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American Airlines 737 plane found with apparent bullet hole after flight from Miami to Colombia

February 24, 2026 / 5:49 PM EST / CBS News

An American Airlines plane was found with an apparent bullet hole while in Colombia on Monday, according to sources familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by CBS News.

The hole was located in the right wing of a 737 MAX 8 aircraft after it flew from Miami, Florida, to Medellín on Sunday evening as flight 923. After landing, the ground crew reported a puncture “that extends all the way through the right-hand aileron,” documents reviewed by CBS News said. It’s unclear when or where the damage occurred.

Sources say the damage is consistent with an apparent bullet strike. There is an entry point that left a small round hole in one side of the aileron as well as damage at the likely exit point on the other side. The apparent bullet hole was first reported by airline blogger JonNYC on X.

An aircraft’s ailerons are important flight control surfaces located on the trailing edge of each wing. They generate the aircraft’s roll.

There were no injuries and the plane experienced no flight-related issues, according to American Airlines.

“Following a routine inspection, our teams identified a puncture to the exterior of one of our aircraft in Medellín, Colombia,” American Airlines said in a statement to CBS News. “The aircraft was immediately removed from service for further inspection and repair. We will work closely with all relevant authorities to investigate this incident.”

Temporary repairs were made and the plane operated as scheduled to Miami on Monday morning, according to flight tracking data from Flightradar24. It then remained in Florida for approximately 12 hours before flying to Dallas and has not flown since.

The Civil Aviation Authority — the Colombian equivalent of the Federal Aviation Administration — told CBS News it had no information about the incident but was now investigating.

In 2024, Spirit, JetBlue and American had planes struck by gunfire while taking off or landing in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as gang violence surged in the capital city. The FAA temporarily halted air traffic to Toussaint Louverture International Airport and major airlines suspended service.

José Diaz contributed to this report.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attends SOTU as Rep. Troy Nehls’ guest as the Texas GOP primary comes to DC

By Elizabeth Elkind, Alex Miller
Fox News

Published February 24, 2026 3:30pm EST

FIRST ON FOX: The bruising Texas Republican Senate primary has made its way to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, where one GOP rebel will enter a lion’s den of lawmakers rooting against him.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is set to attend Trump’s address Tuesday night as a guest of Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas. Inside the room, he will be face-to-face with one of his opponents, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Senate Republican leadership, who have sided with the longtime incumbent in the bloody, three-way primary battle.

Paxton told Fox News Digital in an interview from Nehls’ office that Tuesday was about Trump touting his accomplishments, not his battle for the GOP nomination in Texas.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is attending President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech as a guest of Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“If I see these guys, I’m going to be friendly. I’ve no axe to grind with [Senate Majority Leader] John Thune or any of the other leadership — they’re doing their jobs,” Paxton said. “My axe to grind is with the guy that I’m running against, and his representation of the last 24 years has fallen way short. And Texans deserve better. And that’s the campaign, that’s not the State of the Union.”

Early voting has already begun in the Lone Star State, where Paxton is hoping to unseat Cornyn, who is vying for his fifth term in the upper chamber. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, is also in the mix but won’t be attending Trump’s State of the Union address.

While Paxton was adamant that the address wasn’t about his campaign, the tense race was hard to avoid. He and Cornyn are both vying for Trump’s endorsement.

‘TARIFFS SUCK’: SOME REPUBLICANS PRIVATELY CELEBRATE AS SUPREME COURT BLOCKS TRUMP POLICY

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Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, sports a Donald Trump tie outside the U.S. Capitol on June 27, 2024.(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

When asked why he invited Paxton, Nehls told Fox News Digital, “Because he’s going to be the next senator out of the great state of Texas.”

“John Cornyn, he’s gotta go,” Nehls said. “John, you know you’ve been up here for 24 years. If you can’t get your agenda done in 24, you’re not going to get it done in 30, right?”

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Matt Mackowiak, a senior campaign advisor for Cornyn, told Fox News Digital in a statement that the lawmaker was “delighted that the president of the Border Patrol Union will be his guest tonight.”

REP. RANDY FINE TO BRING 4-LEGGED GUEST SADIE TO TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION AMID BACKLASH OVER X POST

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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, pictured here, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are engaged in a brutal primary battle and will be in the same room for President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

“While Senator Cornyn has voted with President Trump 99.3% of the time, Ken Paxton was lying to taxpayers, lying to his staff and lying to his wife, all the while increasing his net worth by millions of dollars while in public office,” Mackowiak said. “He would devastate the GOP down-ballot if he’s the nominee.”

