NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-13-2026 12AM EST

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

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On NPR's Wildcard podcast, Oscar nominee Wagner Mora on keeping his values on his path to success. There were moments that are like, oh, I really need that money. Right. You know, but I'm like, I can't do this. I can't do that because otherwise I'll be miserable. Watch or listen to that wildcard conversation on the NPR app or on YouTube at NPR Wildcard. Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. The Trump administration is revoking the scientific.

finding the government uses for federal actions on climate change. We are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers. Prices went up incredibly for a worse product. President Trump speaking at the White House with Environmental Protection Agency Director Lee Zeldon by his side. The endangerment finding links greenhouse gas emissions to human health. Trump also eliminated federal tailpipe standards for cars and trucks. The decision is expected to lead to lengthy court battles. President Trump's borders are Tom Holman says the immigration crackdown in Minnesota is coming to an end. Holman made the announcement on Thursday a day before the Homeland

Security Department is set to run out of money. As Senate Democrats are demanding new restrictions on immigration enforcement operations. A crackdown led to mass protests, thousands of arrests, and two fatal shootings. A federal judge ordering the Homeland Security Department to ensure that immigration detainees held at a facility near Minneapolis have access to lawyers. Matt Sepik of Minnesota Public Radio reports that the judge also says DHS must wait 72 hours before moving detainees out of the state. Judge Nancy Brazel's temporary restraining order comes after a Human Rights Group sued on behalf of a woman from Honduras who'd been detained without access to a lawyer. She was eventually released, but plaintiff's attorneys said DHS consistently violated the rights of many

others in custody. Brasel writes that the department provided only, quote, threadbare declarations without examples or evidence that it's providing access to counsel. She ordered the department to allow unrestricted inbound and outbound private calls plus in-person visits with attorneys. Brasel is also prohibiting DHS from resists. retaliating against detainees or their lawyers. For NPR News, I'm Matt Seppick in Minneapolis. Japan's benchmark NICA is down in Friday trading, tracking Thursday's declines on Wall Street, where tech stocks tumbled, pulling down the broader market.

NPR Scott Horsley reports and investors are watching for an update Friday on inflation. The Labor Department is set to report Friday on the cost of living for January. Forecasters expect the report to show prices rose about 2.5% over the last 12 months. That would be a slightly smaller annual increase than we saw in December. Inflation is still above the Federal Reserve's target, though, and investors think the central bank will hold interest rates steady next month. Many cost-conscious shoppers are looking for bargains. McDonald's accredited the McValue menu with helping to boost sales to fast food chain during its most recent quarter.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. And you're listening to NPR News. The UN General Assembly has voted to approve a 40-member global, scientific panel focused on artificial intelligence. UN Secretary General Antonio Katera says the panel will provide rigorous scientific insight. The overwhelming approval came over the objections of the U.S. The counselor for the American mission said the U.S. will not seat authority over AI to international bodies that may be influenced by authoritarian regimes. The artificial intelligence company Anthropics says it is now valued at $380 billion.

$1. Anthropic is behind the chatbot Claude. It says its valuation grew after its latest funding round raised $30 billion from dozens of major investors. A star in the nearby Andromeda Galaxy has essentially vanished. Here's NPR's No Greenfield Boys. Recently, some researchers were going through archival data from a NASA spacecraft to track any changes in the brightness of millions of stars over a 15-year period. And this one massive star really stood out as, unusual. Kisholoi Day is an astronomer with Columbia University and the Flatiron Institute. What we found was that somewhere around 2015-2016 or so, it actually brightened in infrared light for about a year before it essentially plummeted and disappeared. In the journal Science, he and his colleagues say the best explanation for this star, winking out, is that it ran out of fuel and imploded, transforming into a black hole, something that's been seen as theoretically possible. but hard to detect.

Nell Greenfield-Boice, NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. You can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart, get Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com. T's and Cs apply.