Will the rain ever end? Yes, but not right away. First this weather system is going

to thoroughly drench us with April showers. The National Weather Service predicts the entire

region will get between 1 and 2 inches of precipitation today and tonight.

It won't let up until Friday, when the incoming cold front is projected to turn the rain

showers into snow showers first thing in the morning and again later in the afternoon. How

cold will it get? From today's early highs in the 50s, it's supposed to drop to the mid-30s

tonight with a stiff wind. The warmest readings on Friday are expected to be around 40, while

Friday night's low could flirt with the freezing mark, maybe dip below freezing in rural

areas.

If the sunshine returns Saturday, like they say it will, it should be a big relief.

Saturday should be warmer, too, with highs in the mid-50s. The rain may not stay away all

weekend, though. Sunday's outlook calls for scattered showers.

There's a good chance the weather will get in the way of the Buffalo Bisons opening

their 125th baseball season today. They're on the road, visiting the Scranton Wilkes-Barre

Yankees, and there's an 80 percent chance of rain, maybe even a thunderstorm, around game time

at 7:05 p.m. Keeping dry in the broadcast booth will be Ben Wagner, the Voice of the Bisons,

and color analyst Duke McGuire, who's been associated with the team for some 30 years. They'll

be on WWKB 1520 AM all season long. Long-range forecast for the Herd's home opener in

Coca-Cola Field next Wednesday afternoon -- sunny, temperatures in the low 60s.

There's also rain and maybe thunderstorms in the forecast for Augusta, Ga., today

for the first round of the Masters Tournament. Tiger Woods, making his first appearance since

his sex scandal, is supposed to tee off at 1:42 p.m. in the next-to-last group with Matt

Kuchar and K.J. Choi. If the weather gets heavy, he might not play at all today. Television

coverage starts at 3 p.m. on ESPN.

It's also supposed to be opening day at Grover Cleveland Golf Course. If you go, be

ready to ask for a rain check.

Slogging through the soggy byways of Western New York today is state Health

Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines. He starts bright and early in Belmont, where he presents

Allegany County Public Health Director Lori Ballengee with an H1N1 Response Recognition Award.

He'll do the same thing at 11:15 a.m. in Olean with Cattaraugus County Public Health Director

Dr. Kevin Watkins, then travel to Gowanda to inspect Tri-County Hospital, which was damaged

during last August's flooding, and visit the Gowanda Water Treatment plant. From there, he's

off to Bliss to tour a wind farm, and Batavia, where he'll take a look at a private well.

Drainage is one of the concerns when airport expansion comes up at the meeting of

the Newstead Zoning Board of Appeals at 7:45 p.m. in Town Hall, 5 Clarence Center Road, Akron.

Looking for a variance are the Christian Airmen, who operate the Akron Airport, which is

situated off Scotland Road between East Avenue and Bloomingdale Road, on the hill above the

Akron Central School campus. The Airmen say they want to install fuel tanks to accommodate

helicopters that use jet fuel, expand the hangar and pave their cross-wind runway. One thing

they'll need to resolve is a persistent drainage problem.

Buffalo's got a new Sister City -- Bursa, in Turkey -- and the mayor of Bursa, Ozgen

Keskin, is in town today with six of his council members to formalize the arrangement. After

they pay a courtesy call on Mayor Byron Brown in City Hall, they'll be guests of honor at the

Turkish Cultural Center Buffalo's second annual Friendship Dinner at 5:30 p.m. in the Hyatt

Regency Buffalo. The dinner will begin with a sister-city signing ceremony. Bursa, Turkey's

fourth-largest city, has a population of more than 2.5 million. Situated in the northwestern

part of the country, it was once the center of the silk trade in the Ottoman Empire and still

has a thriving textile business. It's also the center of the Turkish auto industry.

Cutbacks in state aid are really putting the squeeze on the Lancaster Central School

District. Officials are looking at a prospective $89 million budget for 2010-2011 that

presents them with unhappy choices -- raise property taxes by an excruciating 21 percent or

board up Central Avenue Elementary School and chop all of the elective courses in the high

school. To come up with ways to balance the budget and share the pain, the School Board has

created a citizens task force. It meets for the first time tonight in the high school.

News Critic Jeff Simon says insult comic Don Rickles is "one of the greatest

nightclub acts that ever was. What you've seen of Rickles on Leno, Letterman or, especially,

Carson, is a tiny fraction of what goes on when Rickles takes the stage. His act is hilarious

-- and astonishing." Rickles, who turns 84 next month, is still going strong ... writing

memoirs, appearing in movies, doing commercials and playing Las Vegas. "Why should I retire?"

he told an interviewer recently. "I'm like a fighter. The bell rings and you come out and

fight." He'll come out slinging zingers at 8:30 p.m. in the Avalon Theatre in Niagara

Fallsview Casino Resort, Niagara Falls, Ont. Tickets are $20 and up.

Final installment of Medaille College's Write Thing Reading Series features Dan

Nester, essayist, poet and assistant professor of English at The College of Saint Rose in

Albany, where he teaches creative nonfiction. His first two books, "God Save My Queen" in 2003

and "God Save My Queen II" in 2004, are collections on his obsession with the rock band Queen.

His latest, "How to Be Inappropriate," is a collection of humorous nonfiction. He appears at 7

p.m. in The Library at Huber Hall. It's free and open to the public.

Coach Lindy Ruff was hoping to rest star goalie Ryan Miller for the playoffs as the

Sabres finish out the regular season with three games on the road, but reserve goalie Patrick

Lalime has been sick. Although Lalime was scheduled to fly to Boston with the team, chances

are Miller will be in the net when the puck drops at 7 p.m. Watch on the MSG Channel. Listen

on WGR 550 AM.