Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Good Morning! On this day in 1801, the House of Representatives broke a tie in the Electoral College, electing Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson as the third president of the United States after he and his running mate, Aaron Burr, tied with 73 electoral votes each.

Turns out that if you want to win a stuffed toy in a claw machine, the easy way is to climb in. A 2-year-old in Missouri proved it, squeezing inside in 15 seconds and spending 20 minutes happily playing with the toys. More below.

On today’s episode of The Flyover Podcast, Ayla Brown reports on the latest developments in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case. What have authorities released so far, and what questions still remain? Plus, President Trump is now weighing in on the Guthrie case with a big announcement. Tune in here for the latest news.

Today’s sponsor, EnergyX, is giving investors the opportunity to buy private shares in its fast-growing lithium company as demand surges and it prepares for large-scale U.S. production.

Amazon Cuts Ties with Surveillance Firm

Amazon’s Ring ended its partnership with law-enforcement technology company Flock Safety after its Super Bowl ad sparked privacy concerns.

The ad showcased Ring’s “Search Party” feature, which activates neighboring cameras to scan for a missing pet using AI. You can see the ad here.

Critics said the technology could easily be turned on people, destroying privacy outside the home, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation labeled it a surveillance nightmare.

Ring says the Flock deal, which would’ve let owners share their footage with law enforcement, never went live, and no customer videos were ever shared.

Olympic Medals: Payouts by Country

Olympic cash bonuses vary wildly from country to country, with Singapore topping the list by doling out $792,000 for an individual gold medal, $395,000 for silver, and $197,000 for bronze, while countries like New Zealand, Canada, and Australia pay next to nothing

Team USA sits slightly below the middle of the pack, paying $37,500 for gold. That’s the 15th-highest among the 25 countries surveyed.

Some countries take a different approach to sweeten the deal. In addition to cash, Poland awards its Olympians a two-room apartment, jewelry, and a Toyota Corolla for winning gold.

Other countries, like Great Britain, Sweden, and Norway, don’t pay their medalists at all.

Oscar-winning Actor Robert Duvall Dies at 95

Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor whose seven-decade career produced some of the most iconic performances in American cinema, died Sunday at his Virginia home. He was 95.

Duvall earned seven Academy Award nominations and won Best Actor for 1983’s Tender Mercies.

He’s best remembered as Gus McCrae in Lonesome Dove, the stoic Corleone consigliere Tom Hagen in The Godfather, the surf-obsessed Lt. Col. Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, and the fiery preacher in The Apostle, a passion project he wrote, directed, and financed himself.

His wife, Luciana, said he passed peacefully at home. The family asked fans to honor his memory by watching a great film or telling a good story with friends. See his life in photos.

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The following stories are featured exclusively on The Flyover Podcast—a daily show that gives you the most important headlines in under 15 minutes. Clicking the link will take you directly to these stories:

➤ Here’s the latest update on the Nancy Guthrie investigation, including President Trump’s statement. (Hear Story)

➤ California’s gasoline crunch has forced the state to import gasoline from the Bahamas. (Hear Why)

➤ A wounded seabird showed up at an emergency room, refusing to leave until it got help. (Listen Now)

➤ White House border czar Tom Homan said a “small” security force will remain in Minnesota for at least a short period of time after announcing last week that Trump administration immigration agents were ending their surge in the state. (More)

➤ Geneva is hosting back-to-back high-stakes negotiations today, with U.S.-Iran nuclear talks and Russia-Ukraine-U.S. peace talks unfolding one after the other in the Swiss city. President Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are leading the American side on both tracks. (More)

➤ The Pentagon is considering ending its relationship with artificial intelligence company Anthropic over the AI firm’s insistence on maintaining limitations on how the military uses its models. (More)

➤ Two Washington, D.C., golfers are suing the Trump administration over its plan to take over and redevelop the District of Columbia’s public golf system to potentially convert it into an 18-hole facility capable of hosting major championships. (More)

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The Lithium Boom is Heating Up

Thanks to growing demand, lithium stock prices grew 2X+ from June 2025 to January 2026. $ALB climbed as high as 227%. $LAC hit 151%. $SQM, 159%.