Meanwhile, both Nehls and Paxton were eager to hear Trump rattle through his accomplishments in what’s expected to be a marathon address.

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Trump’s actions on immigration since starting his second term were top of mind for both Paxton and Nehls, who noted that during his time as a sheriff, he saw firsthand the effects of crime that would seep through the southern border.

“Donald Trump put a stop to it right away,” Nehls said. “We have the most secure border we’ve ever had, and that’s because of Donald Trump’s leadership.”

Related Article

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Cornyn warns Paxton would be ‘kiss of death’ for GOP as bloody primary race ramps up

Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.

Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com

AI skills are in demand, but don’t always command a pay premium, report shows

February 24, 2026 / 4:07 PM EST / CBS News

Artificial intelligence skills are increasingly in demand from employers, but companies are not always inclined to pay a premium for workers who possess them.

In short, AI proficiency alone isn’t enough for workers and job seekers to command a pay bump or bonus, according to new data from Payscale, a provider of compensation insights.

More than 60% of companies that Payscale surveyed have updated their job listings to show they’re looking for workers with an AI edge, according to the company’s 2026 Compensation Best Practices Report. While a majority of employers say workers should know how to maximize performance and productivity through AI, most of them — 55% — are not offering premiums, bonuses or equity for workers with strong AI skills.

Only 14% of employers offer higher base pay for AI-savvy workers, while 10% offer bonuses and 9% offer other types of long-term incentives, according to the report.

“While these skills are valuable, the data shows that HR teams are not yet using pay differentials to reward these specialized skills,” the report states.

Is AI replacing jobs?

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AI appears to be transforming the labor market, as its tools prove capable of performing tasks typically associated with entry-level work.

But it’s still unclear how much that shift is translating into widespread job losses. According to Payscale data, a majority of employers — 59% — say they are not replacing human workers with AI tools. Meanwhile, 30% of employers say they are deploying AI to do the jobs of workers, or plan to do so in the future.

These are the top industries already replacing workers with AI, according to Payscale:

• Construction: 27%
• Business services: 19%
• Technology: 17%
• Healthcare:16%

At the same time, AI is creating new roles, including positions in AI model development and data analysis, with one in four organizations saying they have added AI-related roles to their IT hiring.

Slow-moving labor market

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Voluntary turnover, or workers choosing to leave their jobs, is at an “exceedingly low” rate of 8%, according to Payscale.

This so-called “job-hugging” trend reflects workers clinging to positions in which they might not be satisfied, but which they don’t want to lose in a lackluster job market for workers.

Edited by Aimee Picchi

These college majors have the highest earning potential and lowest unemployment rates, study finds

February 24, 2026 / 6:05 PM EST / CBS News

Attending college still confers significant benefits in the labor market, but another factor may be even more important when it comes to finding a decent job after graduation: what you study.

A recent analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York ranks employment outcomes for college graduates ages 22 to 27 based on their major, including how much money they can expect to earn early on in and midway through their careers.

One key takeaway: Although many recent college grads face significant challenges finding a good job in their chosen field, having a degree still gives young workers an edge, especially in terms of pay.

Another finding may come as more of a shock for young grads who followed the conventional advice to major in computer science and engineering, information systems, and other technology fields. The New York Fed researchers found that tech jobs are harder to come by these days as employers pull back in hiring after expanding too quickly during the pandemic years.

The analysis also measured the rate of underemployment for different college majors, which reflects how hard it is to find a job in your field of study.

For example, recent computer science majors have a relatively high unemployment rate, at 7%, compared with a national average of 4.3%. Yet just 19% of those grads are considered underemployed, according to the research.

By comparison, the underemployment rate for recent criminal justice grads is nearly 66%, while for those pursuing a career in the performing arts the figure approaches 64%.

Here’s how college majors stack up in terms of employment prospects and earning potential, according to the New York Fed.

New Dem star’s quick hard-left turn after ‘moderate’ campaign won her coveted response to Trump: Lawmaker

Republican congressman accuses governor of abandoning anti-gerrymandering stance to secure State of the Union response role

By Charles Creitz
Fox News

Published February 24, 2026 6:20pm EST

EXCLUSIVE: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger would never have been given airtime in the Democrats’ official response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union if it weren’t for her support of the commonwealth’s controversial redistricting and adherence to the party line, a top Republican said.

