Our daily morning column, 5 Things You Need to Know, provides you with information that can help you plan your day and give you some fodder for water cooler conversations.

1. What's your reaction when you hear this sentence?: Recently, the TSA has received backlash after searching a three-year-old in a wheel chair on a family trip to Disney World at O'Hare airport.In a poll on our site earlier this week, an overwhelming majority of readers said that searches like these may go overboard and, in fact, make those of us traveling feel LESS safe. What do you think? Answer our poll.

2. Shout out to your favorite salon in town! Vote in our Best Salon in Natick poll before 9 a.m. Friday and the winning business will be recognized as a Patch Readers' Choice at noon on Friday. Vote in, comment on and share our poll with others to give your favorite the recognition you think they deserve.

3. In a world that can sometimes seem dark and gloomy, some people stand out and shine and make the community a better place. Tonight, the Natick Education Foundation will recognize a few of these people at the annual NEF Shining Light Award Dinner at TCAN at 7 p.m. A winner will be selected from nominations submitted earlier this year to three categories—the Harriet F. Siegel Shining Light Award for an individual that has volunteered and supported education in Natick, the Educator Shining Light Award for someone who has made a professional and personal contribution to education in town, and the Community Business Shining Light Award for a business or organization that has contributed or donated to the schools. For more information, visit www.NatickFoundation.org.

4. Mother Nature has certainly given us a mild winter this year, so if you feel the desire to return the favor, join the Natick Trail Buddies in helping to clean up Pegan Cove Park and trails near Washington Avenue. The group meets Mondays and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon to help spruce up Natick's parks and trails. If you'd like to volunteer, call Pat Conaway at 508-740-9949.

5. I had to do a double take the other day when I saw flowers sprouting from the ground in March, but the reality is it's Spring (as of yesterday) and the flowers are indeed beginning to bloom. Windy-Lo Nursey in Natick is all ready for the season, as they wrote in their latest blog post on Natick Patch. Dahlia's, canna and gladiolus are available for purchase in bulb form and the greenhouse is stocked with daffodils and tulips. Check out Windy-Lo's blog here and if you'd like to write your own blog, email Alissa.Letkowski@patch.com.

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