5 Things You Need To Know Today: July 16

Our daily column, 5 Things You Need to Know Today, will help you to get your day started and offer you some fodder for water cooler conversation.

1. Framingham School Committee is scheduled to meet at the King Building at 7 p.m. On the agenda is ratification of the following contracts:

• Framingham Teachers Association - Unit S - Secretaries
• Unit T - aides and teachers assistants
• Unit C - custodians

2. Magic Mike will be at the Framingham Farmers Market downtown today from noon to 2 p.m. thanks to MutualOne Bank. Balloon artist magician Michael Troy will entertain families for free. Stop by the market from noon to 5:30  p.m. There is free parking at the TDBank lot on Park St. Scheduled vendors include Hanson's Farm, Nagog Hill Farm, Fior d'Italia, When Life Gives you Lemons, Smokin' Jay's BBQ, Framingham Downtown Renaissance, Sweeties Cookies, Full Circle Arts and Verizon,. Verizon will be issuing free veggie dollars, said market manager Jacqueline Meninno.

3. Rep. Edward Markey, who has represented Framingham in Congress for more than three decades, gave his farewell address before the U.S. House of Representatives last week. Click on the attached video to watch his speech. Last month, he was elected the Commonwealth's junior senator. Today, July 16 at 10 a.m. he will take the oath of office in Washington, D.C. Gov. Deval Patrick will be in attendance.

4. On Monday morning, a Framingham man was shot in the shoulder by two men in black ski masks. Click here to learn more about the 2 a.m. shooting.

5. Finally, did you get a chance to read Framingham Patch blogger Mario Alvarez' post about a little dog locked in a vehicle at the Natick Mall for more than an hour at the Natick Mall? Thousands did yesterday and more than 400 shared his blog on their personal Facebook page. Click here to read his post.