Cooler Days, Keeping Bike Thieves at Bay and Blogs That Pay on 'Hump Day!'

Hey Takoma Park! Guess what day it is?

Here’s a look at some of the things you need to know to be in-the-know in Takoma Park today:

1. Dehumidifier: Our big break from the heat and humidity is finally here, with a delightful string of weather days on tap leading into the weekend. The National Weather Service says to expect humidity and the heat index to remain relatively low for July, with a slight chance of a thunderstorm after 11 a.m. and a high near 86.

2. A Name That’s a Mouthful and Music That’s an Earful: It was this week’s “Pick o’ the Week,” it’s outdoors and it’s free. It’s Santa Fe, New Mexico’s Polyphony Marimba in concert at 7 tonight at the Takoma Old Town Gazebo at 7041 Carroll Ave. Click here for more details.

3. ICYMI (In Case You Missed It): Lock ‘em up!: A bike thief is running (quite possibly riding) rampant in Takoma Park.

4. Bring the Takoma Park City Council to Your Living Room: Want to follow your city government, but can’t make it out to the meetings? The City of Takoma Park offers live streaming video coverage of meetings and posts videos and meeting summaries, including vote counts, within days of the meeting on a media archives that goes back to 2006. Click here to see your elected officials in action. 

5.  Start A Blog, Pay for College: Can a homework assignment turn into a way to pay tuition? One University of Maryland student is proving it can.

Keep up with big news from around the county and around the state on Facebook: Get Montgomery County Top News here and click here to “like” our Maryland Patch page.

For a full list of things to do this week, check out the Patch events calendar.