A new congressional map credited to Virginia Senate Leader L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, would eliminate Virginia’s 6–5 Republican-to-Democrat congressional ratio and leave only southwestern Virginia Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith in a favorable seat if a constitutional amendment to redraw the maps passes in April.

Lucas and House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, have spearheaded the redistricting plan, while also facing headwinds from a Tazewell County lawsuit supported by the Republican minority.

Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., whose district runs from the Roanoke suburbs along U.S. 11 and Interstate 81 to the West Virginia line near Berryville, would be one of the Republicans likely unseated by sheer math if Democrats have their way.

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Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, left; Rep. Ben Cline, right.(Marvin Joseph/Getty Images; Bill Clark; Getty Images)

Cline told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that Spanberger’s support for redistricting belies her prior public comments lambasting the idea of gerrymandering or redistricting in a partisan way.

He added that it is Spanberger’s current support that has made her a darling of her national party to the point they are showcasing her as the State of the Union respondent.

“Governor Spanberger is trying to play the national Democrats to raise her profile and try and get on the national scene on the agenda by acquiescing to this partisan gerrymandering of the Virginia legislature,” Cline said.

“She campaigned on not gerrymandering; on saying that gerrymandering was wrong, and that flips when push comes to shove and she gets a chance to reward those leaders in the national party like Barack Obama and Hakeem Jeffries.”

Cline said he’s not surprised by the news, adding that Spanberger also made “misstatements” about key issues during her campaign against former Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears last year.

Cline said he recalls working with then-Rep. Spanberger in Congress – and that the two of them were often united in support of key Virginia industries like agriculture – but that he no longer recognizes the governor in that light.

“Abigail Spanberger was on the House Agriculture Committee and loved to talk about her connection to Virginia agriculture. But my district is currently the most agriculture-based district in Virginia and she has chopped it into five different districts and parceled it out to Northern Virginia Democrats to use to make their numbers work,” he said.

Cline said the move is offensive to Virginia farmers, as the new map strips them of a collective voice in Washington and instead forces them to lobby whichever liberal-suburb-sourced district their community falls into.

[SPANBERGER SIGNALS LEFT BENT AFTER CENTRIST CAMPAIGN; GOP LEADER WARNS OF ‘FAIRFAXING THE REST OF VA’]

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Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., arrives for the House Republicans’ caucus meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“She should be ashamed of herself,” Cline said, adding that if Spanberger had kept to her pre-governorship position that gerrymandering is wrong, “the Democrats wouldn’t have given her a second look, because she wouldn’t have been playing along with a plan that they have for actually seizing the House majority through this gerrymandering effort.”

Instead, she’s being “rewarded” for pivoting to the party line, he said.

People in his district are also sounding the alarm about Spanberger beyond the gerrymandering plans, citing affordability commentary and other promises as well.

[DEMOCRATS SAY TRUMP REDISTRICTING PUSH BACKFIRING AS VIRGINIA ADVANCES NEW HOUSE MAPS]

“They’re very upset with the way she’s flipped from her campaign pledges to the way she’s actually governing. And I don’t think they’re going to respond well on April 21. I think they are going to vote down this effort to gerrymander Virginia.”

Concerns also arose over the legislature-approved language of the amendment — set to go before voters April 21 — which asks if they want to “restore fairness,” a phrase Cline and other opponents, including Del. Wren Williams, R-Stuart, have said is misleading and essentially benefits partisan Democratic politicians.

Cline said the redistricting is the marquee of Spanberger and Richmond Democrats’ efforts to radically change election laws, economic policy, taxation, cooperation agreements with federal immigration authorities and more.

“What Governor Spanberger did by withdrawing from our 287-G agreement with the state police is unacceptable. It makes us a sanctuary state for violent, illegal immigrants who are trying to escape being held accountable for their crimes. They come to Virginia, and Governor Spanberger refuses to allow state police to work with ICE,” he said.

“And so this type of reckless behavior, not only by Governor Spanberger but also the state assembly, is definitely having an impact out here in the western part of Virginia,” he said.

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The Mill Mountain Star dots the Roanoke skyline in Virginia.(Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images)

Under the new map, Cline’s current 6th district would be divided between the new 10th, 11th, 7th, 6th and 9th district, with the 9th being Griffith’s.

Instead of one southwest to northeast oval following the general path of the Colonial-era “Valley Pike” — Cline, who lives in Botetourt County, would find himself in the 6th or 9th.

