10 Things to Know for Thursday
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:
1. WHAT TRUMP HEARD FROM EMOTIONAL STUDENTS, PARENTS
Students, parents and teachers pleaded with President Trump to act. "I turned 18 the day after" the shooting, said a tearful Samuel Zeif, a student at the Florida high school where a former student's assault left 17 dead last week. "Woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. And I don't understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war."
2. WHY STUDENTS SWARMED FLORIDA CAPITOL
Thousands of protesters, including many angry teenagers, swarmed into the state Capitol, calling for changes to gun laws, a ban on assault-type weapons and improved care for the mentally ill. They held signs, chanted slogans and burst into lawmakers' offices demanding to be heard.
3. STUDENTS ACROSS US STAGE WALKOUTS TO PROTEST GUN VIOLENCE
In a wave of demonstrations reaching from Arizona to Maine, students at dozens of U.S. high schools walked out of class. At the protest at the U.S. Capitol, students held a moment of silence in memory of those killed in Florida and listened as the names of the dead were recited.
4. HOW BILLY GRAHAM WENT FROM TENT REVIVALS TO WHITE HOUSE CONFIDANT
The Rev. Billy Graham, dead at 99, achieved a level of influence and reach no other evangelist is likely ever to match.
5. WHAT A MUCH-TOUTED MS-13 GAGN SWEEP IS MISSING
The president touted it at his State of the Union address, but federal and state authorities have declined repeated requests from The Associated Press for even basic information made public in most law enforcement operations, such as the names of those arrested and the crimes they are accused of committing.
6. IOWA CONGRESSMAN FAILED TO DISCLOSE NEW COMPANY
A congressman from Iowa violated House ethics rules by failing to disclose his role in a company that he formed, a mysterious outfit that features his top federal staffer in a false testimonial promoting its services, an Associated Press review shows.
7. WHERE HOSPITALS ARE OVERWHELMED BY BOMBING BLITZ
Doctors in Syria's rebel-controlled suburbs of Damascus say they're unable to keep up with the staggering number of casualties, amid a ferocious bombing campaign by government forces that has targeted hospitals, apartment blocks and other civilian sites, killing and wounding hundreds of people in recent days.
8. WHY GOP LEADERS SEEK HALT TO PENNSYLVANIA CONGRESSIONAL MAP
After the state Supreme Court threw out a gerrymandered map that had been drafted by Republican, saying it violated the state constitution's guarantee of free and equal elections, they say the new map favorable to Democrats.
9. HOW LIVE MICROPHONES ARE TRIPPING UP NBC'S OLYMPICS
One person, one live microphone and some 20 million critics. The network has apologized - or not - for a handful of gaffes seen as insults by South Koreans, by the Dutch, by women athletes, by ski fans.
10. WHO HOPES TO STOP CANADA'S GOLDEN STREAK
The Canadian women's hockey team has won the past four Olympic gold-medal games, and hasn't lost even a single Olympic game since the 1998 Nagano final won by the United States. Now the Americans have their latest chance at Olympic gold against their archrival.