HOT POINT

Two days after tragedy struck in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range whenat least eight skiers were killed in an avalanche and one remains missing, search teams facing brutal winter conditions and the threat of more avalanches, will not be able to recover the bodies of the victims, officials said Feb. 19.

The skiers were part of a group of 15 guides and clients of a mountain guide company in the Lake Tahoe area. They were backcountry skiing from remote huts in an avalanche-prone area on Feb. 17 when the incident happened. Six people survived and were rescued hours later, and eight people have been located deceased. One was still missing but is presumed dead as of the latest update from authorities on Feb. 18.

It is thedeadliest avalanche in the United Statesin almost 45 years, according to theColorado Avalanche Information Center.

The Nevada County Sheriff's Office said Feb. 19 that "hazardous weather conditions" were preventing the recovery of the victims, and the efforts are expected to stretch into the weekend. Forecasters on Feb. 19 warned ofanother winter stormexpected to bring heavy snow and a heightened avalanche risk. Officials previously said on Feb. 18 that none of the eight bodies were removed from the mountain because it has been too difficult for crews to access them.

"Due to the ongoing challenges of the weather, the avalanche conditions, the effort remains ongoing, as well as our search for the remaining skier," Sheriff Shannan Moon said on Feb. 18.

Visual story:See how six skiers survived the deadly Tahoe avalanche

The region is under a winter storm advisory and an avalanche warning. Another over a foot of snow could fall on Feb. 19, after2 to 4 feet have already fallenin the Lake Tahoe area, according to the National Weather Service office in nearby Reno, Nevada.

"The longer that we continue to have people out there and exposed, the higher chance we put our rescuers in danger," Capt. Rusty Greene of the Nevada County Sheriff's Department said.

Inside the search for missing skiers after California avalanche

Avalanche was the deadliest in decades

The group of 15 skiers included four guides from the Blackbird Mountain Guides company and 11 clients, officials said. They were at the end of a three-day trip to the remote Frog Lake huts, which require miles of skiing, snowboarding or snow shoeing to access. The company said the group was returning to the trailhead at the end of the trip.

The avalanche happened in the Castle Peak area northwest of Lake Tahoe at about 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 17. Six people who survived had to shelter for hours until search and rescue crews could reach them. Two had injuries that weren't life threatening and were taken to hospitals later that evening.

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The surviving group located three of the missing people deceased, and rescuers found another five people deceased. One was still missing, officials said Feb. 18.

It was thedeadliest avalanche since 11 people were killed in 1981while attempting to climb Mount Rainier in Washington state.

Harsh conditions, threat of avalanches as recovery continues

The Feb. 17 avalanche came amid the strongest winter storm in the region of the year, reported the Reno Gazette Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. Officials said the weather conditions, which included heavy snow and gusty winds creating whiteout conditions, made it extremely difficult to reach the survivors and find the victims.

Moon described the weather conditions as "horrific." At times, it was "impossible" to see in the conditions, Moon said on Feb. 18. The eight bodies that were located were not yet removed from the mountain because of the conditions and the risks to the search crews, authorities said. Search teams used a snowcat vehicle but had to ski the remaining 2 miles to reach the people stranded to avoid triggering another avalanche, she said.

On Feb. 19, forecasters said another 12 to 18 inches of snow could fall at elevations over 7,000 feet and 6 to 12 inches in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Ridge-top wind gusts will reach 45 mph, the weather service said.

There is also a high risk for large avalanches in backcountry areas of the Tahoe region, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center. Greene said on Feb. 18 that there was a concern that additional avalanches could rebury the victims' bodies, but officials also have to weigh the safety of the search team, which consists of volunteers.

"We've done everything we can to make it so that given the opportunity, we can get in and do a fast recovery if the weather gives us that chance," Greene said.

The searchers placed avalanche poles, probes that can help them later find the bodies' exact locations, but recovery will depend on how the weather acts over the next few days, he said.

"We want to really make sure that our first responders are safe and have all of the confidence that they can get there," Moon said.

Contributing: The Reno Gazette Journal

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Latest on missing skier after avalanche at California's Lake Tahoe

A federal judge in Minnesota held a Trump administration attorney in civil contempt for "flagrant disobedience of court orders" in the case of a noncitizen swept up in the immigration crackdown there earlier this year.

The contempt finding by US District Judge Laura Provinzino on Wednesday appears to mark the first time a federal attorney has faced court-ordered sanctions during President Donald Trump's second term.

It comes as judges in the Twin Cities and elsewhere have grown increasingly impatient with the administration's repeated violations of court orders, particularly in fast-moving immigration cases.

The appointee of former President Joe Biden said that starting Friday, the lawyer, Matthew Isihara, must pay $500 each day that the immigrant is not given back identification documents that weren't initially returned to him when he was released last week from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, as she had ordered.

