Catching you up on overnight happenings, and what to know today.
• Guess what? It's still hot. There might be a slightly higher chance of rain, but that's it. Expect the same hot, sitcky weather this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
• Here are the top things to do today in Tampa Bay, including comedian Deon Cole (from Black-ish, Conan) performing at the Improv, Blackbear visits St. Petersburg and Luann de Lesseps from the Real Housewives appears at the Bilheimer Capitol Theatre.
• Wallet a little light? Here's 5 things to do under $5 this week including a Free Tuesday at the Glazer Children's Museum.
• The federal agency that oversees elections demanded explanations on Wednesday from about 50 politicians who are operating zombie campaigns — political committees that keep spending contributions long after the campaign has ended. The Federal Election Commission sent letters to the campaigns Wednesday asking why their campaign accounts were still open and flagged specific expenses by at least 17 campaigns and asked them to justify the spending.
• Read the Tampa Bay Times/WTSP-Ch. 10 investigation into zombie campaigns: The campaign is over. The candidate might be dead. But the spending never stops.
• Politics never stops in Florida, and neither does the Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau. For the latest and greatest political coverage in the Sunshine State check out the The Buzz.
• It costs money to produce quality journalism. Please support the Tampa Bay Times by buying a digital subscription to Florida's best newspaper and its redesigned website tampabay.com.
• Malfunction Junction is perhaps the most well-deserved nickname in all of Tampa Bay. But the Florida Department of Transportation says it has some ideas for fixing the traffic-choked Interstate 275/Interstate 4 interchange through downtown Tampa. Catilin Johnston explains the options and check out the videos showing the four design options.
• A day after a video circled the globe showing her either coughing or cough-cursing a member of Tampa City Council, a legislative aide to council member Guido Maniscalco is out. Charlie Frago reports that Carrie Henriquez has resigned. Many have heard the video of the incident that led to her resignation, saying they could hear Henriquez cough and utter a vulgarity referring to a body part when she passed behind council chair Luis Viera at a May 23 meeting.
• The man accused of killing one man and wounding another in a March 27 shooting in St. Petersburg's Historic Old Northeast neighborhood was fascinated by mass shootings and murder, stockpiled weapons and ammunition and even wrote a suicide note after the incident, according to the evidence prosecutors rolled out Thursday. Kavitha Suarana explains what police found, and why the defendant won't be getting out of jail before his trial.
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Explore all your options• Seven months ago, Ruth Eckerd Hall began an international search for its next leader. It ended right where it started. Christopher Spata reports that chief operating officer Susan Crockett, who has worked for the Cleawater-based nonprofit for more than 30 years, was named president and CEO on Thursday.
• Florida Power & Light, Gulf Power, and Tampa Electric are hoping to bump up their spending on "economic development" from $3 million and pass along the costs, according to documents recently filed with the PSC. The petition was brought up at a May 14 PSC meeting but was tabled for the next meeting expected to happen June 11.
• The lauded St. Petersburg restaurant the Reading Room is closed for the summer — and maybe for good.
• The last local cigar maker debuts The American today and is renovating a floor, complete with a lector, for rolling its products by hand. "Just as people travel from all over the world to visit Napa Valley to taste wine," Drew Newman, general counsel for J.C. Newman said, "we want to create a destination for cigar enthusiasts." he said.
• Filmmaker Tosca Musk, the sister of billionaire technology entrepreneur and Tesla manufacturer Elon Musk, will make her next movie in St. Petersburg. Shooting will span June 10-28. Titled A Brother's Honor, it is based on the romance book of the same name by Brenda Jackson.
• St. Petersburg will host a new songwriter festival featuring more than 100 free concerts in November.
• Read the Tampa Bay Times online Sports page with the latest news about the Lightning, Bucs, Rays, Bulls, Gators, Noles and high school sports.
• Two Hillsborough County baseball teams faced off for the Class 8A state championship: Plant City High School prevailed 3-1 in the title game against Strawberry Crest High. The two schools are just nine miles apart. It only took Plant City 97 years to win the championship, even if it mean seniors had to miss graduation.
• Times sportswriter Rick Stroud has the latest reaction and analysis from the whole team via our Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast.
• The Rays welcomed back teammate-turned-manager Rocco Baldelli to St. Petersburg, then got down to business: Beating the best team in baseball as Tampa Bay walloped Baldelli's Twins 14-3, won its sixth in a row and pulled within a half-game of the Yankees in the American League East, writes Marc Topkin.
• The Rays face a grueling scheduled in the next few weeks. Can they handle it? Rays beat writer Marc Topkin will be there every step of the way. Follow him at @TBTimes_Rays.
• Get the latest Bucs news as coach Bruce Arians gets ready for the 2019 season and follow Rick Stroud at @NFLSTROUD on Twitter and fellow beat writer Eduardo A. Encina at @EddieInTheYard.
• The Lightning face a long, painful offseason. Follow beat writers Diana C. Nearhos at @dianacnearhos and Mari Faiello at @faiello_mari to see how Tampa Bay puts the pieces back together.
• All the Bulls news you can use is right here from Times beat writer Joey Knight. Follow him on Twitter for the latest at @TBTimes_Bulls.
• Get the latest on the Gators and Seminoles this spring from Times college football beat writer Matt Baker and follow him on Twitter at @MBakerTBTimes.