5 Things You Need To Know Today: January 27

1. The northbound parking lane and a portion of the northbound travel lane on 12th Street West between Manatee and 6th Avenues will close from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday for crane work on the courthouse roof. The sidewalk on the east side of 12th St. W. in the same area also will close. On Monday and Tuesday Ninth Street West’s northbound lane and a portion of its center lane between 13^th and 17^th Avenues West will close from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. for construction work at McKechnie Field. Northbound traffic will be detoured.

2. Registration is now open for the East Manatee Bulldogs Spring Flag Football season. Participants can register online or in person on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. at , 1795 Lakewood Ranch Blvd. The registration fee is $95. Practices begin Feb. 27 and games begin March 17.

3. The public is invited to attend the “No Place like Home” forum from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday at , 1816 9^th Street W. Robert Marbut, founding president for Haven for Hope, will be the keynote speaker. Manatee County Government will co-host the event with the Community Coalition on Homelessness and People Assisting the Homeless. Leaders are calling on the community to offer solutions to homelessness locally.

4. This is the final weekend for the Manatee Players production of Happy Days, the musical. The musical version of the television sitcom plays through Sunday. Performances are tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults and $11 for students. Reserve tickets by calling 748-5875 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and one hour before curtain on performance days or on the Manatee Players’ website. All performances are at 102 Old Main Street.

5. Jordan Boyer, an 8th-grader at Haile Middle School, has just released her first music video, titled “Goodbye Love.”  While you can see it now on youtube, it is also scheduled to be releases on I-Tunes soon. The video was filmed at Haile about two months ago, and uses many extras from the school. Jordan is scheduled to fly to Nashville soon to work with Taylor Swift's vocal coach. In addition, Jordan will play a large role in Haile’s Spring musical.