Thursday morning news: February 12, 2026

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DHS preparing for shutdown » Many in Washington are bracing for another partial government shutdown with funding set to expire for the Department of Homeland Security tomorrow night.

Democrats are holding up funding as they demand changes to immigration enforcement. But DHS also oversees things like TSA airport security and the Coast Guard.

And on Capitol Hill, Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill pleaded with lawmakers:

MCNEILL: 12 weeks later, some are just recovering from the financial impact of the 43 day shutdown. Many are still reeling from it. We cannot put them through another such experience. It would be unconscionable.

Many TSA employees are deemed essential and were expected to continue working through last year’s record-long shutdown with paychecks delayed.

And Coast Guard Admiral Thomas Allen told a House panel that a DHS shutdown would hurt morale among the Guard’s roughly 56,000 members.

ALLAN: The uncertainty of missing paychecks negatively impacts readiness and creates a significant financial hardship for service members and their families.

He added that the Coast Guard would have to halt most of its work and focus only on missions tied to national security or saving lives.

Jobs numbers » The latest U.S. jobs numbers may indicate that after a softer stretch last year, the job market may be picking back up. WORLD’s Mary Muncy has more:

MARY MUNCY: The Labor Department says employers added about 170,000 jobs in January, stronger than economists expected and well above December's softer gain. 

Healthcare, construction, and professional services led the way; manufacturing posted modest growth.

The unemployment rate edged down to about 4.3 percent, and wages rose around 3.7 percent compared to a year ago.

That follows a weaker report last week that showed slower hiring late last year, which had raised concerns about cooling momentum.

Some analysts say January's rebound suggests the labor market remains steady, even if it's not booming.

For WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

Netanyahu at White House » "A very good meeting."

That's how President Trump described his sit-down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House Wednesday.

Netanyahu's mission was reportedly to ask President Trump to pressure Iran, not only on its nuclear program, but also on its ballistic missiles.

U.S. diplomats have been holding indirect nuclear talks with Tehran in recent days and Trump has threatened military action if Iran does not cooperate.

The White House says Tehran is much better of off making a deal.

Vice President J.D. Vance:

VANCE: Well, look, the president has told his entire senior team we should be trying to cut a deal that ensures the Iranians don't have a nuclear weapon. But if we can't cut that deal, then there's another option on the table. So I think the president is going to continue to preserve his options. He's going to have a lot of options because we have the most powerful military in the world.

Trump also alluded to Operation Midnight Hammer, the U.S. military action last summer that struck three Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran's foreign minister yesterday said limitations on the country’s ballistic missile program are not on the table.

FAA closure of El Paso airspace » All flights briefly stopped over El Paso, Texas, yesterday after federal authorities ordered a sudden closure of airspace over the border city.

The FAA lifted the restriction after a few hours, saying that there was no ongoing danger to aviation and flights could resume.

But El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson was not happy, saying the closure occurred:

JOHNSON: ...without coordinating with the city, the airport, the hospitals, the community leadership; that failure to communicate is unacceptable.

He said  “All aviation operations were grounded, including emergency flights.,” and called it a disruption not seen since 9/11.

Officials initially said the closure was in response to cartel drone activity near the U.S.–Mexico border. But it was unclear if the closure was in response to an immediate drone incursion or if it was part of longer-range planning.

It was initially announced that the closure would last for more than a week, as heard here from one air traffic control tower in El Paso:

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: Just be advised, I guess there's a TFR plug into effect. Just pass it on to the Southwest and everybody else. Uh, at 0630 for the next 10 days, we're, we're stopped. 

The Pentagon had been planning to test a laser system aimed at disabling cartel drones.

Authorities said the concern is now resolved, but lawmakers and local leaders are demanding clearer explanations about the abrupt ground stop.

Mifepristone » For the first time in nearly a year, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary addressed concerns from lawmakers about an abortion drug at a closed-door briefing. WORLD’s Carolina Lumetta has more from the nation’s capital:

CAROLINA LUMETTA: Pro-life lawmakers left the meeting with more questions than answers about the abortion drug mifepristone. 

Republican Senator Josh Hawley:

HAWLEY: I'll just be honest with you, I was very disappointed by that.

LUMETTA: Last year, Makary promised to start an independent safety review into the abortion drug. But Hawley says it now looks like past reports that Makary was slowrolling that study … may in fact be true.

He added that it’s now up to Congress to step in.

HAWLEY: We've got to think about how do we stop the flow of mifepristone into these states, particularly states where mifepristone is banned, but it's it's coming anyway. We've got more abortions now than we had when Roe was the law of the land, and I don't sense any urgency at all from the FDA about this. None. Zilch.

LUMETTA: Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta in Washington.

Guthrie latest » Police in Arizona have released a man that they detained for questioning in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today Show co-host Savannah Guthrie.

Police detained Carlos Palazuelos during a traffic stop on Tuesday, hours after investigators released recovered surveillance footage of a person in a ski mask tampering with Guthrie’s doorbell camera.

Palazuelos said police questioned him and searched his home for hours before releasing him on Wednesday.

PALAZUELOS: I didn't do anything…I mean, I hope they get the suspect. Because I'm not it. They better do their job and find the suspect that did it so they can clear my name.

Palazuelos said he'd never heard of Guthrie before police stopped him.

Saturday will mark two weeks since the 83-year-old Guthrie was apparently taken from her Tucson home.

I'm Kent Covington.

And still ahead: Republicans in Congress sound the alarm about Islamic political influence. And later, and shift in climate policy.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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