The U.S. Department of Justice building in Washington, July 26, 2025. A federal judge in Minnesota found a Trump administration lawyer in civil contempt of court on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, a significant escalation between the judiciary and the executive branch amid a ballooning caseload triggered by President Trump’s immigration raids and novel interpretations of law. (Michael A. McCoy/The New York Times) By MATTATHIAS SCHWARTZ and SEAMUS HUGHES A federal judge in Minnesota

A snow-covered trail leading to Castle Peak, near Soda Springs, Calif., late Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026. Eight skiers were killed and one other was presumed dead following an avalanche on Tuesday, the deadliest snow disaster in modern California history. Six were found alive. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times) By THOMAS FULLER and JILL COWAN It was announced as the first big blizzard of the year in California, and the warnings were stark. The National Weather Service posted Sun

The remains of a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, Calif., March 1, 2025. Legislators in the state want fossil fuel companies to help cover home insurance costs caused by wildfires and other climate disasters. (Mark Abramson/The New York Times) By MAXINE JOSELOW In Colorado, historically a hub of coal mining, legislators are planning to give drivers a $2,000 discount on new electric vehicles, more than double the current amount offered by the state. In Virginia, w

Visitors at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia, Jan. 31, 2026, a week after the Trump administration ordered the removal of all interpretive signs. A federal judge on Monday, Feb. 16, ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore displays about George Washington’s ownership of enslaved people at a monument on the site of his former house in Philadelphia. (Hannah Yoon/The New York Times) By ANUSHKA PATIL A federal judge earlier this week ordered the Trump adm

Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) speaks alongside Republican lawmakers and activists during a news conference on the “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act” at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Feb. 11, 2026. Steil’s bill would ban universal voting by mail and prohibit the counting of ballots received after Election Day. (Eric Lee/The New York Times) By ANNIE KARNI The strict voter identification measure that Republicans have pushed through the House is just their opening salvo in

he Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco on July 17, 1984. His 50-minute speech was perhaps the emotional high point of the party’s doomed campaign against Ronald Reagan. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times) By NEIL VIGDOR Millions of Democrats cast primary votes for him, envisioning him as America’s first Black president. Along the way, there would be convention keynote speeches and, at times, self-inflicted controversy for the Rev.

President Donald Trump speaks during announcement on greenhouse gas regulation in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. President Trump on Thursday announced he was erasing the scientific finding that climate change endangers human health and the environment, ending the federal government’s legal authority to control the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet. (Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times) By KAREN ZRAICK When the T

Border Patrol agents stop vehicles and confront drivers following them in Minneapolis, Jan. 29, 2026. The Department of Homeland Security’s funding has lapsed and lawmakers are deadlocked over a proposal to restore it, with Democrats seeking restrictions on the federal agents carrying out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. (Victor J. Blue/The New York Times) By THE NEW YORK TIMES The Department of Homeland Security’s funding has lapsed and lawmakers are deadlocke