As Provinzino imposed the sanction, she brushed aside Isihara's attempt to explain that the violation wasn't intentional, but instead a result of the case slipping through the cracks amid an "enormous volume of cases" stemming from Operation Metro Surge.

"The government's understaffing and high caseload is a problem of its own making and absolutely does not justify flagrant disobedience of court orders," the judge said during a hearing Wednesday, according to a transcript obtained by CNN.

"I don't believe I need to do additional hand-holding on this. I think it's clear what needs to happen," she added. "Petitioner needs to get his documents immediately, and there will be a $500 sanction any day beyond tomorrow that they are not received by his attorney."

CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Isihara is amilitary attorney who went to the Twin Cities to helpthe Justice Department handle a flood of immigration cases brought by noncitizens seeking to be released from ICE custody, which had overwhelmed its team on the ground, leading to non-compliance issues in other cases.

Provinzino on February 9 ordered the government to release the man, a Mexican national who had lived in Minnesota since 2018, after she determined that he was being unlawfully detained. Her order mandated that he be released in Minnesota no later than February 13 and that all his property be handed over to him. But the government flouted that order in three different ways, the judge said, including by releasing him in Texas, where he was being held, and not giving him back his identification documents.

"It's very troubling, in the court's review of this record," the judge said as she ticked through the various violations. She noted later that Isihara and his colleagues hadn't done any work on the case until that morning.

"It's a capacity issue, your honor, and that's the fundamental underlying issue," Isihara said. "It's not any willful attempt to defy the court."

Provinzino and her colleagues on the bench in Minnesota had regularly been threatening to hold Justice Department lawyers or immigration officials in civil contempt in recent weeks as non-compliance issues in dozens of cases stemming from Operation Metro Surge continued to add up. But the monetary sanctions represent a turning point.

"We've seen other cases in which district judges have opened more formal contempt proceedings, but this is the first time we've seen a court directly use its coercive power to try to compel immediate compliance with a court order," said Steve Vladeck, CNN legal analyst and professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

"The notion that lawyers must themselves pay a price for their client's non-compliance with court orders is hardly new, but it may be long overdue in the context of the current administration," Vladeck added.

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Isihara's explanation to the judge mirrored similar statements made earlier this month by a different Trump administration lawyer who found herself in the hot seat over repeated violations of court orders in immigration cases she was handling in the Twin Cities.

That lawyer, Julie Le, wasremoved from her post in Minnesotaafter she told Judge Jerry Blackwell the violations were the result of both a personnel shortage and lackluster procedures intended to ensure orders are followed.

"And, yes, procedure in place right now sucks. I'm trying to fix it," she said. "The system sucks. This job sucks."

Compliance issues in immigration cases are not limited to Minnesota.

In Baltimore on Wednesday, a Trump-appointed judge scrutinized claims that federal immigration agencies had violated a 2024 settlement agreement meant to protect some young migrants with pending asylum claims from being deported.

At least a handful of the young migrants covered by the settlement were deported last year before they were given the opportunity to have their asylum claims heard, as guaranteed by the agreement.

US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher did not rule from the bench on a request from lawyers for the migrants for the government to be held in civil contempt. Instead, she said she would be scheduling an evidentiary hearing to hear live testimony from Department of Homeland Security officials after a DOJ lawyer was not able to answer her questions about why those migrants were deported.

DOJ found more than 50 violations of court orders

In New Jersey, a high-ranking Justice Department official told a federal judge there last week the government had identified more than 50 instances of violations of court orders across hundreds of immigration cases brought in the state since early December.

The accounting was undertaken by two dozen lawyers with the US Attorney's Office in New Jersey after Judge Michael Farbiarz found that the government had violated his order in the case of an Indian national challenging his detention. The judge had directed officials to not transfer the man out of New Jersey while his case played out, but he was nonetheless flown to Texas.

The DOJ official, Jordan Fox, told the judge that many of the violations occurred when a migrant challenging their detention was moved from one facility to another even after a judge had expressly prohibited such a change.

Fox said the violations were accidental and due to "logistical delays in communicating the court order" to the relevant ICE officials or "administrative oversight of the court order."

The other violations included missing filing deadlines or not giving an immigrant a bond hearing within the timeframe outlined by a judge.

Farbiarz, a Joe Biden appointee, is still weighing what to do in the case of the Indian national, but he made clear Tuesday that he is unhappy with the noncompliance identified by the lawyers.

"This falls below the relevant standards," he wrote in an order directing the US Attorney's Office to explain in coming days how it will work to ensure the pattern isn't repeated. "Judicial orders should never be violated. And they very rarely are, especially not by federal officials."

This story has been updated with additional details.

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Katherine Eddington was driving in North Las Vegas last week when she thought she saw a big black bird carrying a banana fly across the intersection.

