NPR News: 02-16-2026 6PM EST
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Minnesota criminal investigators have again been denied access to evidence collected by federal authorities after the fatal shooting of Alex Preddy. Minnesota Public Radio's Brian Bax reports that state officials received a formal notice from the FBI.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension had been shut out from the outset, but the BCA continued to seek access to evidence.
What recent events occurred in the Alex Preddy case?
Superintendent Drew Evans says the FBI gave word last week that no materials would be turned over. Preddy, an ICU nurse, was killed by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis on January 24th. At least two officers fired multiple shots. The BCA's Evans calls the lack of cooperation, quote, "...concerning and unprecedented." He says state authorities will continue their own investigation into the Pretty case, as well as the fatal shooting of a second citizen, Renee Macklin Good, earlier in January. For NPR News, I'm Brian Baxt in St. Paul.
Early voting begins this week in Texas, where Republican Senator John Cornyn is seeking the party's nomination for a fifth term in Congress. Andrew Schneider with Houston Public Media reports.
If John Cornyn wins the general election this fall, he could become one of the longest-serving senators in Texas history. But first, he has to get past State Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has led or tied Cornyn in most polls for nearly a year, and fend off attacks from Congressman Wesley Hunt.
Unfortunately, my opponents are people who frankly just want to join those ranks of performance artists who want to come to Washington, D.C., and want to become famous, get the most clicks on social media, and raise money. But the job entails a whole lot more than that.
Most analysts expect none of the three candidates will win an outright majority in the March 3rd primary. That would force a runoff between the top two contenders in May. For NPR News, I'm Andrew Schneider in Houston.
Actor Robert Duvall has died. He played everything from tough Marines to sensitive cowboys over the course of his career that spanned five decades. He was 95. NPR's Glenn Weldon has more.
In all, Robert Duvall appeared in over 90 movies. Most notably, he played the silent Boo Radley in 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird. In the Godfather films, he was Tom Hagen, the calm, controlled legal advisor to the Corleone crime family. He said it was one of his favorite performances. But it was his role as Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore in 1979's Apocalypse Now that supplied him with one of the most oft-quoted lines of dialogue in movie history.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
He earned an Oscar nomination for that role, one of seven over the course of his career. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1983's Tender Mercies, in which he played a country singer in recovery. Glenn Weldon, NPR News.
Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport remains the world's busiest airport, according to travel data giant OAG. Atlanta had more than 63 million seats for domestic and international travelers in 2025. This is NPR News. The NAACP is asking a judge to limit how the federal government uses voter data seized in an FBI raid near Atlanta. The civil rights group asked the judge to bar any use beyond the stated criminal investigation. They also asked for a full inventory of what agents took during the January seizure at the Fulton County Elections Hub and who has accessed it. FBI agents arrived at the elections warehouse with a warrant seeking 2020 Fulton County election records. People across Asia are preparing to celebrate the Lunar New Year tomorrow.
In China, the holiday means a rush to get home, with hundreds of millions of people traveling by bus, air, and train in what NPR's Emily Fang says is jokingly termed the spring migration.
Transportation authorities said travelers made about 3.5 billion trips during this year's chunyun, or spring migration, many made by people leaving cities to see parents in the countryside or to reunite with their partners after months of working apart.
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