Judge appoints former Mayor Gene Teague to City Council
On Monday, February 23, 2026, Circuit Court Judge G. Carter Greer ordered that Michael Gene Teague be appointed to serve…
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‘One Battle After Another’ star Teyana Taylor talks 1st Oscar nomination
With the Oscars less than three weeks away, actress Teyana Taylor is feeling mixed emotions.
“Oh, my God, my stomach is in my booty. It’s that feeling you can’t even describe,” Taylor said on Good Morning America Tuesday morning.
Taylor is nominated for an Oscar for the first time as an actress in a supporting role for her portrayal of Perfidia in the drama/thriller One Battle After Another, which also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Regina Hall and Chase Infiniti.
“No matter the outcome, I am blessed,” Taylor continued. “I’m just filled with so much gratitude to be a part of this moment and of this journey and of this chapter and of the conversation. So I’m very, very happy, nervous, but very happy.”
For Taylor, one of the highlights of One Battle After Another was getting to act alongside veteran actor DiCaprio, an experience the 35-year-old likened to attending a “super master class.”
“He’s been a great mentor and I really admire his leadership because he’s a legend, he’s an icon,” Taylor said. “So I’m really honored that I get to share scenes with him.”
In her prep to play Perfidia, Taylor said she followed an acting method she used previously for the role of Inez in the 2023 crime film, A Thousand and One.
“I identified her layers and then I color-coordinated those layers. So coming into Perfidia, seeing that she was even more [of a] complex character, I wanted to do the same thing,” said Taylor.
“If I feel like, OK, I’m in a moment of feeling vulnerable, maybe that color is pink … if I’m feeling rage, that moment is highlighted in red. So I literally color-coordinate [Perfidia’s] emotions,” she explained.
One Battle After Another, which is nominated for 13 Oscars, including best picture, was first released in September 2025. It is still in theaters and also available to stream.
The 98th Oscars will air on Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC and Hulu.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC and Hulu.
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Airport operations gradually resuming after violence erupted over killing of drug lord ‘El Mencho,’ Mexico’s president says
(NEW YORK) — Airport operations are gradually returning to normal in Mexico after violence ignited in the country following the killing of the drug lord known as “El Mencho,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a press conference Tuesday.
Sheinbaum said there were “seven roadblocks” in Mexico Tuesday morning, but “all of them” have now been cleared. Flights have resumed at Guadalajara Airport, and operations are “gradually returning” at Puerto Vallarta airport, she added.
School was suspended in Jalisco and Michoacan on Tuesday, but “activities are expected to return to normal tomorrow,” Sheinbaum added.
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was killed in an operation led by Mexican authorities on Sunday in Jalisco, Mexican officials said.
Widespread cartel-organized violence erupted following his death, with vehicles set on fire, hundreds of road blockages and attacks on gas stations and businesses, according to Mexican authorities.
Mexico’s security strategy “has not changed,” after the operation, emphasizing that law enforcement were attempting to arrested an individual with an outstanding warrant, Sheinbaum said Tuesday.
“Members of the Army were attacked and responded. He later died while being transferred. But we will never act outside the law. That is very important. Here, the objective was never to kill anyone,” Sheinbaum said.
“Yes, this was a very significant member of organized crime, but the strategy has not changed. The strategy remains the same and is grounded in our laws and our Constitution,” she added.
Sheinbaum said that as of Monday morning, there are no longer any blockades and “normal activity has largely been restored.”
Oseguera Cervantes was one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States. He was one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into the U.S., and last year President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the White House said.
When Mexican forces moved in to arrest him on Sunday, “El Mencho’s security detail opened fire,” Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Monday.
El Mencho “fled the location, leaving behind a group heavily armed,” Trevilla said. “The attack by organized crime members was extremely violent.”
Mexican special forces members continued to pursue El Mencho and eventually were able to injure him and two of the bodyguards with him, according to Trevilla.
El Mencho and the two bodyguards died during the helicopter evacuation flight that was heading towards a medical facility in Jalisco, Trevilla added.
Ultimately, 25 members of the Mexican National Guard and 30 cartel members were killed in Jalisco, Mexican officials said. Four cartel members were also killed in Michoacan, officials said.