The 10th, near Winchester, would be connected to liberal Washington suburbs like Reston, the 11th would serpentine from Luray to Washington, leaving room for the “scorpion” 7th jutting in two “pincers” toward Mount Sidney in the west and Powhatan in the east, and the 6th connecting blue cities in the rural interior like Charlottesville, Harrisonburg and Roanoke.

Heavily-populated, liberal Fairfax County will have a piece of five different districts extending into less-populated, conservative areas.

[CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP]

The new 2nd District, currently comprising Cape Charles, Accomac and Virginia Beach, will shift just westward enough to slice off dense, Democrat-friendly parts of the city of Chesapeake.

Critics have also compared it to the former Maryland 3rd – a district one federal judge denounced as a “pterodactyl” shape that relied upon the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay rather than land to connect its several disjointed sections between Annapolis and Baltimore.

A new, slightly more streamlined district is currently represented by Rep. Sarah Elfreth, an Elkridge Democrat.

Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger for comment.

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

These 3 charts highlight the affordability issues Americans worry about most

2026-02-24 / CBS News

President Trump is expected to focus on the economy during his 2026 State of the Union address on Tuesday evening — an urgent topic of concern for millions of Americans who say they’re worried about everything from the price of food to spiraling health care costs.

The address, which will air at 9 p.m. EDT, will highlight the strength of the U.S. economy, with White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt saying on Tuesday morning that the president will outline plans to “make the American dream more attainable.”

By conventional metrics, the economy looks resilient. Unemployment remains low at 4.3%; inflation is cooling; and GDP is expanding, with the U.S. largely shrugging off the impact of tariffs that economists feared could trigger a recession. Consumers — whose spending keeps the economy humming — also report feeling more confident of late amid a burst in January job creation.

At the same time, many households still report grappling with stubbornly high prices for essentials like food, housing and health insurance, a disconnect that underscores the challenge Mr. Trump faces in touting his economic record.

Mr. Trump has offered a range of proposals to address affordability issues. Yet some of the most visible initiatives, such as a push to cap credit card rates at 10%, have yet to show benefits, Bankrate senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick said in an email.

Americans polled by the Pew Research Center in January said their top economic concerns are the cost of food, housing and health care.

Food prices

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The cost of food has been a flashpoint for consumers since inflation soared to a 40-year high in 2022. High food prices also bedeviled former President Biden, prompting Mr. Trump to vow while on the campaign trail that he would end the “inflation nightmare.”

Since Mr. Trump returned to office in 2025, food prices have continued to climb, although at a slower pace than under the Biden administration, when pandemic-related supply disruptions drove price hikes.

But economists have long noted that shoppers tend to be more focused on the prices they see on store shelves than the rate of inflation. Although food costs are rising more slowly, prices of some staples have continued rise sharply in the past year: Ground beef has jumped 17.2% from a year ago, while coffee has surged 18.3%.

The Trump administration has sought to counter rising food prices in part by exempting beef, coffee and bananas from tariffs. Earlier this month, Mr. Trump also said he would boost U.S. imports of beef from Argentina in an effort to ease prices.

Because beef imports from Argentina represent only 0.6% of the overall U.S. beef supply, that policy is unlikely to move the needle on prices, experts have told CBS News.

Housing affordability

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More than 8 in 10 Americans say it is harder today to buy a home than it was for earlier generations, according to a CBS News poll that surveyed consumers in early February. Pew also recently found that 62% of Americans report feeling concerned about the cost of housing.

The Trump administration has proposed several remedies, including banning institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes. The president has also directed the federal government to buy $200 billion in mortgage securities, a move that could help lower the cost of home loans.

Experts say that those ideas may provide some relief, but aren’t likely on their own to address the deeper issue behind rising home prices: a shortage of affordable housing. Homebuilding cratered after the Great Recession in 2008-09 and has never caught up with demand.

The U.S. would need to build as many as 4 million additional homes beyond the normal pace of construction to significantly reduce the housing shortage, Goldman Sachs analysts estimate.

Health care spending

---

Paying for health care has emerged as Americans’ top financial worry after Congress failed last year to extend some Affordable Care Act subsidies, triggering premium spikes for millions, health policy research firm KFF found in a recent poll.

Meanwhile, workers with employer-sponsored health insurance face increases of about 6% to 7% in 2026 — more than double the current rate of inflation. Since 2008, the cost of private health insurance has roughly doubled, KFF found.

Millions who rely on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces for insurance plans faced even sharper spikes after Congress failed to extend enhanced premium subsidies, which expired Dec. 31. Some Americans told CBS News they planned to skip coverage this year because they couldn’t afford their soaring premiums.

