5 Things You Need to Know Today: April 18

Our daily column, 5 Things You Need to Know Today, will help you to get your day started and offer you some fodder for water cooler conversation.

1. The Framingham Taxpayers Association is holding another meeting this weekend. The last one was held in February. Saturday at 1 p.m., the association will host "Staggering Along or Bankruptcy," at Heritage at Framingham, 747 Water St. The event will feature three three speakers, followed by a panel to be made up of volunteers from both presenters and the audience as part of a continuing call for transparency and for an affordable financial turn-around. Let your voice be heard.

2. Framingham resident Rich Troupes attended Herb Chambers' "Cars and Coffee" at BMW of Subdury last weekend. The event is an early morning meetup of classic, vintage and specialty cars from all over New England. Troupes attended with his 1965 Replica Cobra Roadster he built himself from a kit.

3. A town-wide forum is being held Monday, April 23, at 7 p.m., at 's MacPherson Hall, in the Medical Arts Building, 85 Lincoln St. The Selectmen, in conjunction with the Violence Prevention Roundtable is hosting speaker John Auerbach, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Discussion will focus on hate crime, domestic violence, high-risk youth and substance abuse. Call 508-879-6874 for more information. Spanish and Portuguese translators will be available.

4. Did you know the Framingham Pics and Clips photo gallery is for you, our readers? Kristen Nason does. She uploaded pictures from the Marathon to it. If you upload pictures to it, we'll feature it on the homepage, so get your shutters buggin!

5. Earth Day is Friday. Tell us in the comments one thing you do to be green.