The rain is back. It's already causing flash flood alerts in parts of the county. A number of reporters, led by Maria Gonzalez (mgonzalez@VenturaCountyStar.com) will be covering the story today. We'll look at all the likely suspects for problems, including La Conchita and the burn areas of Piru and Simi Valley, along with Casitas Springs and those areas along Highway 126, such as Hopper Creek, where problems occurred last month.

We are also following the report from yesterday about a "large cat" loose in the area around the Ronald Reagan library. Jean Ortiz (jortiz@VenturaCountyStar.com) is following that story for us today.

County officials were in court this morning to update the status of the ongoing fight between the supervisors and justice officials over funding. The judge agreed to delay the start of the trial on the lawsuit for two months as talks continue between the two sides. Kevin Clerici (kclerici@venturacountystar.com) is the reporter.

One of our education writers, Erin Hutkin (ehutkin@VenturaCountyStar.com) is taking a look at the push by the U.S. Department of Education to crack down on how California enforces the No Child Left Behind rules. It could mean seven Ventura County school districts -- Fillmore, Hueneme, Ocean View, Ojai, Oxnard Elementary and Oxnard Union High, El Rio and Santa Paula, could be put on a watch list for failing schools. She'll explain what that means.

The big stories off the wire are the three suicide bombings in Baghdad that killed at least 27 people, and the ongoing talks in Washington that gave a hint this morning that Vioxx might someday return to the pharmacy shelves.