8 Things You Need To Know This AM — Aug 24 2016

The earthquake hit central Italy at 3.36 a.m. Wednesday morning local time, with the epicenter located close to the town of Norcia. Rome was also affected. The U.S. Geological Survey has issued a red alert, which indicates a high level of damage. (Read More)

2. World News: Two Irish women live-tweeted a trip to England for an abortion, renewing calls for change in Ireland.

The women live-tweeted the experience from the Twitter account @TwoWomenTravel. For those who don't know, abortion is banned in Ireland. The only exception is for women facing risk of death. (New York Times)

3. Here At Home: U.S. senators are calling for an investigation into the drastic 400% price hike for EpiPens.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Mylan, the maker of EpiPens, demanding an explanation for the price hike. Meanwhile, Sen. Amy Klobuchar has called for a hearing to investigate the hike. (NBC News)

4. On The Trail: Republicans allege that a new batch of emails from Hillary Clinton shows that she traded favors for Clinton Foundation donations.

The State Department said there was “no clear sign” that donors ended up getting special access, and a Clinton campaign spokesperson accused Judicial Watch of “distorting facts to make utterly false attacks.” (Read More)

5. In-The-Know: A labor board ruled that graduate-student assistants can unionize at private colleges.

Student teaching and research assistants at private universities will now be allowed to unionize. The board's 3-1 decision overturned a 2004 precedent involving Brown University graduate-student assistants. (Time)

6. Geek Out: NASA found a $550 million spacecraft that had been missing for nearly two years.

The craft, missing for 22 months, is called STEREO-B. It's one of two spacecrafts that were sent into space in 2006. Their job was to see how solar storms evolve from the sun. (USA Today)

7. Real Talk: The USDA will buy $20 million worth of cheese to reduce an all-time-high cheese surplus.

The cheese, which amounts to about 11 million pounds, will go to food banks and pantries across the country to assist families in need, the USDA said on Tuesday. (Time)

The announcement comes after a highly publicized sexual-assault case, in which a former Stanford University athlete, Brock Turner, was convicted of three counts of felony sexual assault. Turner blamed his actions on alcohol and Stanford’s so-called “party culture.” (Read More)