Five Things To Know Today, Sept. 29

1.  Today is Thursday, Sept. 29.  The National Weather Service predicts cloudy skies, showers after noon and a high temperature of 72 degrees. The low will drop to 57 tonight.

2.  Seven disaster relief centers, including the one in Groton, will close for good on Oct. 6.  The centers are functioning as Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Loan Outreach Centers, and provide help such as small business loans of up to $200,000 to fix or replace damaged real estate, and loans to replace equipment and other lost items. The local office in the Groton Senior Center is open from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.

3.  Town Manager Mark Oefinger and other Groton officials met with the commissioner of administrative services on Sept. 19 in Hartford to talk about the closure of the Mystic Education Center. The town is waiting to hear back from the state on several questions asked, including whether environmental studies have been done of the buildings; which groups were under contract to use the Pratt Building, which houses the swimming pool; and how much more it would cost to keep the Pratt Building open rather than close it.

4.  Designs for the new Titanic exhibit at Mystic Aquarium are nearly done, the aquarium said in a news release Wednesday. Crews will break ground on the project in December, and expect to open it to the public in April 2012. The exhibit “takes people 14,500 feet below to the ocean floor, a whole new world and mysterious, awesome place to be,” former Walt Disney Imagineer Tim Delaney said in a prepared statement. Delaney completed the designs.

5.  A non-profit group in North Stonington that rescues and rehabilitates horses is holding a silent auction fundraiser from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8, and from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9 at Boilermakers Lodge 614 on Sacred Heart Drive in Groton. The group, Phoenix Rising Equine Rescue, says this has been a difficult year for horses they've rescued; some survived only because of round-the-clock care by volunteers. To donate an item for the sale, call event organizer Wendy Eckholm at (860) 445-0280. To volunteer at the rescue, call (860) 599-0555.