5 Things You Need To Know Today, Thursday, Jan. 17

Here are 5 pieces of information designed to get your Thursday off on the right foot and to help make you the smartest person in your age bracket.

1. Your 3-Day Local Weather Forecast:

• According to the NWS, today will be mostly sunny, with a high near 40. West wind 6 to 8 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon.
• Thursday Night A slight chance of snow showers after 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 12. North wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
• Friday Sunny, with a high near 27. North wind 8 to 11 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph.
• Friday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 16. Southwest wind 6 to 9 mph.
• Saturday Partly sunny, with a high near 42.
• Saturday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24.

2. Reader Comment of the Day: "Drivers = Middle Class / Working Class ... Democrats say they don't want to raise taxes on the middle class / working class. Driving Tax/Fee increase = tax/fee increase on middle class / working class = politicians will say anything to get elected and the people of Massachusetts will keep believing the BS they dish out during elections. I'm I missing something here?" Reader Joe L, commenting on the story, "State DOT Proposes Massive Fee Increases For Massachusetts Drivers."

3. It's Happening Today: Take a few minutes out of your day and help save a life at the Wamesit Masonic Lodge - Red Cross Blood Drive. The event runs from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Masonic Lodge, 70 Victor Drive.

4. It's Also Happening Today: The Wynn School PAC is scheduled to meet tonight in the Wynn library at 7 p.m.

5. By the Numbers: 1581. As of 2012, that is the number of Tewksbury residents who have a Class A Large Capacity License to carry a firearm. That's up from 1,257 in 2008. To be sure, Tewksbury remains one of the most well armed communities in  the Merrimack Valley. As of 2012, 55 out of every 1,000 in town are licensed to carry. This ranks behind just Wilmington, North Reading and Littleton in the region. Oh, one interesting side note, there is one person in Tewksbury who is licensed to own a machine gun.