[whpalmer4]

You do get to choose which action is the next action — just move that action to the top of the project. A project you don't think should have any next actions sounds a lot like a project that is either on hold, dropped, or scheduled for a future start.

As for styling flagged options, I think between the flag icon at the end of the row and the ability to filter flagged actions, the developers feel they've got it covered. Can't say I've ever felt like disputing that view...