Hurricanes and politics may have tanked plans for a new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark on the site of Tropicana Field.

Why it matters: Whether baseball is "here to stay" is a lot murkier than it looked a few months ago.

Catch up quick: Both Pinellas County commissioners and St. Petersburg City Council members in July approved plans for a $1.3-billion ballpark and redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District, a historically Black neighborhood that was razed decades ago to build the Trop.

• Votes on bonds to finance the deal were delayed by the hurricanes, which also hit the Rays in a more tangible way: Category 3 Milton's powerful winds ripped the roof off the Trop.
• County commissioners were set to vote on the bonds again Oct. 29, but uncertainty over where the Rays would play next season, coupled with hurricane damage that forced reflection of the county's budget priorities, led commissioners to kick the vote down the road again.

What they're saying: That irked team owner Stuart Sternberg, who told the Tampa Bay Times the delay "upended our ballpark agreement" and "sent a clear message that we had lost the county as a partner."

• "The future of baseball in Tampa Bay became less certain after that vote," he told the paper.

Meanwhile, the Nov. 5 election changed the board's makeup. Voters ousted incumbent Charlie Justice, a proponent of the deal. Janet Long, another Rays supporter, retired, leaving her seat up for grabs.

• Taking over their spots on the commission are Chris Scherer and Vince Nowicki, who could join forces with deal skeptics Dave Eggers and Chris Latvala to tank the deal, the Times reported.

Finally, last week, the Rays announced that they would play next season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.

• The decision to go with a site across the bay, rather than at stadiums in Clearwater or Dunedin, ruffled some Pinellas County feathers.

What's next: The bond vote goes before the county commission again today, but it will likely be delayed — again.

• "We need to push the vote back," commission chair Kathleen Peters told Axios on Friday. "There's too much information that we still need to look at."

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Scraps of roof, insulation and other debris rained down with the deluge as Hurricane Milton tore through Tropicana Field, photos released by the Tampa Bay Rays show.

• The photos show the interior of the wrecked ballpark for the first time, soon after the release of a city report that put the price tag for repairing the Trop by 2026 at $55.7 million.
• These pictures were taken by team photographer Will Vragovic in mid-to late October, per the Tampa Bay Times.

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🏛️ Gov. Ron DeSantis has already started vetting possible candidates to fill Marco Rubio's U.S. Senate seat and expects to make a decision by early January. (Miami Herald)

• President-elect Donald Trump nominated Rubio to serve as Secretary of State.

⚾️ Two former Rays players, Ben Zobrist and Fernando Rodney, were among 14 players added to the ballot for baseball's Hall of Fame on Monday. (Tampa Bay Times)

🇳🇱 Delta Air Lines plans to offer nonstop flights between Tampa and Amsterdam year-round. The flights, which debuted in October, were originally slated to run only through May. (WFLA)

☔️ Expect rain from the former Tropical Storm Sara to arrive Wednesday morning. (Fox 13)

Tips make up an increasingly large share of restaurant workers' pay, per data from Square, the payments company.

Why it matters: The rise of tipping culture means that servers and bartenders are getting tipped more frequently for services — like takeout orders — that used to go without gratuities.

By the numbers: In October, tips made up 23% of restaurant worker pay nationwide — up from 14% in 2019, according to Square's report, which examines payroll data.

• In Florida, tips made up about 21% of restaurant workers' income.

Yes, but: That doesn't mean we're great tippers in the Sunshine State.

• Square reports that the average tip percentage Floridians leave is 15.7%, worse than about half of states.

Go deeper: Restaurants' post-COVID bounce-back

Kathryn spotted this vintage beach queen on a recent night out somewhere in Tampa Bay.

• Can you guess where?

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