From the desk of Rich Stephens
News for the week ending 2-15-26
Below find the expanded text from tonight’s broadcast. For corrections or additions, contact Rich directly.
Current Events
Minneapolis ICE Updates
In Minneapolis Thursday Tom Homan announced a wind down to ICE’s operation metro surge. He said that ICE will continue operating out of the St. Paul field office to enforce immigration law against all persons in the United States illegally. He said that state and local law enforcement and corrections facilities are now cooperating and indicated that thousands of individuals have been removed. He said 3,364 missing children have been located in Minnesota during the surge. Governor Walz responded by saying that the “unprecedented federal invasion” inflicted more trauma than natural disasters or Covid. He said that the surge has left Minnesota with deep damage, generational trauma and economic ruin.
Tom Homan Full Press Conference
Tim Walz Full Press Conference
Emissions Deregulation
If you have a car manufactured after 2012, you are probably familiar with the feature that automatically shuts off your engine when your car stops. This feature is the result of Obama era off-cycle credits. The credits impact compliance with manufacturer fleet average CO2 limits. February 12, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin eliminated the off-cycle credits along with the requirement that manufacturers comply with federal greenhouse gas emissions standards across their fleets. Zeldin says this will eliminate the start stop button and save Americans $1.3 Trillion.
Lee Zeldin X Response to Obama Criticism
Orange County Free Ice Cream
Speaking of cars, in Orange County Florida, the Sherriff’s office announced last week that they purchased an ice cream truck. Using money seized through civil forfeiture on drug related arrests, the truck will provide free ice cream. They plan to take it out several times a month to different neighborhoods for outreach efforts and will bring it to events throughout Orange County.
Sheriff’s Video Announcement (X)
Florida Driver License Rules
A lot of news this week about driving. Video circulated on social media this week portraying a woman who was upset about not receiving her driver license. She’d taken and passed the written test in Spanish, but beginning February 6, the state requires all written driver proficiency tests to be administered and taken in English. While some people argue that most signs are just symbols, those people ignore No Parking, Road Work Ahead, Wrong Way, No Thru Traffic, Dead End, School Zone, Every electronic sign board in the state, No Turn on Red, No U Turn, Stop for Pedestrians, Left Lane Must Turn Left, Do not Pass, Pass with Care, Restricted Lane Ahead, Divided Highway, Road Closed, Slower Traffic Keep Right…
Florida Highway Safety Announcement
Georgia Emergency Landing
Monday, February 9, a single engine aircraft made an emergency landing on a surface street in Gainesville, GA. The landing was caught on camera and video shows the plane making a hard landing before impacting several vehicles. Police said two people were transported with minor injuries. NTSB and FAA are investigating.
Canadian School Shooting
On February 10 in British Columbia Canada, police were called to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School for an active shooter. After a brief exchange of gunfire, 18 year old Jesse Van Rootselaar was found dead. Officers recovered a long gun and what officials referred to as a “modified handgun”. Police said that they had been to the home on several occasions when the suspect was experiencing mental health issues. Jesse identified as transgender and had been transitioning from male to female for the last 6 years. The nine fatalities include the shooter’s mother and step brother, and at least 25 others were injured at the school.
Politics
Jeff Johnson Daughter Killed
Minnesota Republican Gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson has suspended his campaign following the stabbing death of his 22 year old daughter. I wasn’t able to find any official statement, but her husband, Dylan Tobler was booked on February 10 for second degree murder.
California Police Masking Law Injunction
Monday, February 9, a California ruled on the federal government’s case against two California laws. One would prohibit law enforcement from covering their faces and the other requires either a visible name or badge number. The judge enjoined California from enforcing the ban on face coverings, but upheld their requirement to display a name or badge number. California Attorney General Bonita celebrated the ruling saying “Safe communities thrive on transparency and trust and California is committed to doing our part to uphold public safety and civil liberties.” Attorney General Pam Bondi also celebrated the ruling saying that it will protect agents from being doxed, and obstructed. The judge upheld the requirement for name or badge number specifically because it does not carry a penalty, so it’s unlikely that federal law enforcement agencies will comply with it.
Florida H1B Visa Ban
Florida Governor Ron Desantis directed the state Board of Governors to end H1B visa hires at public collages and universities. At their January 29 meeting, they advanced a rules package that will move the policy forward for public comment at their next meeting. If approved, the measure will block H1B visa hires at public universities in Florida through January 5, 2027.
Florida Board of Governors Meeting Minutes
Finance
Inflation
Moving over to finance, Friday, February 13, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the January numbers. Inflation fell to 2.4% from 2.7 at the end of December. Energy commodities continue negative inflation with gasoline at negative 7.5% and fuel oil at negative 4.2%. Energy services offset the economic gains with electricity prices up 6.3% and piped gas service up 9.8% year over year.
Markets
Markets fell this week. After topping 50k last week, the Dow Jones lost 615 points and closed at 49,500. The NASDAQ dropped 485 points, over 2%, and finished the week at 22,546. The S&P 500 lost 96 points closing at 6836. Gold futures recouped most of last week’s losses and ended trading at $5,055 / ounce.
Sports
NFL
Sunday, February 8, The Seattle Seahawks used 5 field goals and 6 sacks to beat the Patriots 29-13 in the Super Bowl. A fairly boring game until the 4th quarter where the teams combined for all 4 of the game’s touchdowns. Videos circulated later showing a lackluster crowd response to half time. Other videos show players unable to name a Bad Bunny song, with several saying they’d never heard of him. The Broncos are an early 2027 Super Bowl favorite at +950 to win the whole thing next year.
Asking Players About Bad Bunny
Israel Bobsled Team
The Israeli bobsled team released a Cool Runnings parody video to X titled ‘Shul Runnings’. Shul is the Yiddish word for synagogue and the video features AI animations of the group bobsledding through sand dunes and into the ocean before the water parts and then freezes into a bobsled track. On February 7th the apartment they were staying in for training was broken into and robbed. Gear, suitcases, passports, and even their shoes were stolen. They will compete February 16, 17, 21 and 22.
Olympics
The Olympics is ongoing. Norway leads host Italy in the overall medal standings with 11 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze.
Italy has 7 gold, 3 silver and 10 bronze medals. US Men’s figure skater Ilia Malinin fell to 8th in the individual competition after falling twice in his final skate. He’d been projected to win gold by a large margin. The United States has 17 total medals and sits in third overall behind Italy and ahead of Sweden.
NCAAM
Finally, college basketball is heating up. Monday night number 9 Kansas toppled top ranked Arizona, handing them their first loss of the season. Texas Tech visited Arizona Saturday and needed overtime, but handed the wildcats their second loss in as many games. The final was 78-75. Miami of Ohio is now the lone unbeaten D 1 men’s team and sits at 23 in last week’s AP poll. The defending National Champion Florida Gators went to Athens and beat the bulldogs 86-66 Wednesday night. Returning to Gainesville, the gators never trailed in a 92-83 home win over Kentucky Saturday.
Rich Stephens
The Cold Take