Yale’s own a cappella group Out of the Blue will open for Ben Folds on Saturday at the Shubert. Ben Folds sponsored a nationwide contest to pick the best a cappella rendition of a Ben Folds song. Out of the Blue, which has been singing “Underground” for two years, was selected. OOTB business managers Hannah Jacobson ’11 and Nathan Griffith ’10 said in an e-mail that “hearing the words ‘Hi, this is Brian from Ben Folds’ management agency’ was pretty amazing.”

Lumina, the ISO cultural show taking place tonight at 7 p.m., will feature Yale College Dean Mary Miller as a surprise guest speaker. If she isn’t enticement enough, there will be a reception with international food in the President’s Room in Woolsey Hall afterward.

According to an American Apparel spokesman, the company will open its long-awaited store on Broadway in May (about a year behind schedule).

Governor M. Jodi Rell announced Thursday that the state’s projected revenue over the next two years will be nearly $1.4 billion lower than originally predicted by the Office of Policy and Management.

Blue State Coffee is holding elections to decide which charity to sponsor next. Four nonprofits will compete for 5 percent of the store’s profits for the next quarter, including AIDS Walk New Haven, a Yale student group. Dina Grossman ’10, the co-coordinator of AIDS Walk, noted in an e-mail, “Coffee, yum. AIDS Walk, yum. Money, double yum.” You can vote for a charity with your purchase.

A paper-airplane contest will take place today at Payne Whitney Gymnasium from 2 to 4 p.m. The event, the Red Bull Paperwings Paper Airplane World Qualifier, boasts a ticket to Europe as the prize — to participate in the Paper Airplane World Championships. Planes must be built on-site, except for the aerobatics event.

The three candidates for the Ward 1 seat will come together Monday for a debate moderated by Paul Bass ’82, editor of the New Haven Independent.

The U.S. Senate passed the Serve America Act on Thursday, a bill introduced by Sen. Chris Dodd. The bill was renamed in honor of Sen. Ted Kennedy to honor his lifelong commitment to service.

This day in Yale history
1970 The University received a gift of Confederate currency. It was not, however, meant to be used as funding; rather, the 9,000 pieces, valued at $100,000, made up part of the Yale Numismatic Collection. John Burnham, the collection’s librarian, noted that the collection now included “all of the key type notes and many of the more obscure rarities.”

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