Friday's coverage: Supreme Leader speaks, Hawaii girds, gun laws slide

Our coverage plans for today:

In US news ...

• Defending Hawaii. A roundup of coverage of Hawaii prepping its anti-missile defense systems after North Korea's threat to launch an attack on the state.

• Finance reform. Gail Chaddock reports on the reaction to the Obama team's financial regulation plans on Capitol Hill.

• Healthcare reform. Gail also reports on House Democrats unveiling their own healthcare reform plan.

• War sacrifices. Jim Gimpel looks at which types of Patchwork Nation communities have sacrificed most in terms of its citizens serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Art of stolen parts. Patrik Jonsson covers the case against the creator of Raleigh's "Barrel Monster." The statue, created from stolen highway traffic barrels, has become world-famous in just a week, but the artist is in trouble.

• First father. Linda Feldmann reports that Obama devotes half of Friday, a pretty big chunk of the presidential attention span, to the issue of responsible fatherhood. Is he overdoing the message?

• Senior pilots. Alexandra Marks looks at how the death of a 60-something pilot, while flying a transcontinental flight, raises anew questions about the wisdom of extending the age ceiling for commercial pilots.

• Suspicious North Korean ship. Gordon Lubold looks at the US Navy's options as it tracks a North Korean ship in the Pacific that it suspects may be carrying nuclear cargo. There’s no way Pyongyang will permit the ship to be “inspected,” so what’s the Navy’s next move?

• Urban gun laws. Patrik Jonsson on cities losing their grip on gun control. A judge on Thursday shot down a Philadelphia law that targeted assault-style weapons, following similar rulings in Washington and San Francisco. New York and Chicago face judicial tests of local gun regulations next.

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