Five Things to Know Today, March 8

Welcome to Thursday. Here are some things to know about today.

The weather: Cloudy today, with a high of about 72 degrees, the National Weather Service says. There's a 30 percent chance of rain tonight, and the low will be around 57.

Gas prices: Little changed from yesterday, with the lowest price in Lilburn for a gallon of regular at $3.65 (at Phillips 66, 5044 Lawrenceville Hwy) and the highest at $3.69 (at Shell, 722 Harbins Road at Dickens Road, and at eight other places), according to prices reported to www.georgiagasprices.com.

Women’s Day: Dating back to the early 20th century, when women in most Western countries were still fighting for the vote, International Women’s Day on March 8 has become a global observance. The original idea was to call for an end to job discrimination and to lobby for voting rights for women in the U.S. and Europe, at a time when women were entering the work force more than before but their job possibilities were very limited. Today it honors the social, economic and political contributions of women.  

Bus: The VW Bus went into production on this day in 1950, only the second model built by Germany's Volkswagen after the equally iconic Beetle. Legend has it a Dutch businessman was the first to sketch the idea for the bus and VW engineers took it from there. In any case, the boxy van with windows all around made it to the U.S. and became a fixture of the 1960s cultural landscape.

Monkees: It’s the birthday of Micky Dolenz, one of the surviving three Monkees. He was born in 1945. The 1960s TV band, of course, lost former singer Davy Jones last week, when he died of heart failure in Florida. Dolenz told the world this week the three remaining band mates would not attend Jones’ funeral to avoid drawing down media glare on the grieving family. They may attend a later memorial, still being planned.