Five Things to Know Today, Jan. 5

Welcome to Thursday.

The weather: You can shed a layer or two today. The high will be a sunny 55 degrees, and the low tonight around 34.

Traffic and gas: Check Patch's live map for traffic conditions before leaving home today. Gas prices seem to be holding steady, with a gallon of regular in Lilburn costing between $3.19 (at 119 Harmony Grove Road near Lost Grove Drive) and $3.29 (at Shell, 4975 Lawrenceville Hwy at Holly Ridge Drive), according to reports to www.georgiagasprices.com.

Something different. Take a break from the daily hustle and gather some creative energy at The Hudgens Center for the Arts just across I-85 in Duluth. The local museum has two special exhibits going right now, through Feb. 11. One is work by Hudgens Prize Winner Gyun Hur, including chopped silk flowers, videos and still life constructions. The other is Korean pottery by Hudgens teacher Cho Gang Rhee and selected students. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and costs $5 for adults and $3 for seniors, students and children.

Give me your tired, your poor… Georgia became a Colonial settlement for Jewish émigrés from Europe, against the will of the Trustees, the British group with a royal charter to develop and promote the colony. To get people to the new territory, the Trustees commissioned representatives to raise money to send over “worthy poor” from England. Three of those representatives were Jewish solicitors, who found the funds to send over a group of persecuted Jews, mainly from Portugal, who arrived in Savannah in 1733. On Jan. 5, 1734, the Trustees revoked the three solicitors’ commissions to organize any more transports and asked that the Jewish settlers be sent somewhere else. They never were, and Savannah became the oldest Jewish settlement in the South.

Tweet (the original kind). It’s National Bird Day, meant to remind us all how important birds are in the wild and to take good care of the ones we keep as pets. One of the issues raised is how the illegal pet trade endangers many colorful, tropical species in their home countries. As the organizers say, “The beauty, songs, and flight of birds have long been sources of human inspiration.”