Move your mouse to the top left corner of a story. A small triangle and the words "mark as top story" will appear. Click that. For posts that were incorrectly marked as top stories, click the arrow on the top right of the post and select "unmark as top story." As you mark and unmark things, Facebook learns what you like, and becomes much better at correctly picking your top news.

As to the ticker moving too quickly, that's the idea. News feed moves at a "check once or twice a day" pace, and the ticker moves at a "see everything instantly while you're viewing the site" pace. It's the difference between viewing daily stock charts, and watching a real-time price feed.