The Daily Five: Weekend Update, A Novel Blog, and Testing, Testing, Testing!

1. Today will be mostly sunny, although we'll see increasing clouds this afternoon and this evening. Weather.com is predicting a high temperature of 43 degrees and an overnight low of 30 degrees. There's a 20 percent chance of rain today, with a 10 percent chance of rain tonight. 

2. In case you missed it, here are a few of the weekend headlines.

• Another . Police are asking for anyone with information to contact State Police Troop F at (860) 399-2100.
• A vigil was held in North Stonington for the two children who were abducted and killed by their grandmother. The medical examiner reports that the two little boys died of multiple gunshot wounds before their grandmother turned the gun on herself.  
• New London collected 88 firearms the first day of its gun buy-back program which was held this past weekend. 
• Maureen Clark, 58, of Stonington, was sentenced to 87 months of imprisonment for her role in an investment fraud scheme that defrauded several individuals out of more than $1.7 million. Her co-conspirator, Christopher Plummer of Lyme, is currently serving 51 months in prison for his role in the scam.  

3. This month, local students will be put to the test—more specifically, they'll be taking the Connecticut Mastery Tests starting today. Local schools did well the last time around. To ensure they do well again, East Lyme Middle School Principal Judy DeLeeuw offered the following tips for parents. 

"It is very important that students get enough rest and have a good breakfast during the testing weeks. Students need to arrive prepared to focus on this important state mandated assessment tool. Please send a snack each day with your child."

Test results will be sent home to parents in September. 

4. Now the snow has melted, the debris left behind by the winter storm is very much in evidence as boughs broke under the weight of the snow. Although Old Lyme isn't doing any curbside brush pickups, Old Lyme residents can bring timber and brush debris to the transfer station at no charge. I'll let you know if East Lyme plans to do the same as soon as I find out. 

5. I'm really excited to let you all know that Niantic author Jan Schenk Grosskopf is publishing excerpts of her newly-released historical novel "for Mischief done" on Patch. These are running in a blog posted every Sunday. .