A month after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., tens of thousands of students around the country staged a walkout Wednesday morning to protest gun violence.
The national walkout started at 10 am local time in each time zone and lasted 17 minutes, to commemorating each of the victims shot last month.
“They’re not walking out of school, they’re walking into the classroom of life,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who helped organized a rally to coincide with the walkout.
The rallies came as the U.S. House on Wednesday passed a bipartisan bill Wednesday meant to stop gun violence in schools. The legislation grants $50 million annual to fund training and another $25 million for things like metal detectors.
Students are also planning a nationwide “March for Life” on Saturday, March 24.
President Joe Biden on Monday will sign a sweeping executive order to guide the development of artificial intelligence — requiring industry to develop safety and security standards, introducing new consumer protections and giving federal agencies an extensive to-do list to oversee the rapidly progressing technology.
Former Vice President Mike Pence dropped his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Saturday after struggling to raise money and gain traction in the polls.