Among those killed was a “principal confidant” of El Mencho in Jalisco who was “coordinating road blockades, vehicle burnings, and attacks on military and government facilities,” Trevilla said.
Seventy cartel members have been detained across seven states, Mexican officials said Monday.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico on Monday continued to urge Americans in locations throughout Mexico to shelter in place due to “ongoing security operations and related road blockages and criminal activity.”
“While no airports have been closed, roadblocks have impacted airline operations, with most domestic and international flights cancelled in both Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta,” the U.S. Embassy said in a security alert. “All ride shares are suspended in Puerto Vallarta. Some businesses have suspended operations.”
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NASA targets Wednesday for rollback of Artemis II rocket and spacecraft
(MERRITT ISLAND, Fla.) — Weather conditions have again delayed operations leading to the launch of the Artemis II rocket mission to the moon.
The rollback of the Artemis II rocket and spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida was originally scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. Due to high winds in the area, NASA said its plans to move the rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II off the launch pad and back to the vehicle assembly building were pushed to Wednesday morning.
The 4-mile trek is expected to take 12 hours, the space agency said.
The move was deemed necessary after crews detected an interrupted flow of helium to the Artemis II rocket’s upper stage on Saturday. Helium did not flow properly during normal operations and reconfigurations that followed the wet dress rehearsal that concluded on Thursday.
The upper stage uses helium to maintain the proper environmental conditions for its engine and to pressurize liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks, according to NASA. Essentially, helium is a critical element that ensures the proper flow of fuel into the rocket.
Once back in the vehicle assembly building, teams will install platforms to access the helium flow issue, NASA said. Teams will review potential causes of the issue as well as data from the 2022 Artemis I mission, in which teams had to troubleshoot helium-related pressurization of the upper stage before launch.
The Artemis II mission is a test flight that will send four astronauts on a more than 600,000-mile journey around the moon to test critical spacecraft systems, according to NASA. The crew will fly over the far side of the moon — passing between 4,000 and 6,000 miles above it — and spend a day observing and photographing the region.
After the lunar flyby, the astronauts will circle the moon for a return to Earth, in which the Earth-moon gravity field will help pull the spacecraft back to Earth over the course of its three-day return trip.
The Orion will then splashdown off the coast of San Diego after re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, and the U.S. Navy will recover the astronauts from the Pacific Ocean.
The journey is expected to take 10 days total.
The mission sets the stage for the future Artemis III, which aims to someday land astronauts near the moon’s South Pole. The region has never been explored by humans before.
Artemis II will mark the first time humans have traveled beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
In January, NASA delayed the Artemis moonshot due to near-freezing temperatures at the launch site.
Heaters were deployed to keep the Orion capsule on top of the rocket warm, while rocket-purging systems were adapted to the cold.
The rollback of Artemis II means it will not launch during the March launch window, NASA said.
The quick preparations will potentially preserve the April launch window, pending the outcome of data findings and repair efforts, according to the agency.
ABC News’ Briana Alvarado and Matthew Glasser contributed to this report.
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Trump’s 10% global tariff takes effect
(NEW YORK) — A 10% global tariff took effect on Tuesday, marking the first duty enacted by President Donald Trump after a recent Supreme Court decision invalidated most of his levies.
Within hours of the high court’s ruling on Friday, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 10% tariff on nearly all imports for up to 150 days. The directive called for enforcement of the duty to begin at 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Soon after signing the order, Trump vowed to hike the global tariff to 15%. As of Tuesday, however, the president had not issued an executive order formalizing that increase.
Stocks ticked higher Tuesday morning, recovering some of the losses suffered a day earlier in the first trading session since Trump announced the tariff increase.
Trump enacted the 10% tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the White House to address “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits, or disparities between a country’s total payments in transactions with other nations and its total earnings.
Under the measure, the president can also impose levies to “prevent an imminent and significant depreciation of the dollar.”
The Section 122 tariffs will result in price increases amounting to $800 in additional costs for an average U.S. household over the next 150 days, the Yale Budget Lab projected. In order to extend the across-the-board 15% tariff beyond that time window, Trump would need to secure Congressional approval.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday that Democrats would oppose an extension of Section 122 tariffs, which could deny Trump the 60 votes necessary to overcome a potential Senate filibuster.
