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Officials ordered evacuations near Howardwick as the 8 Ball fire burned roughly 9,000 acres with about 25% containment; authorities said an evening update on closures and conditions was expected.

A coalition of health and environmental groups sued the EPA after it rescinded the 2009 endangerment finding; the suit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Christy Carlson Romano said a recent cancer screening returned concerning results and she is scheduled for a PET scan later this week.

NASA's Mars Global Localization allowed Perseverance to determine its position to within about 25 centimeters on Feb. 2, 2026, by matching a 360-degree navcam orthomosaic to Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter imagery.

NASA's Perseverance rover uses a new Mars Global Localization algorithm to locate itself on Mars autonomously to about 10 inches (25 cm); the capability was first used in routine operations on Feb. 2 and again on Feb. 16.

Sysco is launching a Home Grown by Sysco pilot on Feb. 24 that will identify about 10,000 locally sourced products in three U.S. regions and two Canadian sites, and the company plans to expand the program across the United States within 12 months.

NASA reports that six planets — Mercury, Venus, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter — form a visible alignment most clearly shortly after sunset on Feb. 28, though Uranus and Neptune generally require optical aids and some planets will sit low near the horizon.

Strong winds drove the Ranger Road wildfire across the Oklahoma Panhandle into southwest Kansas, burning about 145,000 acres and injuring multiple firefighters; evacuations were ordered in several communities.

Researchers reported hundreds of new Asgard microbes and filmed live Asgard cells crawling, offering genetic and behavioral clues to how complex eukaryotic cells evolved.

Rafael Devers is in his first spring training with the San Francisco Giants and said Boston is in the past; he is slated as the team's primary first baseman and has shown power during workouts.

Lexicon Bank announced that Zach Balmer was named one of four Coleman SBA Business Development Officers of the Year in recognition of his SBA lending and business development work; he will be honored at the Coleman awards ceremony on March 19 in Miami.

The Dog Aging Project has enrolled over 50,000 dogs to collect health, lifestyle and genomic data, and researchers are testing low-dose rapamycin to study effects on cellular aging.

A late-stage trial of 274 patients reported that 27.1% receiving Taltz plus Zepbound achieved complete skin clearance and at least 10% weight loss at 36 weeks, compared with 5.8% on Taltz alone.

The FDA will advance its review of Moderna’s previously rejected flu vaccine after the company met with regulators and amended its application. Moderna proposes full approval for ages 50–64 and accelerated approval for those 65 and older with a required additional study in older adults.

Teoscar Hernández lost 12 pounds while training in Tampa with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and will move back to left field as he pursues a Gold Glove.

NASA and SpaceX moved the Crew-12 launch to Feb. 12 pending weather, which would restore the ISS to seven crew after it has operated with three since mid-January.

Chicago’s City Council unanimously codified the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism after student-led lobbying, while New York City recently reversed its prior adoption under Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

A Reddit user in New Jersey said they mistook a palm-sized tortoiseshell kitten for a black sock on a road; the post on r/IllegallySmolCats gained more than 14,000 upvotes and the poster said the kitten was later adopted by their aunt and named Harley.

Alysa Liu says she and her father were targeted in an alleged Chinese spy operation before the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and U.S. authorities provided protection.

Childcaring Inc. awarded Building Blocks Learning Center a $100,000 capacity-building grant to expand classrooms, add child care slots, improve facilities and strengthen staffing supports; the funds were provided through Wood County’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act relief funds.

Emma Heming Willis says she is caring for her husband, Bruce Willis, who has frontotemporal dementia nearly three years after his diagnosis, and she highlights the heavy unpaid, often unseen labor of dementia caregiving.

This edition of The Stroller lists community events across the Alle-Kiski Valley for Feb. 18, 2026, including a drive-thru dinner at Peoples Library in New Kensington and volunteer needs such as Vandergrift Meals On Wheels seeking drivers and delivery helpers.

The article reports that Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. died at age 84 during Black History Month. The author describes how Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign and long activism profoundly influenced his life while also noting controversies and later health decline.

Prince William joined a BBC Radio 1 panel on male suicide and described a personal 'toolkit' he builds to manage mental health, urging people to learn to love and understand themselves.

A Guttmacher Institute report says federal funding freezes and new state restrictions likely reduced the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics over a 21-month period ending in December, and physical clinics still provide about 80% of abortions in states without bans.

Red Barn was a fast-food chain with seven Erie County locations, known for barn-shaped buildings and community fundraising; most local outlets closed in the early 1980s.

Adaptive Sports Connection held its 27th annual Boundless Hopes on the Slopes at Snow Trails in Mansfield, Ohio, offering free adaptive skiing and snowboarding to about 60 veterans and their families; organizers and participants said the event supported community and improved well‑being.

The Port Townsend Food Co-op awarded $83,844 from its Farmer Fund to 13 Jefferson County farms, funded in part by round-up donations at the register; grants will support equipment, infrastructure and regenerative food-system projects.

Linus Torvalds and early contributors describe how Linux grew from a 1991 solo kernel project into a broader community effort, aided by early mirrors, a community-funded hardware upgrade, and the decision to use the GNU GPL.

Montreal welcomed 11.8 million visitors in 2025, a 7.3% increase driven by a rise in domestic travel and a 17% increase from Atlantic Canada.