by Brittney Melton

February 18, 2026

Good morning. This month marks the 100th anniversary of Black History Month.To celebrate the milestone, NPR spoke with two people with ties to the forefather of the commemorative month. Here’s the news we’re following today:

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will take the stand in Los Angeles today in a trial that could reshape social media. The plaintiffs are accusing platforms like Instagram and Facebook of being intentionally designed to hook teenagers, sparking a nationwide youth mental health crisis. The case hinges on whether the tech companies engineer “defective products” to exploit vulnerabilities in young people's brains.

Mark Zuckerberg wearing a black short-sleeved shirt with a mic attached to his collar.

Nic Coury/AP

🎧 For years, social media companies have avoided legal consequences by using a legal shield known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, NPR’s Bobby Allyn says. The law protects online platforms from liability for user-generated content by treating sites as intermediaries rather than publishers. Now, lawyers are suing the tech companies under product liability laws. They argue that the platforms are essentially defective products because of features such as infinite scroll and autoplay. The plaintiffs say that the social media sites' impact on children’s brains is similar to that of a slot machine and that the companies should be held accountable. If the jury sides with the plaintiffs, the case could result in a multi-billion-dollar settlement and significant changes to social media apps’ operations.

Tricia McLaughlin, the public face of the Trump administration’s mass deportation policies, is leaving the Department of Homeland Security. The agency confirmed her exit yesterday from her role as the DHS’ assistant secretary for public affairs. McLaughlin’s departure comes as the agency is shut down after lawmakers failed to pass a budget to fund it through the end of the fiscal year.

The U.S. and Iran have committed to further negotiations after representatives from the two countries held indirect talks in Geneva this week. Both parties said they would meet again to attempt to reach a deal on Iran’s nuclear program. The Trump administration wants Iran to have no nuclear weapons and zero enrichment. Iran insists it has the right to enrich uranium for research and civilian usage.

🎧 The next meeting is expected to be in a couple of weeks, NPR’s Jackie Northam says. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said yesterday’s meeting was constructive and negotiators made some progress. However, Araghchi added that there is still more work to be done before the two countries meet again.

Warner Bros. Discovery has given CBS' parent company, Paramount Skydance, one last chance to sweeten its bid against Netflix for the company. The news comes as Anderson Cooper announced his departure from 60 Minutes after nearly two decades as a correspondent. Stephen Colbert also recently accused CBS of blocking an interview with Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico from airing on TV.

🎧 The recent headlines should not be seen as separate incidents, NPR’s David Folkenflik tells Up First. The Ellison family, who are behind Paramount, is close to President Trump and wants to stay on his good side. The family's connection to the president has shaped decisions surrounding the company's news division. One of those choices is the network’s recent pick for CBS News' editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss. She came to CBS with the proposition that the mainstream media is too woke and anti-Trump, Folkenflik says. He adds that many of her decisions have been unwelcome by the journalists at CBS. Cooper says he is leaving the show to spend more time with his children. NPR spoke to three associates, who are not authorized to discuss what is happening within CBS, who say Cooper has also expressed concerns about Weiss' leadership.

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The backside view of two men looking at something under the hood of a vehicle. Both men are wearing a law enforcement vest. The vest on the left says ‘Metropolitan Police’ and the vest of the man on the right reads ‘HSI.’

Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images/Getty Images North America

President Trump’s second term has seen a dramatic expansion of federal immigration enforcement, driven by a program that deputizes local police to enforce immigration laws. The growth of the 287(g) program is one of the most visible shifts in Trump’s immigration strategy. In 2019, during Trump's first term, local police agencies signed just 45 of these 287(g) agreements. As of Feb. 13, ICE reported 1,412 active agreements across 40 states and territories — signing over 1,130 of them in 2025 alone. Here’s a look at how the program works:

➡️ The jail enforcement model of the program involves local authorities checking everyone entering jail with criminal convictions or pending charges for legal U.S. status. If they are in the country illegally, ICE will be notified, and they will be held in jail pending ICE removal.
➡️ The warrant service officer model, similarly to the jail enforcement model, allows police to execute administrative warrants on migrants in their jails.
➡️ The task force model of the program allows officers to stop, question and make arrests for immigration violations. This model makes up the majority of 287(g) agreements in place, according to ICE data.
➡️ The Department of Homeland Security says task force model training includes 40 hours of education on immigration law, ICE's Use of Force policy, civil rights law and more. Previously, local police needed about a month of training to obtain certification.

An illustration in a style mixing line drawing with pastel, shows two women laughing and talking over coffee at a cafe. The woman on the left has white skin and a sandy blonde ponytail. She wears a purple neck scarf and a white sweater. The woman on the right has light brown skin and wears a pink headscarf and a purple sweater. Both women hold white mugs with steam rising from them and throw their heads back in laughter. They are set against a light yellow background.

Westend61/Getty Images

There are times when you meet someone and the conversation just flows, and you want to know more about them. Then you might say, “We should get together sometime.” This statement can be vague. Kat Vellos, author of We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships, says the best thing you can do is schedule an actual time to hang out. In a conversation with Life Kit, she shared some insight on how to turn a stranger into a friend:

🫂 The spark can fizzle out if you wait too long to see the person again. Research shows that if you spend a lot of time together at the beginning of the relationship, it is more likely to stick.
🫂 Try picking a memorable activity you can do together. Doing something out of the ordinary will give you both a memory you can share.
🫂 Remember, it is OK that this person might not be your bestie. There are different levels of friendship. You might also decide it is best for you both to be strangers.

For tips on how to make a friendship stick, listen to this episode of NPR's Life Kit. Subscribe to the Life Kit newsletter for expert advice on love, money, relationships and more.

A woman wearing a red shirt and black pants is figure skating. The ice has the words Milano Cortina 2026 on it.

Ashley Landis/AP

Rare athleticism and national pride define the Olympics. As the Games conclude in just a few days, NPR’s Word of the Week looks at the origins of the term "Olympics."

Authorities have rescued six backcountry skiers who survived an avalanche that happened yesterday in the Castle Peak area near Truckee, Calif., according to the Nevada County Sheriff's Office. Emergency responders are still searching for several others. (via CapRadio)

The DNA from the glove found near Nancy Guthrie's house did not match any of the more than 26 million people in the CODIS system, the Pima County Sheriff's Department announced yesterday.

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This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

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