The Washington Post is reporting that President Bush may announce his new Supreme Court nominee tomorrow, with Alito seen as the favorite and Luttig and Batchelder also in the running. On TradeSports, it’s all Alito and Luttig. Jeff Goldstein has thoughts. (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

Beta, the record-setting 13th hurricane of the season, is now a tropical depression dissipating over Nicaragua, and the NHC has issued its final advisory on the storm.

According to the discussion, “There is some possibility of regeneration over [the Pacific] basin during the next couple of days. This is the last advisory on Beta. Should the system regenerate over the east Pacific…it would be assigned a new number and/or name.”

The AP reports:

Jack Howard, mayor of the central coastal town of Laguna de Perlas, told local television that 700 people were trapped in Tasbapauni, a town separated from the mainland by a lagoon. …

Nicaragua’s army chief, Gen. Omar Halleslevens, told reporters in the capital that Beta had destroyed or damaged some houses, ripped off building roofs, knocked down trees and caused some flooding. He said it also damaged at least one pier.

“No one was injured, no one was killed, thank God,” President Enrique Bolanos said. “We are prepared from coast to coast.” …

In Honduras, authorities evacuated more than 7,800 people Sunday from 50 communities north of the Nicaraguan border after four rivers overflowed from 4 inches of rain brought by Beta.

Strong winds knocked down signs, fences, trees and electricity and telephone poles, cutting off power and communication in hundreds of communities and at least two highways were blocked, said the country’s disaster response chief, Hugo Arevalo.

Flooding damaged rice, corn and bean fields. High waters also sent snakes out of the jungle into residential areas, although there were no reports of snakebites.

The threat of heavy rain continues, even as Beta dissipates.

Becky, Vikki and I went apple-picking today at County Line Orchard in Hobart. We also got ourselves lost and found in a corn maze.

Photos here. A few highlights:

There was a fatal fire in Newington last night.

UPDATE: The victim is Richard Hastings, a retired Newington teacher and NHS wrestling coach.

Could the Supreme Court’s next nominee be another Hoosier? (Hat tip: meanoldmom.)

Mahoney’s biggest liability, from the Right’s perspective, is her position in favor of affirmative action. Not only did she argue the case for the University of Michigan, but according to PoliPundit, she addressed it from a personal perspective: “I’m a Republican, and there’s a common misconception that all Republicans oppose affirmative action. I care deeply about this case.”

Hurricane Beta briefly attained Category 3 status overnight — making it the seventh major hurricane of the season, one shy of 1950’s record of eight — then weakened to a Category 2 with 105 mph winds before making landfall at 7:00 AM EST near La Barra, Nicaragua.

It now has 90 mph winds, and further rapid weakening is expected, according to the discussion:

GIVEN THE SMALL SIZE OF THE HURRICANE…BETA SHOULD WEAKEN VERY RAPIDLY AS IT MOVES FARTHER INLAND…AND THE CIRCULATION IS EXPECTED TO DISSIPATE DURING THE 24 HOURS OR SO IT WILL SPEND OVER LAND. HOWEVER…IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT THAT BETA REMAINS A TROPICAL CYCLONE THROUGHOUT ITS OVERLAND PASSAGE…IT WOULD RETAIN ITS NAME IN THE EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC BASIN.

And now… is there a proto-Gamma out there?! Dr. Jeff Masters writes:

A large tropical wave located about 200 miles east of the Lesser Antilles has not become better organized today but has some potential for further development over the next few days as it moves west or west-northwest at 15 mph. This area of disturbed weather will bring heavy rain and gusty winds to the northern Leeward Islands today. If a tropical storm does develop from this wave, it could threaten Hispanolia, Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamas later in the week. Wind shear over the Caribbean is expected to remain low the next week, favoring tropical storm development of any tropical waves that traverse the region.

Here’s a picture of the wave:

V, Becky and I are out on the town having a grand old time. Meanwhile, in other news, Tropical Storm Beta is “near hurricane strength” with 70 mph winds, and is “lashing” the island of Providencia.

UPDATE: I actually posted this Friday night around 10:00 PM. I have no idea why it didn’t publish until now.

Newsweek’s Marc Peyser is not impressed with the media’s on-the-scene live coverage of the recent hurricanes.

It’s my 24th birthday, Indiana is witnessing the final Daylight Saving Time transition in which the majority of the state’s residents don’t have to change our clocks, and Mars is making its closest approach to Earth for the next 13 years.

Technically, the Mars thing happened at 10:25 PM, the DST thing is happening right now, and my birth hour is 9:22 AM. But, close enough. :)

P.S. Speaking of which, here are some birthday pictures from Friday:

That’s Brian, a.k.a. K-Boss, helping me blow out the candles. His birthday was Friday, and the cake and party were for both of us. More pics here.

Also, while we’re on the topic of birthdays, Happy Birthday to my soon-to-be brother-in-law, Søren, who turned 30 on Friday!

P.P.S. By the way, about the DST thing… the reason this is “the final Daylight Saving Time transition in which the majority of the state’s residents don’t have to change our clocks” is because next April, all of Indiana is adopting Daylight Saving Time for the first time ever, so next October, Indianans will be “falling back” just like everyone else.

Another tidbit: between 1:00 AM and 2:00 AM South Bend time (i.e., from right now until an hour from now), the time is the same throughout the entire state of Indiana — the only time that’s true all year — because the five EDT counties have set their clocks back, bringing them in sync with the bulk of the state that’s always on EST, but the ten CDT counties haven’t set their clocks back yet, so they’re not yet out of sync with the EST counties. (Map here.)

Hurricane Beta (or as I like to call it, Hurricane β) is approaching the coast of Nicaragua with 105 mph winds, and it could get stronger:

INFRARED SATELLITE IMAGES INDICATE THAT BETA IS CURRENTLY INTENSIFYING AND BECOMING DANGEROUS. T-NUMBERS HAVE INCREASED TO 5.0 ON THE DVORAK SCALE AND THE OBJECTIVE T-NUMBERS ARE ON THE UPWARD TREND. IT APPEARS THAT BETA HAS A SMALL EYE EMBEDDED WITHIN VERY DEEP CIRCULAR CONVECTION. THE INITIAL INTENSITY HAS BEEN INCREASED TO 90 KNOTS AND THERE IS ABOUT 12 HOURS FOR BETA TO FURTHER INTENSIFY TO CATEGORY 3 STATUS BEFORE LANDFALL IN NICARAGUA EARLY SUNDAY. THEREAFTER…THE HURRICANE SHOULD WEAKEN OVER THE HIGH TERRAIN OF CENTRAL AMERICA. . . .

REGARDLESS OF THE INTENSITY OF BETA AT LANDFALL…THIS TROPICAL CYCLONE WILL BRING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL TO PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AMERICA…PRIMARILY NICARAGUA AND HONDURAS…CAUSING CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE…AND LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES. EVEN WHEN BETA MOVES INLAND AND BECOMES A WEAKENING CYCLONE…IT COULD STILL PRODUCE TORRENTIAL RAINS.

This is interesting, too: “SOME OF THE DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH BETA MAY GET DRAWN INTO A DEVELOPING WINTER-TYPE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK.”