FAA Grounds All El Paso Flights for 10 Days Over Unspecified Security Threat, Invoking Rare Shutdown Not Seen Since 9/11

Netanyahu Rushes to Washington as Stalled Iran Nuclear Talks and Trump's Military Threats Raise Stakes

Grand Jury Rejects Charges Against Democratic Senators Who Urged Troops to Disobey Illegal Orders

First Tech Addiction Case Goes to Trial as Plaintiff Accuses Meta and YouTube of Trapping a Generation of Children

Gunman Kills Nine in Remote British Columbia School Shooting

2026 Winter Olympics medal count

FAA Grounds All El Paso Flights for 10 Days Over Unspecified Security Threat, Invoking Rare Shutdown Not Seen Since 9/11

The Federal Aviation Administration imposed a sweeping 10-day flight ban over El Paso International Airport late Tuesday, halting all commercial, cargo, and general aviation operations through Feb. 20 for what the agency described only as "special security reasons." The abrupt restriction, which also covers neighboring Santa Teresa, N.M., caught local officials and airlines off guard; the airport said it had been issued "on short notice" and was awaiting further guidance. An earlier FAA notice had cited drone activity over the area. In an unusual warning, the federal government stated it "may use deadly force" against any aircraft deemed an imminent security threat. The closure is virtually without precedent in scope and duration — the most comparable action was the shutdown of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport for 23 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. El Paso sits directly on the U.S.-Mexico border, separated from Ciudad Juárez — one of Mexico's largest cities — by only the Rio Grande, a distance of roughly five miles from downtown to downtown. Some observers have noted longstanding speculation about the theoretical threat of a foreign state or nonstate actor enlisting a cartel to carry out an attack along the border, though there is no indication that such a scenario is connected to the current closure.

NYT

WSJ

Netanyahu Rushes to Washington as Stalled Iran Nuclear Talks and Trump's Military Threats Raise Stakes

President Trump was expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Wednesday, their sixth meeting since Trump began his second term, as tensions over Iran's nuclear program continued to dominate both leaders' agendas. Netanyahu moved up his visit after senior U.S. and Iranian officials met last week in Oman without apparent progress; the United States has demanded an end to Iranian nuclear enrichment and restrictions on ballistic missiles, while Trump has alternated between threatening military strikes and pursuing a diplomatic settlement tied to sanctions relief. The diplomatic push follows months of upheaval in Iran, where economic protests escalated into a mass movement that the government crushed in a brutal crackdown that left thousands dead, prompting Trump to order a significant U.S. military buildup in the region.

NYT

Grand Jury Rejects Charges Against Democratic Senators Who Urged Troops to Disobey Illegal Orders

A Washington grand jury declined to indict several Democratic lawmakers — including Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a retired Navy captain, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst — whom prosecutors sought to charge over a November video in which the senators told military servicemembers they could refuse to obey illegal orders. The video, titled "Don't Give Up the Ship," was filmed in response to President Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to U.S. cities and strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, actions critics have called legally questionable. It is exceedingly rare for a grand jury to reject an indictment, since it hears only the government's evidence and does not require unanimity; the rebuff marks the latest setback for the Trump-era Justice Department's efforts to prosecute perceived political opponents, following a similar refusal by a grand jury to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James late last year.

WSJ

First Tech Addiction Case Goes to Trial as Plaintiff Accuses Meta and YouTube of Trapping a Generation of Children

Opening statements began this week in a Los Angeles courtroom in what is the first of a series of bellwether trials testing whether social media platforms can be held liable for designing products that addict young users. The plaintiff, a 20-year-old California woman identified as K.G.M., alleges that Instagram and YouTube hooked her as a child through features such as infinite scroll and autoplay video — mechanisms her attorney likened to slot machines in a "digital casino." Meta countered that K.G.M.'s mental health issues stemmed from family circumstances, not its platforms. The case draws on a legal playbook modeled after Big Tobacco litigation and is one of thousands of suits filed by teenagers, school districts, and states; a plaintiff victory could expose Meta, Snap, TikTok, and YouTube to broad new liabilities and reshape the way social media is designed.

NYT

Gunman Kills Nine in Remote British Columbia School Shooting

Canada was reeling Wednesday after a gunman killed nine people and wounded 25 others at a secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, a remote town in northeastern British Columbia. Seven victims were found dead inside the school, including a person believed to be the shooter, who died of an apparently self-inflicted injury, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Two additional victims were discovered at a nearby residence that investigators believe is connected to the attack. The massacre has intensified an already fraught national debate over gun control.

NYT

February 11 1751: America's first hospital opens its doors "to care for the sick-poor and insane...wandering the streets of Philadelphia." It is co-founded by Ben Franklin.

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Sources

1. NYT — FAA El Paso Flight Restrictions
2. WSJ — FAA Halts El Paso Flights
3. NYT — Trump, Netanyahu, Israel, Iran
4. WSJ — Grand Jury Declines to Indict Democrats
5. NYT — Social Media Addiction Trial
6. NYT — Tumbler Ridge School Shooting, Canada