The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a previous order on Wednesday that had grounded all flights departing El Paso International Airport in Texas for ten days due to “special security reasons.” The White House told The Daily Wire shortly after the reversal that the move was related to drug cartels. “Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace. The Department of War took action to disable the drones,” the White House said. “The FAA and DOW have determined there is no threat to commercial travel.” NEW: Administration official tells @realDailyWire that the FAA temporarily grounded all flights over El Paso because “Mexican cartel drones breached US airspace.” “The Department of War took action to disable the drones,” the official said. “The FAA and DOW have determined there… — Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) February 11, 2026 Similar restrictions were put in place for Santa Teresa, New Mexico, about 15 miles away from El Paso. El Paso, which borders Mexico, is a city of around 678,000 people.  “The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal,” the FAA announced Wednesday morning, just a few hours after announcing flights would be grounded for ten days. The airport handles up to 100 flights daily. The notice from the FAA put in place flight restrictions for a 10-mile radius around El Paso. Planes flying above 18,000 feet would have been allowed to fly over, but the limitations did not extend into Mexican airspace.  After the initial grounding was announced, Democrat Rep. Veronica Escobar, whose district includes El Paso, called for the FAA to lift the restrictions.  “The highly consequential decision by FAA to shut down the El Paso Airport for 10 days is unprecedented and has resulted in significant concern within the community,” she said. “From what my office and I have been able to gather overnight and early this morning there is no immediate threat to the community or surrounding areas.” After the restrictions were lifted, Escobar said there were no safety concerns. “The FAA is rightfully lifting the Temporary Restricted Airspace. I will again reiterate there is no threat to El Paso or the surrounding areas,” she said. State Senator Cesar Blanco, a Democrat, said his office was contacting multiple agencies to understand the justification for the temporary grounding.  “Actions like this are taken out of an abundance of caution to protect our community. I encourage everyone to remain calm and patient as we await further information. We will share updates as they become available,” he said.   

Ten people are dead, and at least 25 more were injured after a shooter who was reportedly wearing a dress opened fire at a rural Canadian school on Tuesday.  The mass shooting took place at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in northeastern British Columbia, serving students in grades 7 through 12, where seven people were killed. The shooter then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Investigators said they found two other people dead at a nearby home and believe it was connected to the school attack. Police have not yet released the attacker’s identity, but described the shooter as a “gun person.” Authorities initially described the suspect as a person with brown hair and wearing a dress.  Six of the victims died at the school, while a seventh died while being transported to the hospital. Two others were airlifted with serious injuries, while 25 others were being treated for minor injuries.  The investigation into the shooting is being handled by the Major Crime Division of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Law enforcement said they were checking other locations for any additional victims.  “This was a rapidly evolving and dynamic situation, and the swift cooperation from the school, first responders, and the community played a critical role in our response,” North District Commander Ken Floyd said. “Our thoughts are with the families, loved ones, and all those impacted by this tragic incident. This has been an incredibly difficult and emotional day for our community, and we are grateful for the cooperation shown as officers continue their work to advance the investigation.” Floyd said later that police had no indication of motive, saying he thought investigators would “struggle to determine the ‘why’, but we will try our best to determine what transpired.” The attack was one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history.  “My prayers and deepest condolences are with the families and friends who have lost loved ones to these horrific acts of violence,” said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “I join Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly today, and in gratitude for the courage and selflessness of the first responders who risked their lives to protect their fellow citizens.” Tumbler Ridge is a city of around 2400 people, and fewer than 200 students were enrolled at the school. “I will know every victim. I’ve been here 19 years, and we’re a small community,” Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka told CBC. “I don’t call them residents. I call them family.”