In a social media post on Monday, Trump affirmed what he said was his authority to issue tariffs, saying he does not need to consult Congress before erecting new trade levies.
Trump also reiterated his commitment to his policy approach, warning other countries that they may face a “much higher Tariff, and worse.”
The high court ruled in their February 20 decision that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEPPA) does not authorize Trump to impose levies, nullifying a major swathe of tariffs issued by the president on April 2 of last year, which he dubbed “Liberation Day,” and a host of other measures.
If the Supreme Court had opted to uphold tariffs issued under IEPPA, the nation’s effective tariff rate would have remained at 16%, the Yale Budget Lab said. Taking into account the Section 122 tariffs, the effective tariff rate now stands at 13.7%, the group said.
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American tourist says violence over Mexican drug lord’s killing came without warning
(NEW YORK) — In harrowing detail, an American tourist described the violence that he, his husband and two friends were caught in on Sunday in the vacation mecca of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, when armed criminals responded to the killing of a notorious cartel boss.
Yoni Pizer of Chicago told ABC News that he and his husband, who own a vacation condo in Puerto Vallarta, were driving their friends to a whale-watching expedition around 8:30 a.m. local time on Sunday when chaos suddenly erupted.
Pizer said they were just west of Puerto Vallarta, approaching an intersection, when they first noticed trouble and soon realized their lives were in jeopardy.
“We suddenly noticed a man running at us with a gun in his hand and one of my friends who was in the backseat shouted, ‘He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun!'” Pizer said.
He said the man was part of the group of armed assailants who were stopping cars and pulling the occupants out.
Pizer said the man banged on his car window and pointed the gun at his head. He said at first he thought it was just a carjacking, but later noticed other armed assailants stopping cars and pulling the occupants out.
He said the armed man ordered him and the others with him to get out of the car.
“At that point, he got into the car and drove it just a few yards into the intersection, and then threw an incendiary device in it, which exploded, and the car was quickly engulfed in flames,” Pizer said.
Widespread cartel-organized violence erupted following a Mexican Special Forces operation on Sunday that killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, who is also known as “El Mencho.”
Oseguera Cervantes was one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States. He was one of the top traffickers of fentanyl into the U.S. Last year President Donald Trump designated the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
When Mexican forces moved in to arrest him on Sunday in another part of the state of Jalisco, “El Mencho’s security detail opened fire,” Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Monday. More than 30 cartel members were killed in the firefight, which also left 25 members of the Mexican National Guard dead, Mexican officials said.
Oseguera Cervantes initially got away, but government forces tracked him down in the town of Tapalpa, about 180 miles southeast of Puerto Vallarta, where he and his two bodyguards were gravely wounded in a gun battle, Mexican authorities said.
El Mencho and his bodyguards died during an evacuation flight to a medical facility, Trevilla Trejo said.
In response, cartel members fanned out across the country, setting fire to vehicles and buildings, authorities said.
Among the other cartel members killed was a “principal confidant” of El Mencho in Jalisco who was “coordinating road blockades, vehicle burnings, and attacks on military and government facilities,” Trevilla said.
“Their goal was clearly to block all main roads in Puerto Vallarta. And, clearly, it wasn’t to kill people, because they easily could have killed all of us,” Pizer said.
He said that after his car was taken and set on fire, he and his party ran for their lives as they heard gunshots and saw numerous vehicles being torched.
“Then a city bus came up and they went onto the bus and started shooting their guns to make sure people understood that they meant business,” Pizer said, adding that the assailants blocked a road with the bus and set it on fire.
Pizer said at one point during their escape, he was separated from his husband and one of their friends, who both ended up sheltering in a church orphanage for more than eight hours.
Pizer said that a good Samaritan stopped and gave him and his other guest a ride back into Puerto Vallarta.
“We ran to the beach and turned around and saw black columns of smoke throughout the city,” Pizer said.
The U.S. State Department is advising American tourists to continue sheltering in place until tensions subside.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said there is a “greater calm” in Mexico as government forces worked to quell the violence.
Pizer said he fears the attack will wreck Puerto Vallarta’s top industry — tourism — at least for the short term.
