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[h=4]5 things you need to know Thursday[/h]The biggest and most buzzworthy news to start your morning.
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A performer looks out from the head of a lion dance costume during the opening of Ditan Temple Fair on the Lunar New Year's Eve in Beijing, China on Feb. 18, 2015. This year marks the Year of the Sheep.(Photo: Andy Wong, AP)
1. More than a billion mark Chinese New Year
New year, new baaa-ginnings. The Chinese New Year celebrates a fresh start on Thursday, ushering the year of the sheep, goat or ram (depending on what you call it). This celebration is based on the lunar calendar and is celebrated across world with parades, ornate costumes and prayer. This year, some airports are even getting in on the party, while Chinese residents receive new calendars — and propaganda.
2. Things are going to get colder — thanks, Siberia
A ferocious blast of bitterly cold air straight from Siberia brings parts of the U.S. to historically low temperatures on Thursday that will land in the teens and even below zero in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and central Appalachians. Dozens of records will be threatened as temperatures plummet to as much as 25 to 30 degrees below normal for this time of year, the National Weather Service warned.
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States across are dealing with dangerous, icy roads and power outages, after the winter storm that hit the region this week. (Feb. 18) AP
3. Alaskans have highest well-being rating
Alaska is beautiful. It's also a great place for well-being, according to an annual survey. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index measures the important aspects of how people feel about and experience their daily lives, and looks at their the overall well-being, or peoples' perception of their health, across five categories. Conclusions: Alaska is tops. West Virginia is dead last for the sixth time in six years. Hawaii and Colorado are pretty nice, too, and have placed in the top 10 every year since 2008.
Alaska ranks No. 1 in an index that measures people's sense of well-being.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: ChrisBeverly2070, Getty Images/iStockphoto)
4. Obama giving fourth graders free entry to national parks
President Obama is announcing a new initiative to give all fourth graders and their families free admission to national parks and other federal lands for a full year. The Every Kid in a Park initiative is part of an effort to get children outdoors and active. He will make the announcement Thursday in Chicago, where he also will say that he's designating the Pullman historic district a national monument. And he'll announce the Honouliuli National Monument in Hawaii and Browns Canyon National Monument in Colorado.
The Arkansas River flows through the proposed national monument in Browns Canyon north of the town of Salida, Colo., in the state's southwestern mountains. President Obama will designate it as a national monument Thursday.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: David Zalubowski, AP)
5. A exclusive peek inside the Oscar green room
We've got good news and bad news. Good news: We can give you a look behind the scenes at this Sunday's Academy Awards green room. Inspired by novelist Joan Didion's Hollywood Hills home, the Architectural Digest Greenroom is filled with shades of cream, quartz, hi-tech screens showing a pre-recorded sunset and a Twitter camera for celebrities to snap photos. So what's the bad news? Well, we couldn't get you tickets. Maybe next year!
A large Oscar and the Los Angeles skyline will greet those who enter the Academy Awards green room at the Dolby Theatre.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Robert Hanashiro, USAT)
And, the essentials:
Weather: Intense, potentially record cold will cover nearly the eastern two-thirds of the nation while the West stays warm.
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The national weather forecast for Thursday, February 19 calls for snow showers from the Great Lakes to New England and freeze warnings in Alabama, Georgia and North Florida. The Seattle area will see a few showers. VPC
Stocks: U.S. stock futures were lower Thursday, while Japanese stocks climbed to their highest level in nearly 15 years.
TV Tonight: Wondering what to watch tonight? TV critic Robert Bianco looks at The Big Bang Theory, The Slap and Two and a Half Men.
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