5 Things: Parking Meter Protest March Today

1. Merchants and other folks fed up with the electronic parking meters plan to with brown bags over their heads with "Bag 'Em" emblazoned on them. The group plans to have a brief happy hour at at 5 p.m. then promptly leave at 5:45 p.m. and march into the City Commission chambers in time for the 6 p.m. session where the commission will discuss the paid parking program.

2. between Orange Avenue and Bayfront Boulevard to expedite construction of the two roundabouts. City officials say they could speed up construction by 45 days when the road is closed. Pedestrian walkways will be constructed in three to four weeks to help people walk toward businesses in Burns Square. T to and from downtown to Burns Square and opened up a parking lot off of Laurel Street and Orange Avenue to give customers and businesses some relief.

3. Have you looked at the huge swath of clouds this weekend or at a satellite radar? Yeah, that kind of looks like, well we wont use the H word in February, or even say Tropical Storm at this point, but WWSB meteorologists are keeping their eyes on this and for now, say it could be a "subtropical system" by midweek. The National Hurricane Center says the system could develop into a subtropical cyclone and is expected to shift over Florida from the Gulf of Mexico.

4. Asolo Rep's Yentl is garnering national attention with singer-songwriter Jill Sobule (pronounced So-boy-ul) behind the musical reigns that spins the play with a transgender twist. On Saturday, NPR aired a special interview with Sobule about the production. Sobule will play a one-night only concert at the Mertz Theatre on Feb. 13. Tickets are on sale for $37 and $52. Yentl runs through April 26 at Asolo. Tickets start at $26.

5. The Sarasota Season of Sculpture is offering free guided docent tours for students, teachers and the public of the 10 works of large-scale sculptures in downtown Sarasota’s Bayfront Park. Docent tours are available upon request by leaving a written message on the organization's Web site sarasotaseasonofsculpture.org. The 2012 exhibit, "Under Azure Skies," features works by 10 artists and runs through May 2012.