{"id":154287,"date":"2026-02-13T12:37:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T12:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/154287\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T12:37:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T12:37:49","slug":"morning-briefing-tampa-february-13-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/154287\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Briefing Tampa February 13 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, Tampa Bay.\u00a0Here’s what you need to know today.<\/p>\n

Your Weather Planner<\/p>\n

After another morning of dense fog, skies will become partly sunny to mostly sunny today.<\/p>\n

Highs will be near 70 at the beaches and warm to the mid to upper 70s inland.<\/p>\n

Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph become northwest this afternoon.<\/p>\n

Lows will fall to the mid to upper 50s tonight with some upper 40s in the Nature Coast.<\/p>\n

There will be patchy fog tonight.<\/p>\n

The weekend will be warm with a rain chance late Sunday<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

High:\u00a077<\/p>\n

Low:\u00a057<\/p>\n

Rain Coverage:\u00a00%<\/p>\n

Check your hour-by-hour forecast here<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Share your weather photos<\/a><\/p>\n

Around Tampa Bay<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Decision approaching on possible Tampa Bay MPO merger<\/a>
Votes on whether metropolitan planning organizations in Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas Counties should merge could happen this spring.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Clearwater gets national attention as spring tourism season starts<\/a>\u00a0
From Major League Baseball to college softball, fans and athletes heading to the diamonds are bringing with them welcome exposure and an economic boost to the Tampa Bay area.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Water levels along the Withlacoochee River could be headed toward record low levels this summer<\/a>
A recent hydrologic report from the\u00a0Southwest Florida Water Management District\u00a0says that current water levels along the Withlacoochee River are 2 to 3 feet lower than a year ago because of the shortfall of rain across the region.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Pinellas County Meals on Wheels requests state funding to keep seniors from returning to waitlist<\/a>
Neighborly Senior Care Network\u2019s\u00a0Meals on Wheels in Pinellas County has a waitlist that it\u2019s looking to shrink, so it is requesting $1 million in additional funding in the 2026-27 state budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Agriculture losses could top $1 billion across Florida after the hard freeze<\/a>
The damage from the recent freeze could top $1 billion across the state, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Around the Nation & World<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0DHS funding negotiations seem to stall one day before deadline<\/a><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Trump formally rolls back scientific finding on greenhouse gases in major change to U.S. climate policy<\/a><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0New legislation takes aim at investors buying up homes<\/a><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Grieving families press Congress on aviation safety reforms after midair collision near DC<\/a><\/p>\n

Don’t Miss This<\/p>\n

Finding friendship during long All Children’s Hospital stay<\/a>
\nManatees rehabilitated at SeaWorld Orlando are sent back into the wild<\/a>
\n2026 Tampa Bay Rays Fan Fest: What you need to know<\/a>
\n2026 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg: What you need to know<\/a>
\nJUSTICE FOR ALL: 100 Years Later: The Legacy of Black History<\/a><\/p>\n

Quote of the Day
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Sex-trafficking survivors would no longer be restricted by statutes of limitations to pursue civil claims against their offenders under a new law Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proposed Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Virginia\u2019s Law would end the 10-year limit for adult survivors to sue, allowing them more time to come to terms with their abuse. One of the Epstein\u2019s best-known victims, Giuffre was 16 when she was recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell to provide sexual services for Epstein and his acquaintances.<\/p>\n

She escaped to Thailand at age 19 and later founded the nonprofit Victims Refuse Silence in 2015 to support survivors. She died by suicide last April.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning, Tampa Bay.\u00a0Here’s what you need to know today. Your Weather Planner After another morning of dense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2126,275,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-154287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-morning-briefing","tag-spectrum-news-staff","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}