Five Things You Need to Know Today: Feb. 23

1) Newsbit of the Day: The Swampscott Rail Trail group will hold its annual bike sale in tandem with the Health Department's Zero Waste Day event on April 21, in the high school parking lot from 9 am to noon.

2) Swampscott Scholars: Swampscott High Principal Layne Millington reports that student Aristana Scourtas was awarded the Global Citizen Scholarship from the National Spanish Examinations which provided her an opportunity to spend two weeks at the Concordia Language Villages where she participated in a Spanish language camp.

3) Swampscott Athletics: The Swampscott High girls' basketball team could qualify for a bye in the first round of the tournament. Tournament pairings will be announced on Friday.

4) Weather Watch: First cloudy then sunny. National Weather Service forecasters predict rain before 10 am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 51. 

5) Tide Watch: Today's low tide at Fisherman's Beach is 5:48 am (-.35 ft). High tide is 12:05 pm (9.9 ft). The sun will rise at 6:39 am and set at 5:24 pm. 

Stop by Starbucks in Swampscott on Friday between 2-3 pm for Patch office hours. Meet Katie Curley Katzman and Terry Date. We will answer questions, take comments and show you how to use the Patch site to its fullest.