NPR News: 02-18-2026 5PM EST
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Why did the Department of Homeland Security's funding run out?
This week on Up First from NPR News, funding ran out for the Department of Homeland Security and Congress went home. DHS does a few important things, like secure the airports, or the coasts, or the president. Now their funding is uncertain. And what does this say about the way Congress works or doesn't? Follow us for the latest each morning on Up First on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. President Trump wants the government he leads to pay him billions of dollars. NPR's Kerry Johnson reports Trump has filed claims over the search of his Florida resort. and the leak of his tax returns in 2019.
The president's asking for more than $10 billion because of damage he says he suffered after his tax returns became public in an FBI search for classified papers at Mar-a-Lago. But legal demands are putting his appointees at the Justice Department on the spot. Both the attorney general and the deputy AG once served as Trump's personal lawyers. A spokesperson there says officials follow the guidance of career ethics lawyers. Most legal claims like these against the government involve crashes of postal trucks or medical malpractice in federal hospitals for veterans. President Trump's demands for money are many times greater than in those run-of-the-mill cases. He says he'll give any money he recovers to charity.
Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.
Environmental and public health groups sued the Trump administration this morning for ending regulations on climate pollution. NPR's Jeff Brady reports the groups argue the White House is violating the law and rehashing arguments the Supreme Court already decided.
The Trump administration repealed the basis for federal action to rein in the greenhouse gases heating the climate. Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency previously found that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. Now, the Trump EPA reversed that endangerment finding, calling it the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history. Among the groups filing the lawsuit are the American Lung Association, Earth Justice, and Public Citizen. The case likely will take years to litigate and could bring the issue of regulating climate pollution before a Supreme Court that is more conservative than the one that issued the original decision in 2007. Jeff Rady, NPR News.
American skier Michaela Schifrin ended her eight-year Olympic medal drought today as she won gold in the women's slalom. It was her third Olympic gold and the first since 2018, Steve Futterman reports.
When it was over, when she crossed the finish line and realized she had won the gold, Michaela Schifrin says there was a sense of relief. The frustration of failing to win a single medal in Beijing four years ago could be set aside. Schifrin had a huge eight-tenths of a second lead after the first run. The only question was whether she could get through the second run without falling or missing a gate.
What legal claims is President Trump making regarding his tax returns?
These moments, we do build them up for sure. Like I said, the biggest task today was to simplify and focus on the skiing.
At one point during her post-race news conference, Schifrin became emotional talking about her father who died in 2020. This was her first Olympic medal since his death. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Milan.
The bodies of eight backcountry skiers have been found and one remains missing after an avalanche near Lake Tahoe in California. Six others have been found alive. This is NPR News from Washington. The Trump administration says more than 550 commercial driving schools that train truckers and bus drivers must close. The Transportation Department says they employed unqualified instructors and failed to adequately test students. The department has been going after states that gave commercial driver's licenses to immigrants who it says shouldn't have qualified. The movie industry has been on a ticket-selling spree in 2026, the best first six weeks since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
NPR's Bob Mondello reports.
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