5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The meets this afternoon at the county admin building. The group, which scrapped its "Festival of Firsts" idea at the last meeting, said it is closer to presenting a business plan to the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners later this Spring. 

2. . An organization called the Take Over is creating a day-long youth culture festival centered around hip-hop. The event takes place April 23 and will include street art, break dancing and a late-night concert with top-40 artist Trick Daddy.

3. Sarasota Patch will be at today for the celebration of the 22nd annual National African American Read-In. More than 30 volunteers, including leaders from community organizations, local governments and the school district, will participate in the event by reading to students. The featured books were written and/or illustrated by African Americans.

4. Two Cardinal Mooney students placed in a at the Van Wezel. Hannah Roddenberry, a senior, won first place with her speech on “Homelessness in America.” Tom Scheip, also a senior, took second place with “Media Manipulation.” 

5.  There will be a community workshop tonight to discuss the . The city is taking the steps necessary to prepare the site for future development by allowing the solicitation process to begin for the site.The meeting will be at 5:30pm at the North Sarasota Library, 2801 Newtown Blvd.