 2017

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

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• After a stormy, soggy Sunday, today looks slightly drier, with even lower rain chances and warmer temperatures returning Tuesday, according to 10Weather WTSP.

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

• James Mathew Bradley Jr., 60, of Clearwater, the driver of a sweltering tractor-trailer in which nine people died in what officials said was an immigrant-smuggling attempt gone wrong, will appear in court today. Stay with tampabay.com for updates.

• The Tampa Bay area experienced severe drought conditions through the first half of 2017, when rainfall was less than half of normal levels. But despite water usage advisories and wildfires, the water kept flowing at some homes throughout the region. The Tampa Bay Times asked Tampa, St. Petersburg, Hillsborough and Pinellas for a list of their top 100 residential water users from Jan. 1 to May 31. More than 75 people across those four jurisdictions are on pace to use 1 million gallons of water by the end of the year. Times staff writer Steve Contorno takes a look at some of the top residential water users.

• For the better part of two years, the decision to close St. Petersburg's waterfront Albert Whitted sewage plant has occupied center stage in the city's sewage crisis. Recently, an email has emerged, sent from a high-ranking sewer official just a month before the plant's closure. It's part of a trove of documents released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency after a federal inquiry into the crisis was closed in late May. The email sheds new light on this hot-button issue and raises questions about why the city didn't reexamine its plan to shutter the aging plant. Read the story here.

• About 500 Floridians with brain or spinal cord injuries fear that a change in Florida health care law will force them out of their own homes and into nursing homes. That change — dropping a Medicaid waiver program and putting patients who were using it on managed care — also affects cystic fibrosis and AIDS patients who receive medical care at home. Times staff writer Philip Morgan has the story.

• Jared Kusher, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, is scheduled to testify before two intelligence committees this week. His first appearance will be today behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee. He is expected to be questioned about Russian interference in the 2016 election.

• Rick Baker has used mailers, forums and social media to relay one big message in his campaign for St. Petersburg mayor: Schools in St. Petersburg saw drastic improvements when he was mayor from 2001 to 2008. "We went from zero A elementary schools when I took office to 16 when I left, and our total A and B schools went up by 260 percent," Baker told the Tampa Bay Times editorial board. With this talking point coming up again and again, PolitiFact Florida's Allison Graves looked into it.

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• For Times columnist Ernest Hooper, the findings of a recent CDC report — that half of female homicide victims are killed due to violence perpetrated by an intimate partner — sends a message on the importance of strong laws, alert first responders and healthy relationship skills.

• Tampa Bay June homes sales are out later this morning. Are price increases starting to slow? For the latest, go to tampabay.com/business

• Keith Colburn is best known as captain of the Wizard on the Discovery Network series Deadliest Catch. The crabber talks about coming to Tampa Bay to catch grouper, his reality TV show, and hanging with Snoop and Martha ahead of his local watch parties at Hooters today and Tuesday.

Plan your week! Here are the top things to do this week in Tampa Bay including Margarita Wars, Tampa Bay Comic Con and country hitmakers Lady Antebellum.