But the real winner may be a stock not listed on public exchanges, EnergyX.

This $1B unicorn’s patented technology can recover 3X more lithium than traditional methods. That’s earned investment from leaders like General Motors. Now they’re preparing for commercial production just as experts project 5X demand growth by 2040.

They’ve announced what could be one of the largest lithium production facilities in the US and have rights to approximately 150,000 lithium-rich acres across North and South America.

Unlike public stocks, you can buy private EnergyX shares alongside 40,000+ everyday people. Invest for $11/share before the Feb. 26 deadline.

➤ The Miami Dolphins released a pair of former Pro Bowlers yesterday—edge rusher Bradley Chubb and wide receiver Tyreek Hill—as the team continues to shed salary ahead of the 2026 season. (More)

➤ Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang was fired for cause after saying his own players “don’t deserve” to play for the school. “These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform,” Tang said in the public remarks that got him fired, “There will be very few of them in it next year.” (More)

➤ LA Kings forward Kevin Fiala underwent successful surgery after breaking his leg during the Olympics. He’ll miss the rest of the NHL regular season. (More)

➤ Men’s Basketball AP Poll: The Michigan Wolverines displaced Arizona as the No. 1 team in the country this week, followed by Houston at No. 2 and Duke at No. 3. (See Full Poll)

➤ Yesterday’s Results: NCAAM | NCAAW | NCAAB | NCAASB | Soccer

2026 Winter Olympics is brought to you by:

The USA women’s hockey team beat Sweden 5-0 to advance to the gold medal match on Thursday. They’ve now logged five consecutive shutouts and hold a 31-1 scoring margin through the tournament so far. (See Highlights)

U.S. figure skater Ilia “Quad God” Malinin called his free skate meltdown “inevitable” on social media, citing “endless insurmountable pressure” as reasons for his failure on Friday night. (More)

Sarah Schleper, 46, and Lasse Gaxiola, 18, both raced for Mexico in alpine skiing, becoming the first mother-son duo to compete in the same Winter Games. (Watch Video)

American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor won her first gold in the women’s monobob in her fifth Olympic Games. (More)

Yesterday’s Results: Daily Events | Global Medal Count

Yesterday’s U.S. Medal Count: 🥇6 | 🥈8 | 🥉5

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➤ The U.S. stock market was closed on Monday for Presidents Day. It will reopen this morning. (More)

➤ A widespread outage hit X early Monday, leaving over 40,000 users unable to access the social media platform globally, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Service was mostly restored within several hours. (More)

➤ Warner Bros. Discovery’s board is reportedly considering reopening sales talks with Paramount Skydance after receiving an amended offer with sweetened terms. It’s the first time the board has officially weighed Paramount’s offer against the current deal on the table with Netflix. (More)

➤ CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is weighing a fresh round of layoffs that could total at least 15% of current staff, beginning early in March. (More)

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➤ No. 1 Hot Stock to Watch Today. This rapidly growing solar-powered drone stock is pushing the frontier of AI-driven autonomy. It was also recently added to the S&P Total Market Index and received a 5/5 technical rating. (See full details)

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Morgan Stanley: This Precious Metal Shortage Could Send Prices Surging

From AI data centers to electric vehicles, energy storage demand is exploding, and lithium sits at the center of it all. Morgan Stanley estimates the market will face an 80,000-ton lithium shortfall this year alone.

This is just the start too. Experts project lithium demand to grow 5X by 2040. Basic economics tells the story from there: when supply can’t keep up, prices rise. Fast.

Great timing for EnergyX. Their patented tech can recover 3X more lithium than traditional methods in a fraction of the time. Their success has earned them a $1B valuation and investment from major players like General Motors and POSCO.

