1. Today should be mostly sunny, with a high temperature of 69 degrees and an overnight low of 56. Weather.com is predicting just a 10 percent chance of rain but the UV Index is very high at 9, so though you can probably leave the umbrella at home, don’t leave home without sunblock!
2. School's out for summer! For kids, that makes today the best day ever - for parents, um, not so much. If you’re looking for ways to keep the kids busy with things to do that won’t turn their brains to mush by the time school starts up again, has the answer with a Summer Reading Program. All children and teens are invited to register for the summer reading program today, either at the library or online. If you can’t make it, don’t worry. Registration remains open throughout the duration of the program.
3. Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s summer season continues with a focus on musicals starting this week. The National Music Theater Conference kicks off with its first performance of When We Met (book by Dan Collins, lyrics and music by Julianne Wick Davis, in collaboration with Sally Wilfert and Michael Winther) on June 20 at 8 p.m. and June 22 at 7 p.m..
This is a story about two comfortably middle-aged people who meet, somewhat reluctantly, on a blind date that challenges their assumption that they were destined to be alone. Tickets (which are $28 per show throughout the season) are available at the box office, (860) 443-1238, or online at www.theoneill.org.
If you’re on a tight budget, there's no reason to miss out on what the O'Neill has to offer. Theatermakers, (performances by the National Theater Institute’s undergraduates in training in acting, directing, and playwriting,) will present works in progress every Monday night at 7 p.m. and admission is free!
4. The Shellfish Commission meets this week to report a few changes at the top. Longtime Chief Warden Captain John Wadsworth has retired from his position to focus on his many other ventures at Mago Point, and Michael Wadsworth has also resigned.
The Shellfish Commission plans to appoint Richard Chmiel as the new Chief Warden and will appoint Norman Breed to the position of warden at its next meeting on June 21, but going forward there will be just four wardens patrolling the shellfishing areas until the commission hires a fifth.
In case you’re interested, the job involves daily patrols at low tide (and sometimes at night and at high tide) to ensure that people out shellfishing have the proper license and aren’t fishing in areas that are closed. The wardens, who report to Ledge Light Health District, also test the water for pollutants to determine which shellfishing areas will be open and when.
5. On this day in 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to go into space. She wasn’t, however, the first woman in space. That honor went to Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who orbited the Earth 48 times some 20 years earlier aboard the Vostok 6.
Quote of the Day
“I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space.” -- Stephen Hawking
Daily Trivia
Which classic rock song includes the lyrics “Ride, Sally, Ride,” and who performed it?
Friday’s answer: Mike Meyer’s adopted a Scottish accent for Shrek.
