5 Things: Hot Tickets, Cash for Karzai, and 3 More Things

1. A Few Seats Left for Regional Teaching Conference: Registration is open just a few more days for "Common Sense and Common Core: Balanced Literacy and High Standards for All," happening May 4 in Tyngsborough, Mass. Here are your details.

2. Who Wants to Eat Dinner with Rand and Reince? May 20, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, National GOP Chair Reince Priebus, tag-teaming the 1st Annual NH GOP Liberty Dinner in Concord on May 20. Info here.

3. Community Conversation Begins Anew: Granite State Future is coming to Nashua tonight and the topic is up to you: Public health, transportation, economic development, infrastructure, housing, land use, energy, cultural, historic, and natural resources, to name a few. UNH Cooperative Extension will be on hand to help guide the conversation. At the Nashua Senior Activity Center, 70 Temple St., 6 p.m. Details here.

4. Cash for Karzai: This story is growing legs pretty fast – reports from various news outlets including the Wall Street Journal that the CIA for a decade or so delivered "suitcases full of U.S. dollars" to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, money he says was used to aid the sick, wounded and homeless. For now, the CIA is mum. We're sure this won't be going away any time soon.

5. Caffeinated Gum? Wrigley's Alert Energy Gum promises chewers "The right energy, right now," prompting the Food and Drug Administration to look into the growing trend of caffeine-enhanced products, and how they might affect children's health.