The FBI releases video footage from Nancy Guthrie’s front door, Democrats spar with Trump’s top immigration chiefs on Capitol Hill, and the Epstein files spark a firestorm in the U.K. It’s Wednesday, February 11, 2026, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below: Nancy Guthrie Person Of Interest Detained And Released The FBI provided a breakthrough on Tuesday, releasing video footage of a potential suspect in the case of Nancy Guthrie before authorities detained a man as a person of interest outside Tucson on Tuesday night. The man was later released from custody. The photos showed a frightening scene: a masked man approaching Guthrie’s front door and obscuring her Nest camera. The man also appears to be carrying a gun. FBI Director Kash Patel then released 30 seconds of video. The man walks up to the doorbell camera, trying to cover the lens, which doesn’t work. He goes back towards the archway in front of Guthrie’s house, picks up some vegetation, and tries to cover up the camera with it again.  Immigration Officials Trade Barbs With Democrats A combative hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday had Democrats sparring with the Trump administration’s top immigration chiefs. Democrats focused fire on the Trump immigration and deportation agenda. The acting ICE director was asked to resign multiple times and, unsurprisingly, said no, defending the officers and agents he leads. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) told acting ICE Director Todd Lyons that Democrats calling ICE the “Gestapo” and “secret police” is justified because it is what they are seeing. “People are simply making valid observations about your tactics, which are un-American and outright fascist,” Goldman said. Lyons told Goldman to go to the Holocaust Museum because he was wrong to make the comparison. The dispute between immigration officials and Democratic lawmakers continued. The U.K.’s Epstein Crisis The release of the Jeffrey Epstein files has sparked a firestorm over in the U.K., where British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is embroiled in a scandal involving their ambassador to the U.S., while King Charles says he’s ready to support the British police looking into his brother Andrew. The Royal Family in general has been very quiet on the Epstein scandal, even though the king’s brother, Andrew, until recently Prince Andrew, is so closely related to the Epstein Island events. In politics, the U.K. elected a Labour government about 20 months ago with Sir Keir Starmer as the leader. Now, as part of that administration, one of the most significant positions is the British ambassador to America. Lord Peter Mandelson was given that job, a shock to many, given the upcoming Epstein files. The scandal erupted anew with the latest Justice Department release of files, and Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, resigned over the weekend because of Mandelson’s appointment.

The New York Times editorial board expressed concern this week that the massive marijuana craze in America might have some major side effects — besides drowsiness and the munchies. The Times editorial board, which dedicated a series of articles to pushing for marijuana legalization over 10 years ago, admitted on Monday that some of its arguments for legalized weed have been proven wrong after states began allowing recreational and medicinal marijuana use. It seems that many talking points from the pro-marijuana legalization side are falling apart as research uncovers some brutal truths about America’s pot craze. “In our editorials, we described marijuana addiction and dependence as ‘relatively minor problems.’ Many advocates went further and claimed that marijuana was a harmless drug that might even bring net health benefits. They also said that legalization might not lead to greater use,” the Times editorial board wrote. “It is now clear that many of these predictions were wrong. Legalization has led to much more use. Surveys suggest that about 18 million people in the United States have used marijuana almost daily (or about five times a week) in recent years. That was up from around six million in 2012 and less than one million in 1992. More Americans now use marijuana daily than alcohol.” Later, the editorial board added, “The unfortunate truth is that the loosening of marijuana policies — especially the decision to legalize pot without adequately regulating it — has led to worse outcomes than many Americans expected. It is time to acknowledge reality and change course.” It’s rare for the Times to admit to so clearly pushing a narrative that turned out to be wrong. So, if America’s pot problem is becoming so evident that even the legacy media is pumping the brakes, how bad is it? Addiction and other health issues stemming from marijuana use have spiked in the past decade as more states hopped on the pot bandwagon. As the Times pointed out, a large percentage of marijuana users aren’t just smoking a joint or two on the weekend; they’re consuming marijuana on a daily basis. According to research from Yale Medicine, a staggering 30% of cannabis users “meet the criteria for addiction.” This heavy reliance on marijuana comes with multiple potential health risks, including cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, which gives users intense stomach pain and can cause vomiting. At least one recent study has also linked cannabis use to schizophrenia. The study, published in “Psychological Medicine,” found that up to 30% of schizophrenia cases in young men can be linked to cannabis use disorder. A study conducted by UC San Diego School of Medicine and the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, meanwhile, found that employees who use cannabis regularly were more likely to miss work. The advocacy group Smart Approaches to Marijuana has also pointed to research showing that driving fatalities involving marijuana skyrocketed between 2000 and 2018. Kevin Sabet, the president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, told The Daily Wire that legalization leading to increases in addiction was “absolutely predictable.” “Despite the promises of the legalizers, federal data show that (just as the Times notes) legalization drives use, including youth use increases,” Sabet said. “This is true in the national aggregate and in individual state data. It’s not rocket science: If you make a powerful addictive drug easier to access (and send the signal that it’s OK to use in the process), more people are going to use it. That is what I and many other people who were aware of the danger warned would happen and it is precisely what did happen.” Now that nearly half the country has legalized marijuana in some or all forms, Sabet said the best path forward is for “states to focus on making sure that people, and above all young people, know how dangerous and destructive marijuana is: a permanent investment in infrastructure meant to promote prevention and awareness.” “And it’s beyond important to remember here what the Times piece truly reveals,” he added. “Namely, that while people may disagree about policies and execution, they are now all agreed on the same set of facts. And those facts show beyond doubt that marijuana is dangerous, addictive, and creating havoc across America.” The data pointing to some of these issues was available when the Times editorial board began publishing its series arguing for federal legalization. In a 2014 paper, researchers Hefei Wen, Jason M. Hockenberry, and Janet R. Cummings found that marijuana legalization led to an increase in marijuana abuse and dependence. The 2014 paper also found that as legalization surged, so did the rate at which adolescents experimented with the drug. Ironically, the Times editorial board’s shift on marijuana coincides with the federal government in the process of reforming how it regulates the drug. In December, President Donald Trump signed an order to open the door to reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III drug, meaning marijuana would be in the same category as drugs that have “a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.” For decades, the U.S. government has categorized marijuana as a Schedule I substance, which is defined as “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” The U.S. government’s potential reclassification would not legalize marijuana at the federal level, but it could reduce the scale of marijuana-related offenses. As the president was considering the marijuana reclassification last year, nearly 50 organizations signed a letter urging Trump to keep marijuana classified as a Schedule I drug, arguing that marijuana “fits squarely” in the definition of a Schedule I drug, “a fact acknowledged in every scheduling review prior to 2023.”

WASHINGTON—When President Donald Trump heads to Beijing this spring, he’ll have the opportunity to do what pretty much no one else in the world can: convince Chinese President Xi Jinping to free Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy newspaper publisher and media tycoon imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party. The 78-year-old Lai was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison under a national security law used by the Chinese Communist Party to crack down on dissenters. At his age, and with his declining health, the CCP’s sentence means he’ll die in prison. Lai is a Chinese-born British citizen who published “Apple Daily” in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021. Chinese authorities arrested top executives at the publication and froze its assets in 2021, and, after a two-year trial and five-year detention, Lai was convicted in December 2025 of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and publish seditious material. Authorities paint him as “the mastermind and behind-the-scenes manipulator,” celebrating the 20-year-sentence. His daughter, who advocates on her father’s behalf in the United States, describes him very differently. In an interview with The Daily Wire, Claire Lai praised her father’s courage in the face of oppression. She shared that he mails her letters from prison — letters that include prayers of deep faith and acceptance, offering his sufferings up to Jesus Christ and encouraging his fellow prisoners to do the same. “From the very first day I went to visit him, I remember I was very emotional,” Claire told The Daily Wire. Her father comforted her, she says, by telling her that “he’s in God’s good hands, and he’ll find ways to serve him from behind bars.”  “I know that God will continue to give him the strength to persevere in faith,” she said. “We need to persevere in fighting for his freedom.” Claire Lai with her father Jimmy Lai. Trump has said that he will do everything he can to save Lai. He will head to Beijing in April, POLITICO reports (though the White House says dates have not yet been finalized), where Lai’s family hopes the president will make the case for their father’s freedom. “I feel so badly,” Trump said in December after Lai’s conviction. “I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release. He’s not well. He’s an older man and he’s not well, so I did put that request out. We’ll see what happens.” On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the Hong Kong High Court’s decision to sentence Lai to 20 years, calling it “an unjust and tragic conclusion to this case.” Rubio urged the authorities to grant Lai humanitarian parole, arguing that Lai and his family “have suffered enough.” “It shows the world that Beijing will go to extraordinary lengths to silence those who advocate fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, casting aside the international commitments Beijing made in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration,” Rubio said. Asked by The Daily Wire about Lai’s fate during the White House press briefing Tuesday, Karoline Leavitt suggested that the president may advocate for Lai in April. “This is something I’ve heard the President advocate for, both publicly and privately,” she told The Daily Wire. “I had the honor of being in that meeting with President Trump and President Xi in South Korea that took place, and this was brought up by the President himself. It is important to him, and he looks forward to visiting China in April.” Lai’s daughter is incredibly grateful for the strong American interest in her father’s plight and hopeful that American intervention might save her father. “We are extremely grateful,” she said, “to [Trump] and to his administration, [that has] a proven track record of freeing those [who] were unjustly detained abroad and doing so with a high degree of success. We are just hopeful that our father will be one of them.”  Lai’s friends and family have highlighted his plight for years. Claire’s brother Sebastian Lai lives in London, where he leads the international campaign to free his father. Her mother remains in China and was present at Jimmy’s sentencing on Monday. In interviews, they describe how he was arrested and detained, and forced to spend more than 1,800 days in solitary confinement. China’s 2020 National Security Law is so vaguely worded and so arbitrarily applied that Claire Lai knows she could face retribution for speaking out in her father’s defense while in China. She has lived in the United Kingdom and the United States for the past few years as she begs the world to help save her father. She takes great solace in her Catholic faith, which she shares with both her mother and her father. Jimmy Lai is a Catholic convert with a deep love for Jesus Christ. His daughter shares that he used to draw pictures of Jesus Christ on the cross for other prisoners until he was told by his prison guards that he was no longer permitted to do so. From prison, he writes to his daughter, offering her prayers of comfort and solace. “The day that [British Prime Minister Keir Starmer] flew to China, I was feeling quite uneasy,” she reflected to The Daily Wire, recalling the day that Starmer went to China to meet with President Xi. She went to mass at Immaculate Conception Church, a parish in Washington D.C., and prayed for the strength to accept whatever happened to her father.  “A few days later I got a letter from Dad,” she shared, “and in his letters he sends me his prayers and he basically echoed what I was feeling in that moment…he was in our Lord’s good hands.”  “I think that that’s what has seen him through the last few years,” she said. “And at times it’s really just our good Lord which has seen him through the bad days.”  Claire Lai shared copies of her father’s prayers exclusively with The Daily Wire, prayers in which Jimmy Lai surrenders his future to Jesus Christ, asking Jesus Christ to “work in me and through me.” You are the all-seeing, all-knowing God. Your eyes, oh Lord, are in every place…You are present and conscious of all I think, every deed or act, however slight, every word, however quick…every thought of my heart, however secret, however momentary. However forgotten, you see, O Lord, you see and note down… “Whither shall I go from your Spirit?” (Ps 139:7) I am in your hands, O Lord, absolutely. In another prayer, Jimmy Lai acknowledges the longevity of his imprisonment thus far, offering his sickness and confusion up for “some great end which is quite beyond us” and arguing that Jesus Christ “does nothing in vain.” We are all created to His glory. We are created to do His will. Therefore: I will trust him…if I am sick; my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if in sorrow, my sorrow may serve him. My sickness or my perplexity or my sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end which is beyond us. He does nothing in vain. Lord, deign to fulfill your high purposes in me whatever they