“This all makes me very, very sad,” Pizer said. “Puerto Vallarta is such a wonderful, special place. Obviously, that’s why so many people come here.”
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Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy yearn in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Netflix series teaser trailer
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a streaming service in possession of a good fortune, must provide the teaser trailer for its Pride and Prejudice adaptation.
Netflix has shared the first trailer for its upcoming six-part series adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel. It has also announced that the series will be available to stream in fall 2026.
The official teaser, which runs just less than a minute, shows off Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennet and Jack Lowden as Mr. Darcy.
There is no dialogue in the trailer, only yearning. We see Elizabeth sitting on her roof gazing out into the sun, before it cuts to a handwritten letter from Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth runs through muddy paths, there is lingered eye contact through horse-drawn carriages and a glimpse at the pair dancing at a ball. The final image is of Mr. Darcy sitting atop his horse staring out at what one can only assume is the direction of Elizabeth.
Bestselling author Dolly Alderton has adapted Austen’s novel for the screen while Heartstopper director Euros Lyn is helming the series.
In addition to Corrin and Lowden, the show’s cast includes Olivia Colman, Rufus Sewell, Freya Mavor, Jamie Demetriou, Daryl McCormack, Rhea Norwood, Siena Kelly and Louis Partridge.
“Once in a generation, a group of people get to retell this wonderful story and I feel very lucky that I get to be a part of it. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is the blueprint for romantic comedy – it has been a joy to delve back into its pages to find both familiar and fresh ways of bringing this beloved book to life,” Alderton said in a statement originally shared in July 2025.
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Louvre director resigns months after jewel heist in Paris
(PARIS) — The director of the Louvre Museum in France has resigned, months after $102 million in jewels were stolen, according to the office of the French president.
Laurence des Cars’ tenure has been under intense scrutiny since the heist and she has faced calls for resignation.
French President Emmanuel Macron praised the resignation “as an act of responsibility at a time when the world’s largest museum needs both stability and a strong new impetus to successfully complete major security and modernization projects,” the Élysée said in a statement Tuesday.
“The President thanked her for her work and commitment over the past few years and, recognizing her undeniable scientific expertise, entrusted her with a mission within the framework of the French G7 presidency, focusing on cooperation between the major museums of the participating countries,” according to the statement.
At least seven suspects have been arrested in connection with the October robbery but the jewels have not been recovered.
Empress Eugénie’s crown was the only item the thieves did not escape with during the robbery. The thieves dropped it on the street outside the Louvre during the roughly five-minute long heist.
The crown “was crushed and significantly deformed” during the heist, the Louvre said in a statement earlier this month. However, “it remained largely intact,” meaning museum officials believe it can be fully restored.
In light of the robbery, security lapses at the museum have been exposed, including that the password to the world-famous museum’s video surveillance system was “Louvre,” according to a museum employee with knowledge of the system.
During testimony before a French Senate committee after the robbery, des Cars said the only camera installed outside the Apollo Gallery, where the stolen jewels were displayed, was facing west and did not cover the window where the thieves used power tools to break in and exit.
Des Cars said all of the museum’s alarms and video cameras work, but said there was a “weakness” in the museum’s perimeter security “due to underinvestment.”
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‘Lizzie McGuire’ stars remember Robert Carradine after his death at 71
Hilary Duff is remembering her TV dad, Robert Carradine, with whom she starred on the Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire.
Carradine died Monday at the age of 71 after a decades-long mental health battle, a representative for his brother, actor Keith Carradine, confirmed to ABC News.
“This one hurts,” Duff wrote on Instagram along with two photos of her with Robert Carradine.
“There was so much warmth in the McGuire family and I always felt so cared for by my on-screen parents. I’ll be forever grateful for that,” Duff continued. “I’m deeply sad to learn Bobby was suffering. My heart aches for him, his family, and everyone who loved him.”
Jake Thomas, who played Duff’s on-screen brother, Matt McGuire, also paid tribute to his TV dad, writing on Instagram about Robert Carradine’s death, “My heart hurts today.”
“I was fortunate to know Bobby for most of my life. And he was one of the coolest guys you could ever meet. Funny, pragmatic, sometimes cranky, always a little eccentric,” Thomas wrote, later adding, “He was a talented actor, musician, and director. But more than anything, he was family.”
