The regional bureau of The Associated Press, shares 10 things you need to know Thursday, March 15, 2018. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items and much more in West Virginia newspapers.
1. WHO IS COOPERATING IN MUELLER PROBE
George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman and convicted pedophile, met with Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon at Trump Tower in December 2016, AP learns.
2. TOYS R US DOWNFALL WIDESPREAD
The iconic retailer is headed toward shuttering its U.S. operations, jeopardizing the jobs of some 30,000 employees and forcing toy makers and landlords to scramble for alternatives.
3. PRISON DEATH HIGHLIGHTS CELLMATE CHALLENGES
Officials say the decision to pair a drunken driver with a triple murderer was based on a complex number system states use to classify inmates as minimum-, medium- or maximum-security risks, AP finds.
4. TODAY’S GUN-CONTROL DEBATE ECHOES OF 1934
The sounds of the first national gun-control debate can be heard in the current campaign to ban assault-style rifles. And, as it was in 1934, the NRA is seeking to drive the discussion.
5. WAR MILESTONE A STARK REMINDER
For Syrians marking seven years of war this week, their country has never looked as helpless, fragmented and abandoned by the world at large.
6. NORTH KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS SWEDEN
The surprise move can be seen as a first step toward a meeting in the Scandinavian country between Trump and Kim Jong Un.
7. DYLANN ROOF’S SISTER ACCUSED OF BRINGING WEAPONS TO SCHOOL
Deputies say Morgan Roof, sister of the Charleston church shooter, has been arrested for bringing drugs, pepper spray and a knife to her South Carolina high school.
8. A MASSACRE THAT SHAMED US MILITARY
Fifty years ago, the American soldiers of Charlie Company killed 504 unarmed civilians within hours. My Lai was notorious in U.S. military history, though it wasn’t an aberration in the war in Vietnam.
9. ‘THERE’S NOTHING LIKE THIS IN JERSEY’
San Francisco licenses eight marijuana smoking lounges where pot enthusiast can buy and consume in the same shop.
10. RUMOR MILL PUTS COACHES, TEAMS IN AWKWARD SPOT
The NCAA Tournament leads to a different kind of March Madness away from the court for successful coaches, like Rhode Island’s Danny Hurley, in smaller leagues.