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Lead: On Feb. 19, 2026, Bank of America Corp. confirmed it will deploy $25 billion of its own cash into private-credit transactions, marking a significant expansion of the bank’s direct-lending activity. The investments will be originated through the capital-markets arm inside its investment-banking unit, according to people familiar with the plans. The move places Bank … Read more

Lead The husband of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, has been barred from the Department of Labor’s headquarters in Washington after at least two female staff members reported that he touched them inappropriately, according to people briefed on the case. One alleged incident, on the morning of Dec. 18, was captured on the … Read more

Lead Two sisters, Caroline Sekar, 45, of San Francisco, and Liz Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho, were killed in an avalanche near Lake Tahoe on Tuesday at the end of a three-day backcountry skiing trek. The incident occurred on a trail in the Castle Peak area of the Sierra Nevada and struck a close-knit group … Read more

Lead: Walmart reported higher same-store sales for the quarter ended Jan. 31, driven in large part by shoppers from higher-income households, company leaders said on a Feb. earnings call. The retailer said households earning more than $100,000 accounted for the majority of its share gains, while consumers earning below $50,000 remain financially stretched. Executives flagged … Read more

Lead Meta is refocusing its Horizon Worlds social platform almost entirely on mobile after a string of Reality Labs cuts that included roughly 10% staff reductions, three VR studio closures, and the end of new content for the Supernatural fitness app. Reality Labs VP Samantha Ryan said the company will explicitly separate its Quest VR … Read more

On Feb. 19, 2026, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ministers at the International Energy Agency’s annual meeting in Paris that Washington may withdraw from the agency unless it stops promoting climate-driven policies. Wright characterized the IEA’s net-zero-by-2050 roadmap as unnecessary and called for a renewed emphasis on energy security. The statement, delivered at a … Read more

As the 2025 NFL season recedes into memory, a handful of high-profile narratives dominate headlines — Myles Garrett’s single-season sack record and Matthew Stafford’s MVP campaign among them. Yet NFL Pro’s analytics also highlight lesser-heralded contributors who posted remarkably efficient seasons across positions. Between February 2025 and the close of the regular season, a mix … Read more

On Tuesday near Castle Peak on Donner Summit, a guided backcountry ski party was struck by a large avalanche; by Feb. 19, 2026 Nevada County authorities reported nine people dead and six survivors rescued after teams reached the scene amid continuing storms. The group—four guides and 11 clients on a Blackbird Mountain Guides trip—was descending … Read more

Lead An anonymous contribution to the Pima County Attorney’s Office raised the posted reward for information leading to the location of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie to more than $200,000 on Thursday. Guthrie, the mother of NBC “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen at her Tucson home on Jan. 31, and investigators describe the case as … Read more

On February 19, 2026, newly released Justice Department records show that Jeffrey Epstein cultivated close relationships with several U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers based in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and that those ties prompted a criminal investigation beginning in 2019. The records detail gifts and favors Epstein provided—food, helicopter rides, financial advice … Read more

Lead On February 19, 2026, at India’s AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi staged a high-profile photo moment with 13 other business and political leaders. The staged line saw a widely circulated image of participants holding hands aloft — but Sam Altman (OpenAI) and Dario Amodei (Anthropic) notably did not join … Read more

Lead Workers began reinstalling interpretive panels at the President’s House Site on Independence Mall in Philadelphia on Feb. 19, 2026, after a federal judge ordered their return while litigation continues. The panels, removed by the National Park Service in January, portray the lives of nine people enslaved by George Washington during his presidential residence in … Read more

On Feb. 16, 2026, at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, bystanders intervened when a gunman opened fire during a youth hockey event. Michael Black, a retired printing-company owner, and at least two other men rushed the shooter after bullets rang out, seizing a weapon and pinning him to the floor. The attacker, identified … Read more

On Feb. 19, 2026, JPMorgan Chase & Co. told a court that President Donald Trump improperly named CEO Jamie Dimon as a defendant in the $5 billion lawsuit over the bank’s closure of his accounts. The bank filed to remove the case from Florida state court to federal court in Miami, saying the complaint’s strategy … Read more

Lead President Donald Trump convened the inaugural Board of Peace in Washington on Thursday and announced that nine member states pledged a combined $7 billion toward Gaza reconstruction while five countries committed troops to an international stabilization force. He also said the United States would pledge $10 billion, though he offered no timeline or funding … Read more