Five Things to Know Today, Dec. 12

Welcome to a new work week. Here are some things to know as you head into your day.

The weather: Cloudy, with a high of about 48 degrees, the National Weather Service says. There's a 30 percent chance of rain, mainly before 1 p.m., so don't forget your umbrella when you leave the house this morning.

Gas prices: A gallon of regular costs between $3.11 (at Marathon, 119 Harmony Grove Road near Lost Grove Drive) and $3.27 (at Shell, 32 Killian Hill Road at Lilburn Industrial Way), judging from reports to www.georgiagasprices.com. In Georgia, the average price is $3.213, and in the U.S., it's $3.279, about 16 cents less than a month ago.

Pioneer:  A Georgia social, civil rights and literary pioneer of her time and a very memorable character of the 20th century, Lilian Smith was born on this day in 1897. She got an early taste of the ugliness of racism and discrimination as a teen missionary in China and spent her adult life writing and campaigning against Jim Crow until her death in 1966. Her signature novel was "Strange Fruit," a 1944 story of interracial love that shocked sensibilities of the time. Like many other great books over the years, it was banned in places, including by the U.S. Postal Service, but still became a best seller. Smith lived in the mountains of Clayton, Ga.

Who's locked up? Want to see who from Lilburn has landed in the Gwinnett County jail recently? Here's a mugshot site that posts the pictures, names and charging information from the county for detainees, organized by date and what town they're from. As the site notes, these are bookings only, not convictions. Everyone's innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Remember the chads? This was the day in 2000 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 to overturn the Florida state supreme court and stop recounting ballots in the presidential race. The decision handed the presidency to George W. Bush by one electoral college vote over Al Gore. History sometimes turns on narrow margins.