The Headlines - Killing of Cartel Boss Sets Off Chaos in Mexico, and Trump Has a New Plan for Tariffs

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Plus, a shooting at Mar-a-Lago.  Here’s what we’re covering: Mayhem Rocks Mexico After Most-Wanted Cartel Boss Is Killed, by Jack Nicas and Paulina Villegas What’s Happened Since the Supreme Court’s Tariff Ruling, by Kim Bhasin Iran Could Direct Proxies to Attack U.S. Targets Abroad, Officials Warn, by Eric Schmitt T.S.A. Says PreCheck Will Remain Operational at Airports, by Madeleine Ngo and Yan Zhuang Armed Man Is Fatally Shot at Mar-a-Lago, Secret Service Says, by Minho Kim, Sonia A. Rao and Tyler Pager Powerful Storm Hits Northeast With Heavy Snow and High Winds, by Chelsia Rose Marcius, Andy Newman and Yan Zhuang  Tune in every weekday morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, February 23rd. Here's what we're covering. In Mexico, the government's announcement that it killed the nation's most wanted cartel boss has set off a wave of mayhem. Authorities said that Nemesio Osiguerre Servantes, known as El Mentiono, died in a government operation to capture him yesterday.

He was widely regarded as one of the country's most violent criminal figures, overseeing a powerful gang that trafficked drugs like cocaine, meth, and fentanyl, and expanded into other enterprises, too. After his death, violence broke out across the country, as cartel operatives responded with an unsettling show of force. Armed groups blocked roads and set fire to supermarkets, banks, and vehicles. One witness described seeing masked men force everyone off of a city bus and lighted on fire in Porto Vallarta, a popular tourist destination. The violence has spread across at least 13 states, though the bulk of it has unfolded in the city of Guadalajara. Concerts and soccer matches were canceled yesterday. Some flights

were diverted, and the U.S. government warned American citizens in some areas to, quote, shelter in place until further notice. In the past, previous captures of cartel leaders have ignited violence like this, sometimes among rival gangs jocke for power, sometimes from groups lashing out at the government. Mexico's president, Claudia Scheinbaum, has urged Mexicans to stay calm and said things are proceeding as normal in most of the country. Under Shinebomb, Mexico has launched its most intense campaign against the cartels in more than a decade, and El Mancho's death marks a major victory for her administration. It could also ease pressure on the country from President Trump, who has threatened strikes in Mexico if it doesn't address drug trafficking.

trafficking and smuggling. Some security analysts say, though, that despite Shinebom's aggressive approach, the cartels remain too powerful and too entrenched to fully eradicate. In Washington, today I will sign in order to impose a 10% global tariff under Section 122. President Trump is pushing forward with his plans for tariffs, despite the Supreme Court's ruling on Friday that struck down many of those he'd put in place. It's ridiculous, but it's okay because we have other ways, numerous other ways. Right after the ruling, he announced a 10% global tariff, then said Saturday he was raising it to 15%.

To impose the new surcharges, he's using a different legal authority than the statute the justices ruled on. He's invoking a provision of a 1970s trade law that no president has used before. Trump has also continued to lash out against the justices who ruled against him, calling them fools and lap dogs. I think it's an embarrassment to their families. You want to know the truth, the two of them. He's taken particular aim at Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney-Barritt, both of whom he appointed. At the budget level, the court's ruling has unleashed a new level of volatility for the U.S. Tariffs had become a key source of government revenue, and it's unclear if Trump will

be able to make up the difference to help pay for the expansive tax cut he signed into law last year. For now, the question of what will happen to the billions of dollars in surcharges that were already collected from companies is still up in the air. The Supreme Court left it to the U.S. Court of International Trade and lower courts to figure out how refunds should work. The Trump administration has said it could take years to sort out. Now, three more updates on the administration. Negotiators for the U.S. and Iran are scheduled to meet this week in what appears to be last-ditch negotiations to avoid a military conflict. Well, first of all, enrichment is our right.

We have every right to enjoy a peaceful nuclear energy, including enrichment. Iran's foreign minister continued to insist this weekend that the country was not willing to give up its production of nuclear fuel. But the Trump administration has similarly insisted that's not acceptable. The U.S. has been turning up the pressure on Iran. It's now amassed the largest military force it's had in the Middle East since it prepared for the invasion of Iraq 23 years ago. Though no final decisions have been made, the Times has learned Trump has been leaning toward conducting an initial strike in coming days

to demonstrate to Iran that it must be willing to cooperate. That would come with the possibility of retaliation. U.S. and other Western security officials say they're monitoring increasingly worrying signs that Iran could direct its proxies to conduct terrorist attacks against American targets in Europe and the Middle East if Trump orders large-scale strikes against the country. Also, the partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security has left some travelers wondering what exactly is happening. Democrats have refused to fund the department without new restrictions on immigration agents, and that has meant ripple effects for other branches of DHS, like TSA. The vast majority of TSA employees are required to work during shutdowns,

but there's the risk that the longer it goes on, the more it could cause airport delays, as unpaid workers begin to call in sick or don't show up. There was a swirl of confusion over the weekend, after DHS said it would pause TSA pre-check to refocus resources, then said the program was back on. Some Democratic lawmakers have questioned how suspending priority screenings would have helped, with one accusing the Trump administration of, quote, purposely punishing the American people. And last update, authorities say the man who was shot and killed at Mara Lago over the weekend had showed up at the president's private club with a shotgun and a gun.

gas canister. Officers from the Secret Service and local law enforcement confronted him after he breached a secure perimeter, and he raised his shotgun in a, quote, shooting position. At that point in time, the deputy and the two secret service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat. Trump was in Washington, not Florida, at the time of the incident. The armed man was quickly identified as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin from Cameron, North Carolina. Members of his family, including his mother, had posted on Facebook throughout the weekend that he was missing. The FBI is investigating the shooting. A classmate who served with Martin in junior ROTC said he came from a pro-Trump family. He started a business last year drawing golf courses. The president and the White House have yet to comment.

A man was convicted of targeting Trump at another one of his golf courses in 2024, just weeks after the assassin's. assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania. And finally, winter is not over yet. A massive storm hitting the northeast and the mid-Atlantic has shut down flights and rail lines, left hundreds of thousands of households without power, and has more than 40 million people under blizzard warnings. Some parts of the region could see as much as two feet of snow. New York is forecast to get 18 inches. and the city's public schools are getting something that's become increasingly rare. A snow day.

Since the rise of online learning, schools around the country have largely turned those into remote learning days, which just don't quite have the same magic. Today, though, as the East Coast gets slammed with a winter storm for the second time in just a few weeks, it is an actual snow day for New York kids, the old-fashioned kind. Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.