This isn’t lab-stage tech, either. They’re getting ready for commercial production now, with rights to 150,000 acres of lithium-rich land across North and South America. In Chile alone, those resources represent up to 9.8 million tons of lithium, a potential $1.1B+ annual revenue opportunity at projected prices.

Now you can join in their potential at this pivotal moment. Invest in EnergyX for $11/share before their share price increases after 2/26.

Energy Exploration Technologies, Inc. (“EnergyX”) has engaged The Flyover to publish this communication in connection with EnergyX’s ongoing Regulation A offering. The Flyover has been paid in cash and may receive additional compensation. The Flyover and/or its affiliates do not currently hold securities of EnergyX. This compensation and any current or future ownership interest could create a conflict of interest. Please consider this disclosure alongside EnergyX’s offering materials. EnergyX’s Regulation A offering has been qualified by the SEC. Offers and sales may be made only by means of the qualified offering circular. Before investing, carefully review the offering circular, including the risk factors. The offering circular is available at invest.energyx.com/. Comparisons to other companies are for informational purposes only and should not imply similar results. Under Regulation A+, a company has the ability to change its share price by up to 20%, without requalifying the offering with the SEC.

➤ A “ring of fire” annular solar eclipse is occurring today over Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. The moon will cover 96% of the sun for about two minutes, but almost no humans will witness it; only a handful of researchers at remote Antarctic stations are in the path. (More)

➤ Speaking of Antarctica, the continent’s only native insect, a rice-sized midge called Belgica antarctica, is already ingesting microplastics, according to a University of Kentucky-led study. (More)

➤ Northwestern University scientists built an unusually advanced lab-grown model of the human spinal cord and used it to mimic a traumatic injury. When they treated the damaged tissue with a new therapy nicknamed “dancing molecules,” nerve fibers regrew, and scarring dropped, an early step toward repairing paralysis. (More)

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➤ New ‘Invisible Hearing Aid’ Has Audiologists Amazed. Think you know hearing aids? This ‘miracle device’ might surprise you. Most have one processor. Horizon IX has two, letting it separate speech from background noise to deliver crystal-clear conversations (even in loud restaurants). Oh, and they’re so tiny, they’re practically invisible. No wonder more than 540,000 happy customers (and their audiologists) love them. Snag your 45-day no-risk trial today. Discover Clarity

➤ The Winter Olympics are driving a massive tourism boom across northern Italy, with flight bookings to the Milan-Cortina region up more than 160% compared to last winter. (More)

➤ Key West and Destin, Florida, are the most-searched domestic spring break destinations for 2026, according to a new study analyzing Google Trends data across all 50 states. Internationally, Cancún, Mexico, leads, followed by Greece and Belize. (See Destinations)

➤ Happy Mardi Gras! New Orleans caps Carnival season today as the Krewes of Zulu and Rex roll through Uptown. This weekend’s entertainment highlights included Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton. (See Details)

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➤Wrestling star Logan Paul sold a 1998 Japanese Pikachu Illustrator trading card for more than $16.4 million at auction, shattering the previous record for the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction. (More)

➤ A 2-year-old in Missouri climbed into an arcade claw machine in about 15 seconds while his parents watched his brother’s soccer game and spent 20 minutes happily playing with the toys inside. A technician eventually opened it with a key. (Watch Video)

➤ A black cat was unmasked as the serial thief behind a year of missing towels, shoes, and underwear at an elementary school in New Zealand. (Watch Thief)

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➤ Seven Hidden Signs Your Body Is Crying Out for Magnesium. Think your anxiety, muscle tension, and irregular heartbeat are just part of getting older? Think again. Groundbreaking research reveals how a single mineral deficiency could be behind dozens of common complaints after 50. Even more intriguing? Many of the medications commonly prescribed to older adults may be worsening this deficiency. Before you accept another prescription, there’s something crucial you need to know about magnesium. (Learn More)