The Trump administration is tackling drug costs through its new TrumpRx website, which lists lower direct-to-consumer prescription prices. Mr. Trump described the site as “one of the most transformative health care initiatives of all time.”

But experts note that the site is geared to consumers who pay out of pocket, meaning that it doesn’t help people with insurance and won’t count toward meeting a consumer’s health plan deductible.

The Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” act also paid for tax cuts by significantly trimming spending on Medicaid and other social programs, Vanessa Williamson, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, noted in an email.

“When you add to that the refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act credits, which caused health insurance premiums to double for millions of Americans, and the cuts to affordable energy programs, you can see Americans were really hit in their wallets over the last year,” she said.

New York calls for $13.5 billion tariff refund from Trump administration

February 24, 2026 10:41 PM UTC / Reuters

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People walk on Fifth Avenue as President Trump’s new tariffs are imposed, in New York City, U.S., August 7, 2025. REUTERS/Adam Gray/ File Photo [Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab]

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday called on the Trump administration to issue $13.5 billion in tariff refunds after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Last year, shortly after returning to the White House, Trump imposed varying tariffs on most of the world’s countries. The move, which Trump called “Liberation Day,” was met with legal challenges from businesses and some U.S. states.

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Those tariffs, Hochul said, cost the average New York household an estimated $1,751 in added costs over the last year and harmed the state’s small businesses.

“These senseless and illegal tariffs were just a tax on New York consumers, small businesses and farmers, and that’s why I’m demanding a full refund” the governor said.

Hochul joins Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and California Governor Gavin Newsom who last week called on the Republican president to issue refunds following the Supreme Court ruling.

All three Democratic governors are considered contenders for the U.S. 2028 presidential election.

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The White House dismissed the calls by the governors, saying they spent decades talking about issues that Trump was able to address.

“President Trump used tariffs to actually deliver where Democrats could only talk, so naturally Democrats are resorting to gathering more meaningless popcorn headlines – pathetic but unsurprising,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

Reuters reported last week that Penn Wharton Budget Model economists estimated more than $175 billion in U.S. tariff collections are subject to potential refunds.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the issue of tariff refunds would be addressed by the lower courts.

(This story has been corrected to remove the line saying White House did not comment in paragraph 5)

Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Nia Williams

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

President Donald Trump will deliver his fourth State of the Union address of his presidential tenure Tuesday night, which will include guests ranging from conservative speaker Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika, to the parents of the National Guard member fatally shot on the streets of Washington, D.C., in November 2025.

Trump will take the dais at 9 p.m. EST Tuesday, when he is expected to deliver a data-heavy speech focused on the economy and his administration’s wins to lower cost-of-living woes.

He will be joined by special guests who will help illustrate how his policies have delivered real savings to everyday Americans, those who have been the victims of crimes and tragedy and those embodying American triumph.

Among top names invited to the address are Erika Kirk, who is now leading conservative group Turning Point USA after husband Charlie Kirk, the group’s co-founder and executive director, was assassinated in September 2025 while touring college campuses.

Trump’s speech will include mentions of the U.S.’ “tremendous revival of faith, Christianity and belief in God in our country” since Kirk’s death, The Daily Wire reported.

The U.S. men’s hockey team is also traveling to the speech after winning gold at the Olympics by defeating Canada 2–1. The team traveled on a blue and white Air Force jet from Miami to the nation’s capital Tuesday.

Everyday Americans also will play a large role in Trump’s speech, with the president inviting women such as Catherine Rayner of Norfolk, Virginia. Rayner and her husband have been navigating fertility complications and in vitro fertilization for five years.

Rayner became the first patient of TrumpRx.gov, a government-run portal designed to steer consumers toward lower-cost prescription drugs offered by manufacturers, earlier in February when it rolled out and saw her pharmaceutical bills drop from about $4,000 to $500, Fox News Digital previously reported.

The president also invited Pennsylvania mom Megan Hemhouser, who homeschools her two children and also works as a waitress in the evenings. Her husband is a heavy machinery operator, and the family is showcasing how the president’s “no tax on tips” and “no tax on overtime” policies have benefited everyday families. The Hemhousers have benefited from a $5,000 increase in take-home pay under Trump’s tax plans included in the one “big beautiful bill.”

Trump also invited the parents of Sarah Beckstrom, the 20-year-old National Guard member who was killed in Washington, D.C., ahead of Thanksgiving 2025.