Robert Carradine, who also starred in movies including Revenge of the Nerds and Coming Home, died after a nearly 20-year battle with bipolar disorder, according to his family.
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that “causes unusual shifts in a person’s mood, energy, activity levels, and concentration” that are more severe than the usual ups and downs that people experience, according to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.
Robert Carradine was born into the famous Carradine acting family on March 24, 1954, in Hollywood, California. His father was actor John Carradine, who starred in films including the The Grapes of Wrath and Stagecoach, and his mother was actress Sonia Sorel.
Robert Carradine is survived by his children, Marika Reed Carradine and Ian Carradine, whom he shared with his ex-wife, Edie Mani, and Ever Carradine, whom he shared with actress Susan Snyder.
Ever Carradine shared a loving tribute to her dad on Instagram, writing, “I knew my dad loved me, I knew it deep in my bones, and I always knew he had my back.”
“My dad was a lover, not a fighter. He was all heart, and in a world so full of conflict and division, I think we can all take a page out of his book today, open our hearts and feel and share the love,” she continued, in part. “I have a thousand stories and I’m being flooded with memories — so if you see me, please ask me about my dad, Bobby Carradine, who made me who I am. Rest easy, dad. I love you the most.”
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State of the Union: Dozens of Democrats plan to skip in protest, several invite Epstein survivors
(WASHINGTON) — Several Democrats have invited survivors of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, while others plan to skip the event altogether in protest.
Roughly half a dozen Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have ensured survivors of Epstein’s abuse will be seated in the House chamber for Trump’s high-profile speech.
Trump and the Justice Department have been dogged by questions about the Epstein files and their partial release and redactions. Some survivors have criticized the process and called for full release of the files, which are precipitating global fallout. The DOJ said it has complied with the law.
Reps. Jamie Raskin and Suhas Subramanyam announced Sky and Amanda Roberts as their guests, the brother and sister-in-law, respectively, of the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
Rep. Ro Khanna, who co-authored the Epstein Transparency Act that forced the DOJ to release millions of files related to Epstein, has invited survivor Haley Robson.
Some House Democrats plan to wear pins in support of Epstein survivors that call for all the files to be released.
Other notable Democratic guests include individuals from Minnesota impacted by immigration enforcement, invited by Rep. Ilhan Omar, and the business owner who successfully challenged President Trump’s emergency tariffs, invited by Rep. Brad Schneider.
The members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus who are attending the speech said they plan to wear white “to honor the suffragists who believed a women’s vote could change the country and their vision for that change.”
Meanwhile, dozens of Democrats are poised to skip the address in the House chamber, many instead attending a counter-program on the National Mall sponsored by the prominent progressive group MoveOn.
Dubbed the “People’s State of the Union,” MoveOn said the 8 p.m. ET counter-program will feature Democrats, organization members and “everyday Americans most impacted by Trump’s chaos.”
At least 45 House and Senate Democrats in total are planning to skip Trump’s address, according to a count by ABC News.
The majority of congressional Democrats, however, are expected to attend Trump’s speech, which is one of the president’s biggest opportunities to address Americans ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Republicans this fall will look to defend their narrow majorities in the House and Senate in what is historically a cycle that favors the minority party.
Jeffries, who has said “you don’t let anyone ever run you off of your block,” has made the case for his caucus to show its presence on Tuesday night without any outbursts after Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas was ejected and ultimately censured for shaking his cane and shouting at Trump during last year’s joint address.
“The two options that are in front of us in our House [are] to either attend with silent defiance or to not attend and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion, which will include participation in a variety of different alternate programming that is going to take place in and around the Capitol complex,” Jeffries told reporters last week.
After Trump’s speech, Gov. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia will deliver the Democratic response.
Spanberger flipped control of the governor’s mansion from red to blue in 2025 after primarily campaigning on the issue of affordability.
“We are at a defining moment in our nation’s history. Virginians and Americans across the country are contending with rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring,” Spanberger said in a statement, adding she looked forward to “laying out what these Americans expect and deserve — leaders who are working hard to deliver for them.”
California Sen. Alex Padilla will deliver the Democratic Party’s Spanish-language response.
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