Five Things to Know Today, Dec. 9

Welcome to Friday - almost the start of the weekend. Here are some things to know today.

The weather: Woohoo! Mostly sunny with a high of almost 57. The low tonight will be around 34. We'll have sunshine and temps in the mid-50s this weekend, the National Weather Service says.

Gas prices: Judging from prices reported www.georgiagasprices.com in the past 24 hours, a gallon of regular in Lilburn costs anywhere from $3.12 (at Shell, 490 Pleasant Hill Road at Burns Road) to $3.29 (at Texaco, 4785 Lawrenceville Hwy NW at Indian Trail-Lilburn Road). In Georgia, the average price is $3.228, and for the U.S., it's $3.295, a penny more than yesterday, AAA says.

Flicks. Only two movies open in wide release this weekend, including the big-cast romantic comedy New Year's Eve about New Yorkers dealiing with love on the holiday night. The long list of stars includes Halle Berry, Zac Efron, Katherine Heigl and Robert de Niro. Check Lilburn Patch Saturday morning for Brett Martin's video review. The other major release is the R-rated Jonah Hill comedy The Sitter, about what the name says and probably a parent's worst nightmare.

Tis the season. It's "Holiday on the Square" this weekend in the county seat, as the parks department hosts Yuletide decorations and festivities for free at the Gwinnett Historic Courthouse. There's holiday music, Santa and the elves and the decorated courthouse, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Close encounters. On Dec. 9, 1965, people in six states and Canada reported a fireball in the sky, and people and local reporters in the small Pennsylvania town of Kecksburg said something crash landed in the woods there.It became known as the Kecksburg UFO Incident, and like many fine UFO stories, it quickly became enmeshed in claims of the Army sealing off the scene, men in suits from the government, seized photos, Soviet satellites and giant acorns. Some people call it the "Roswell of Pennsylvania." NASA spoke up in 2005 and said it had determined at the time that it was Russian space junk, but they'd lost the case files in the meantime. Shucks.