may be. Work in me and through me. Cheers, Dad. And in yet another letter, he tells his daughter that his suffering over the past few years has brought him closer to God. I am actually most grateful for God to have put me through this suffering in order for me to get closer to His presence. What a joy and treasure for this life and next. God’s action confounds us but always turns out to be marvellous for us. Lai’s daughter is also deeply religious, mentioning multiple Catholic saints during her conversation with The Daily Wire, including Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest imprisoned by Nazis in Auschwitz who offered to die in the place of another prisoner. When she is particularly worried about her father, she shared, she goes to mass in the evenings and receives the Eucharist, which is a huge source of comfort to her. “In that moment I know what Maximilian Kolbe meant,” she said, quoting the Catholic martyr, who is remembered saying: “If angels would be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion.” “It’s exactly what I needed, and I think it was our good Lord giving me comfort. I don’t think anyone can convince me otherwise. I know he’s giving my father strength to persist in faith.” For Catholics, receiving the Eucharist at Mass is of pivotal importance, since Catholics believe that receiving the Eucharist allows the faithful to be closely united with Jesus Christ himself. But for about two and a half years, Claire says, her father was denied the Eucharist in prison. The Chinese government told them that he was receiving the Eucharist regularly, but she insists they were lying. “I counted,” she said. “He received it, in 2.5 years, a total of 11 times. That is not regular.”  Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy supporter Jimmy Lai attends a rally near the government headquarters in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014.  (Photo by ALEX OGLE/AFP via Getty Images) Outside pressure occasionally leads to better treatment for her father, but over the past five years, his treatment has gone from bad to worse. She speaks to him through physical letters that they mail to each other. She writes to him about once a week, but often doesn’t receive his responses for up to a month as they are processed. His health is failing him. He has been diabetic for over 30 years, and throughout his imprisonment, Claire and the rest of his family have watched Jimmy’s pre-existing health conditions worsen due to a lack of care. She says his blood sugar is checked once every three weeks, and he’s developed new health conditions — heart issues, blood pressure problems, an enlarged spleen, and more. The United Kingdom and the United Nations have requested that the Chinese government send an independent consultant in to check on him, she says, but that has been rejected. “We are extremely worried for his health and the conditions in which he’s kept,” she said. “His body is failing, but he is such a spirited man.”  Claire Lai with her parents. Jimmy Lai is imprisoned with a number of other political prisoners in Hong Kong, his daughter shared. Many of them are not Catholic or even Christian, and Jimmy has sought to convert his fellow prisoners by drawing the crucifixion for them. “On the other side, he would write instructions on how to pray, sometimes what to read, and sometimes he would ask me to get certain books, or get the Bishop Barron’s ‘Word on Fire’ for them,” she explained, referring to the work of Bishop Robert Barron.  “One day, the guards told him that he has to stop sending it to prisoners because some people have decided to convert as a result,” she said sadly.  There was one agnostic prisoner, imprisoned a few months after her father, who was struggling intensely with his new life in prison. His distress finally prompted him to ask Jimmy for help learning how to pray, she said, and the two men began exchanging letters back and forth. Her father drew a picture of Jesus Christ crucified for the agnostic prisoner, telling him, according to his daughter, that “when the suffering gets too much for you, just pretend like you’re hiding under his feet, and offering your suffering up to him.”  “That would make it all better,” Claire says, “because…if you’re looking for God’s grace, you really don’t have to look far.”  The other prisoner wasn’t immediately convinced. But one day, Claire says, her father got a letter from the prisoner, saying: “I know what you mean now.” “That really touched me,” she said. “I have always been Catholic, but if I was agnostic and I was going through a whole different, and intense suffering, I’m not sure if I could have done that, but he did.” That is the legacy Jimmy Lai will be remembered for in his Hong Kong prison, by his family, and by his many supporters throughout the world: a man who prayed through his suffering and taught others to pray with him. His daughter is still hopeful that he will be freed. Yet, at the same time, she knows that the grief-stricken past few years have taught her exactly what he wished. “At the start of his imprisonment he said all he wanted was for us, his children, to see the reality of the world through the grace and mercy of God,” she said. “And I am reminded that is what he always did.”