Five Things You Need to Know This Week

Good morning, everyone. Happy Monday! An oxymoron?

Maybe. But today, of all the gloomy days of winter, the sun should shine a little brighter, the sky should be a little bluer, the bird song should sound prettier and the air should smell sweeter.

Yes, folks, today is the day spring training camps open for Major League Baseball. Today, pitchers and catchers start training for the Phillies and Yankees. The Mets and world champion San Francisco Giants (I just love reminding Phillies fans about that) open camp Tuesday. In the spring, hope springs eternal for us all. At least until opening day, when the Mets will immediately be eliminated from playoff contention.

1. Today is also Valentine’s Day, but I just like to call it Feb. 14. If you’re like me, and for your sake, I hope you aren’t, you don’t have a date tonight. For those of you flying solo, here’s some on how to spend the day. optional.

If you are an attached man, I might suggest you read to prevent the evening’s festivities from taking an ugly turn. And I definitely suggest you read . May the Lord have mercy on your soul.

2. Sticking with the theme of spring, the National Weather Service is calling for some spring-like weather this week. Today’s high temperature could reach 50 degrees, though you might want to hold on to your wigs and keys. Wind gusts could reach 40mph in the afternoon when we may also get some rain showers.

Tuesday should be colder, but then a steady warmup is forecast through the end of the week. The weather service says it could even reach 62 degrees on Friday! Could it be that a rodent in Western Pennsylvania is smarter than Ed Hanna?

3. Going back to the world of sports, the state of Bethlehem Catholic High School host the from Easton at 7 p.m. Wednesday to determine who wears the Lehigh Valley Conference wrestling crown. If the Golden Hawks (6-1, 13-1 overall) win, they will share the title with Easton. If Easton (7-0, 22-2 overall) wins, they win the conference title outright.

We should also be finding out more about the conference playoff basketball schedules this week. And if you missed between Liberty and Freedom, you missed a classic with as exciting a finish as I’ve seen at any level. The was pretty good too.

4. There will be road repairs that could cause delays along Easton Avenue from Elizabeth Avenue to Jennings Street today and Tuesday, according to PennDOT. Repairs are also scheduled along Freemansburg Avenue from Willow Park Road to Farmersville Road from Wednesday to Friday. Road reflector installation is once again scheduled along Route 33 from William Penn Highway to Interstate 78 and could cause delays on Thursday.

Road construction at the south end of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge continues.

5. This week in municipal meetings, we have the Bethlehem Area School Board’s Curriculum and Human Resources committees beginning at 6 p.m. tonight at the Education Center on Sycamore Street. If it upsets you that snow days have forced the for students and teachers next week, this might be a good one to show up for because the 2011-2012 academic calendar will be discussed.

City Council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Town Hall. At 6 p.m., a special committee-of-the-whole session will be held to discuss the expansion project for the