Here are today's featured stories, posted by DU members and curated by the Administrators. More news items can be found in our Latest Breaking News forum, and for all the most up-to-the-minute stories that are being talked about by DU members, visit the Latest Discussions page.
February 20, 2026
FBI Director Kash Patel takes agency jet to Italy, plans to attend Olympic hockey games, sources say
Updated on: February 19, 2026 / 5:19 PM EST / CBS News FBI Director Kash Patel, whose use of a government jet has frequently come under scrutiny, flew on a Justice Department plane Thursday to Italy with plans to attend the Olympic hockey medal rounds, according to public data and sources familiar with the matter. Public flight data reviewed by CBS News showed the FBI director took off on a government plane Thursday morning for an Air Force base in Italy, after a brief flight from Manassas, V ...
Go to discussionUS pays about $160 million of the nearly $4 billion it owes the United Nations
Updated 3:36 PM EST, February 19, 2026 UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States has paid about $160 million of the nearly $4 billion it owes the United Nations, the U.N. said Thursday, and President Donald Trump promised more money to the financially strapped world organization. The Trump administration’s payment last week is earmarked for the U.N.’s regular operating budget, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told The Associated Press. The U.N. has said the United States owes $2.196 billion to ...
Go to discussionNew York Democrats urge Supreme Court to stay out of redistricting case
Posted February 19, 2026 at 5:05pm Democratic New York officials and voters urged the Supreme Court in court filings Thursday not to intervene in a state court order requiring a new district for the Staten Island-based seat currently held by Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis. The filings came in response to emergency appeals from Malliotakis and state officials last week, seeking to put the redistricting effort on hold. Malliotakis and other Republicans argued that the court ruling came too ...
Go to discussionKristi Noem Wants A Swanky $70 Million Jet For Deportations -- And She Might Get It
Feb 19, 2026, 04:38 PM EST Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is apparently too bougie for budget economy. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking approval from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to purchase a luxury jet for $70 million, two Department of Homeland Security officials told NBC News in a report published Thursday. According to the report, DHS recently leased the Boeing 737 Max 8 and now wants to buy the aircraft that comes with a bedroom with a que ...
Go to discussionEpstein revelations spur calls to scrape Lutnick's name from college library
12h Haverford College students and alumni are calling on the school to remove Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's name from its library after revelations about Lutnick's ties to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Why it matters: It follows reports that Lutnick — a 1983 Haverford graduate and the suburban Philadelphia school's largest single donor — communicated with Epstein years after Epstein had been convicted of procuring a child for prostitution. Lutnick said in a 2025 podcast inter ...
Go to discussion