What a difference a month makes! When March began, there were piles of snow

everywhere. Now it's ending and we've got green grass, crocuses and even a few daffodils.

What's more, we have another slightly better-than-average day. The National Weather Service is

promising sunshine, light winds and afternoon temperatures in the low to mid-50s in the

Buffalo metro area, upper 50s away from the lake.

April, on the other hand, is going to start off by pretending it's another month. Like May.

The forecast says Thursday should be mostly sunny with a high around 60 in Buffalo, near 70

inland. Friday, you're likely to think it's June or July. More sunshine is expected, with near-

record heat &#8212 around 70 in Buffalo, close to 80 elsewhere. Sunshine and summerlike warmth

should continue on Saturday. Alas, it ends on Easter Sunday, when a cold front arrives,

bringing April showers with it and dropping temperatures back into the 50s.

It's a good day to get a job. And a good place to start is the Western New York

Diversity Job Fair from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. Organizers

say dozens of local companies will be on hand, ready to hire. The list includes Bank of

America, Travelers, Geico, Moog, Multisorb Technologies, Time Warner Cable, Independent Health

and Seneca Gaming Corp. And let's not forget the U.S. Census. If you heard the item on NPR's

"Morning Edition" on Tuesday, you know that they're looking for folks with all sorts of office

and IT skills.

You've seen astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson as host of "NOVA scienceNOW" on

PBS. Tonight at 8, we'll see him in person in Alumni Arena as part of the University at

Buffalo Distinguished Speakers Series. A best-selling author and director of the Hayden

Planetarium in New York City since 1996, he's an up-from-the-street Bronx native who went on

to earn a degree in physics from Harvard and his Ph.D. in astrophysics from Columbia

University. Tickets are $14 to $32.

There's a milestone moment today in Batavia. United Memorial Medical Center hosts

a topping-off ceremony at 4:30 p.m. to mark the placement of the last piece of structural

steel in its $19.5 million expansion project in front of its current hospital building on

North Street. The addition will contain five new operating rooms, 19 recovery beds, a gift

shop, waiting area and new main lobby. It's expected to be finished by December.

The state wants to impose huge budget cuts on the State University of New York

system, eliminating jobs and increasing enrollment. Some SUNY school officials, like UB

president John Simpson, believe the answer is to free the individual campuses from state

control of tuition rates and business partnerships by passing a bill called the Public Higher

Education Empowerment and Innovation Act (PHEEIA).

Two groups at UB &#8212 the Graduate Student Employees Union and UB Students Against

Sweatshops &#8212 think there should be a better way and they're staging a rally at noon on

Founders Plaza outside Capen Hall on the North Campus in Amherst. The groups contend that

"PHEEIA would bring irreversible, negative changes to the Buffalo community &#8212 it is not a

viable solution to a temporary problem. It is entirely possible that we can achieve a better

budget and save our schools and jobs."

Charter schools also are taking a hit in the state's 2010-11 budget. Charter

school parents, teachers and representatives will gather at 5:30 p.m. in Bulger Communications

Center on the Buffalo State College campus to hear about their funding and what the new budget

will do to their operations.

Latest municipalities to ponder the pros and cons of consolidation are the Village

and Town of Orchard Park. The Village Board and Town Board hold a joint meeting to discuss

dissolving the village at 6 p.m. in the basement conference room in the Municipal Center, 4295

S. Buffalo St.

Homeowners who are obliged to buy flood insurance because their properties are on

a flood plain will want to take a look at the updated Erie County flood hazard maps prepared

by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There's an open house to discuss the maps from 4

to 8 p.m. in the Town Park Clubhouse, 10405 Main St., Clarence.

Like many a country dweller, Houghton College, nestled in the picturesque hills of

Allegany County, thinks it's important to get a taste of the city. As a result, the school is

starting a pair of initiatives that will bring students and graduates into Buffalo to work and

study.

WesleyCorps, created in collaboration with WNY AmeriCorps, will set up a group of Houghton

graduates to spend a year doing education and anti-poverty work in Buffalo and Allegany

County. A dozen of them will start work in September. Then there's City Semester, which

Houghton says would "afford students the opportunity to experience urban life as a form of

learning." That would start in 2011.

To announce the new programs, they're coming to Jericho Road Ministries in the heart of

Buffalo's West Side immigrant community. Funding from the Wendt Foundation is helping out with

both plans.

Three tractor-trailers will park on Busti Street between Maryland and Hudson

streets to distribute their loads of pre-packaged food and toiletries to 1,200 needy families

between 2 and 5 p.m. One of only 30 stops across the nation for Feed the Children in its

Americans Feeding Americans program, it's held in cooperation with the Buffalo Dream Center,

the Belle Center and Buffalo AmeriCorps.

Hundreds of volunteers will help distribute the items. More volunteers will spread out

through the neighborhood to clean up trash and debris. Says Pastor Eric Johns of the Dream

Center, "By the end of the day, people will be provided with food and there will be a

noticeable difference in the appearance of the neighborhood."

When professional geologist Martin Derby talks in a program tonight called "How

Geoscientists Can Save the World &#8212 One House at a Time," he'll be speaking from

experience. Darby's boosted the energy efficiency of his home in the Town of Boston and

installed solar electric panels. For his next step, he's looking at tapping into geothermal

heat. The program starts at 7 in the Gateway Executive Office, 3556 Lake Shore Road, Blasdell,

under the aegis of the Hamburg Natural History Society, the folks who run the Penn Dixie site.

Admission is $3 for nonmembers. Everybody's welcome.

Last year's winning team from the law firm of Cohen & Lombardo comes back to

defend its title against dozens of contenders tonight in the fourth annual Buffalo's Smartest

Company trivia contest. It starts at 6 in Classics V Banquet Hall, 2425 Niagara Falls Blvd.,

Amherst. Proceeds benefit Cradle Beach camp.

The Sabres, having clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs, are looking to

improve their home ice advantage in the post-season competition. A win over the Florida

Panthers would help when they come to HSBC Arena tonight for the next-to-last home game of the

season. The Sabres are 2-1 against the Panthers this year. The puck drops at 7. Watch on the

MSG Channel, listen on WGR 550 AM.

Tonight sees the debut of the Three Bucks and a Doe song swap series at the

Sportsmen's Tavern, 326 Amherst St. It starts at 7 and it goes like this: Four local artists

&#8212 three guys, one woman &#8212 get up and take turns singing songs. Admission? Three

bucks at the door. Proceeds benefit the Western New York Land Conservancy. Tonight's lineup

includes Alison Pipitone, Guillermo Izquierdo, Rob Lynch and Geno McManus.

Think of the Budos Band as a high-octane echo of our own Outer Circle Orchestra.

Described as an instrumental Afro-Soul group from Staten Island with a lineup of players

numbering as many as 13, they are record label mates with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. They

made their first appearance here last summer in the UB on the Green series. Tonight they come

to Nietzsche's, 248 Allen St., for a show at 9.