5 Things to Know This Week

Top o’ the morning to you, Bethlehem. Happy St. Patrick’s week. The actual holiday is still four days away, but our city of festivals got the celebration going in over the weekend.

And congratulations to Don Jones of Bethlehem Township, who had the at Donegal Square Saturday.

1. It’s Monday, which means the Bethlehem Area School Board will be meeting tonight. The committee meetings for curriculum and human resources begin at 6 p.m. on . There is nothing on the agendas that mentions the impact of , but you never know.

2. City Council committees also meet this evening at Town Hall. First, the Recreation Committee meets first to discuss ballfield renovations at at 6 p.m. Then the Finance Committee and the Public Works Committee hold a joint session on providing water service to East Allen Township and the city’s enterprise zone program. Council holds its one of its two regular monthly meetings at 7 p.m. Tuesday. No agenda has been made public yet.

3. handily defeated the team from Roman Catholic High School of Philadelphia, 56-41, on Saturday in the first round of the PIAA playoffs. The second round test comes 7:30 p.m. Wednesday against Council Rock High School North of Newtown, Bucks County. The game will be played at Reading High School.

4. Thursday, of course, is the big day: It is the actual St. Patrick’s Day, which is parade day in my home town. It’s also the day the NCAA basketball tournament starts. (Make sure you get that bracket done before noon!)  I predict that some of you will be developing a bad cough that morning, which will have absolutely nothing to do with the Temple v. Penn State game that tips off at 2 p.m.

That night, you could go to a sports bar, drink beer, eat corned beef and cabbage and watch Connecticut crush Bucknell. But I think Easton Patch editor Tom Coombe would agree when I tell you that Ron Angle and the rest of Northampton County Council will probably be far more entertaining. The Human Services Committee meets at 5 p.m. and the regular meeting starts at 6:30.

If you do play hoo . . . I mean catch a cold on Thursday, it will be a beautiful day for it. The high temperatures are forecast to be in the mid to upper 60s on Thursday and Friday.

5. In road maintenance this week, there will be crews trimming brush along Route 22 from Schoenersville Road all the way to 25^th Street in Easton. There are also some bridge inspections scheduled from between Route 191 and Route 33. Expect lane restrictions and delays during daylight hours all week in those areas.

The construction at the south end of the Hill-to-Hill Bridge continues. The area around Third Street and Brodhead Avenue will be a mess. But you knew that.

Have a great week.