Dalilah Coleman, 7, will also attend the speech, a White House official confirmed to Fox. Coleman was left seriously injured by a California car crash involving an illegal immigrant truck driver in 2024.

First lady Melania Trump invited guests who the White House said reflect on her “Be Best, Fostering the Future” push, including Sierra Burns, a participant in her Foster Youth to Independence Program, and Everest Nevraumont, a 10-year-old student at an AI-focused private school,Alpha School, an AI advocate and a TedX speaker.

The pair will join the first lady for the 2026 State of the Union, spotlighting her focus on expanding opportunity through education and technology, according to the White House’s website.

Trump additionally invited the U.S. women’s hockey team to the speech after their gold win over Canada, but the team declined due to the timing of the speech.

Trump’s speech is expected to focus on economic wins under his leadership, while celebrating the nation’s landmark 250th anniversary of independence.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital ahead of the speech, “President Trump’s State of the Union Address will celebrate 250 glorious years of our nation’s independence and excellence, highlighting incredible stories of American heroes throughout the speech.”

Fox News’ Pat Ward contributed to this report.

Close friend of U.S. citizen killed by ICE agent in Texas disputed official account of shooting

February 24, 2026 / 3:51 PM EST / CBS News

The close friend of a 23-year-old American citizen and Texas resident who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last year disputed officials’ account of the fatal shooting in a declaration he dictated to the slain man’s lawyers.

Ruben Ray Martinez died in March 2025 after being shot in South Padre Island, Texas. While the fatal shooting was reported at the time by local news outlets, the fact that an ICE agent was the one who shot and killed Martinez was not revealed until last week, roughly 11 months later.

In an official statement and internal report, Department of Homeland Security officials said an ICE agent fired

Anthropic digs in heels in dispute with Pentagon, source says

February 24, 2026 8:20 PM UTC / Reuters

The Pentagon is seen from the air in Washington, U.S., March 3, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts [Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab]

• Summary
• Companies

• Anthropic has refused to ease military usage restrictions, source says
• Pentagon threatens to invoke Defense Production Act
• Pentagon negotiating AI contracts with multiple LLM providers

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence lab Anthropic has no intention of easing its usage restrictions for military purposes, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, adding talks continue after a meeting to discuss its future with the Pentagon.

The meeting between Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was scheduled to hash out a months-long dispute. The AI startup has refused to remove safeguards that would prevent its technology from being used to target weapons autonomously and conduct U.S. domestic surveillance.

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Pentagon officials have argued the government should only be required to comply with U.S. law.

During the meeting, Hegseth delivered an ultimatum to Anthropic: get on board or the government would take drastic action, people familiar with the matter said. The options included labeling Anthropic as a supply-chain risk or have the Pentagon invoke a law, the Defense Production Act, that would force Anthropic to change its rules, the people said.

The government gave Anthropic until Friday at 5 p.m. to respond, according to a senior Pentagon official with knowledge of the matter.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a comment request. An Anthropic spokesperson said Tuesday’s meeting “continued good-faith conversations about our usage policy to ensure Anthropic can continue to support the government’s national security mission in line with what our models can reliably and responsibly do.”

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The Pentagon has been negotiating AI contracts with multiple large language model, or LLM, providers, including Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, xAI and OpenAI, that are set to shape the future of military use of artificial intelligence for battlefield applications, spanning autonomous drone swarms, robots and cyber attacks.

Until recently, Anthropic was the only LLM provider on classified networks. This week, the Pentagon announced it had reached an agreement with xAI to deploy it across classified networks. Reuters has previously reported that it plans to move all AI companies to classified networks.

The Pentagon’s fight with Anthropic reached a fever pitch earlier this month when it grew concerned that the company had asked questions about how its AI products were used during the Venezuela military raid that captured President Nicolas Maduro.

During the meeting with Hegseth, Amodei said Anthropic did not raise concerns to Palantir or the Pentagon about whether the company’s AI products were used during the Venezuela raid, the source said. Amodei also said the safeguards currently in place would not pose a problem to the Defense Department’s current operations.

Hegseth said the Pentagon would either invoke the Defense Production Act to compel Anthropic to comply with its demands, or deem the company a supply chain risk, a determination typically imposed on companies from foreign adversaries. This could upend Anthropic’s business with other companies that do business with the U.S. government.

“This specific scenario is unprecedented and will almost certainly trigger a raft of downstream litigation if the Administration takes adverse action against Anthropic here,

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