Nevada Toucan

But after a closer look, she realized it was a toucan — a tropical bird native to rainforests in Central and South America known for their large, colorful bills.

"They're beautiful birds, so being able to see something like that so close to home was fascinating," said Eddington, who recognized the bird from social media and contacted animal rescue.

That toucan is named Sam, and he has been living in the area since November, when a resident posted online that he'd escaped from his cage. After surviving the Las Vegas desert for months, Sam has captivated community birding groups, with people posting occasional sightings around town.

A local rescue group has been trying to catch him for months — and the clock is ticking.

"I'm really worried about him," said Skye Marsh, president and co-founder of SouthWest Exotic Avian Rescue. The Las Vegas-based group has spent hours searching for him, only to find the bird 50 feet (about 15 meters) up in a palm tree, limiting rescue options. They have not been in touch with the owner, she said.

Las Vegas is not a good environment for a toucan to be in the wild with its too-hot summers and cold winters, said Donald Price, a professor and biologist at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas who studies how winged animal species adapt to different environments.

Marsh, who has two toucans of her own, said Sam is starting to show signs of struggle. His eyes are sunken in, and the skin around his beak is starting to get discolored, she said.

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Sam likely lived off figs and pomegranates from trees in the Los Prados neighborhood, located about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Las Vegas Strip, when he first escaped in November, Marsh said. Those fruits have since disappeared, and Sam has moved on to citrus, which are harmful to toucans, she said. Their livers cannot process the calcium, and the iron can be deadly.

"This bird is not in good shape," Marsh said.

Bird experts and enthusiasts alike are surprised the toucan has survived so long in Las Vegas. Exotic birds that escape often have difficulty finding food and avoiding predators, and the changing weather in Las Vegas has also likely taken a toll on the toucan.

Birds can thermal regulate, but only for so long. It takes a lot of energy, so the toucan would need more food, Price said.

"If it's still alive, it could be in trouble, I can imagine. So hopefully they catch it," he said.

The toucan has been spotted in one specific location, a sign he's running out of energy, she said. The rescue group set up a cage with food in it and urged neighbors to stop feeding it. The toucan has scoped out the cage but gets spooked when people are around, Marsh said.

The rescue group will rush him to the vet as soon as he's caught, Marsh said. He'll need fluids, and his system will need to be flushed to remove the iron he's eaten.

Marsh urged neighbors to not get close to the toucan or try to trap Sam themselves.

"The more people that are out there, the worse it's going to be because he doesn't like people," she said. "So just let us do our thing, and we'll get him."

Ahead of the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, Field Level Media draft analysts ranked the top prospects at every position.

Offensive linemen arrive in Indianapolis on Thursday to conduct interviews by request with teams and participate in medical exams.

Workouts begin Sunday, March 1, following media availability on Saturday, Feb. 28.

The top center prospects entering the combine are outlined below.

1. Connor Lew, Auburn

Lew is a technician, natural leader and has pro-level awareness. He started 25 consecutive games before an ACL injury in October 2025.

2. Brian Parker II, Duke

Transitioned from tackle to center. Polished blocker with easy movement in all directions. Has mental acuity and technical precision to become a great pro.

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3. Jake Slaughter, Florida

A multi-year starter and team captain with elite football IQ, refined technique and natural pass protection skills.

4. Logan Jones, Iowa

Very good athlete with movement skills to thrive in a zone-blocking scheme.

5. Matt Gulbin, Michigan State

Already 25 years old and average athletically, Gulbin is versatile with starts at guard and center.

--Field Level Media

For the first time ever this year, the NCAA will host a national championship for women's wrestling. For hundreds of women across the country, the road to securing a national title begins this weekend.

Before the national championship gets underway at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, next month, wrestlers will be sent to six regionals this weekend. Regional tournaments will be held Friday through Sunday in Elmira, New York; West Liberty, West Virginia; Franklin Springs, Georgia; Tiffin, Ohio; Indianola, Iowa; and Saint Charles, Missouri.

From each regional, 30 wrestlers — the top three in each of the 10 weight classes — will move on to Coralville to wrestle for a national title. There, each division will have an 18-woman bracket to determine its champion. The NCAA championship will be streamed live on ESPN+ March 6 and 7, and the finals will be reaired on ESPNU on March 8.

Ryan Tressel is the director of championships for the NCAA and he said designing the first women's wrestling tournament began about a year ago. After it graduated from the NCAA's Emerging Sports for Women program last January and became the 91st championship sport, women's wrestling formed a committee made up of six people from Division I, II and III to help shape the inaugural tournament.

Before women's wrestling was granted NCAA championship status, Xtream Arena had hosted the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships — a non-NCAA-affiliated tournament. In preparation for this competition, Tressel and others from the NCAA went to last year's NCWWC and were impressed.

"Xtream did a tremendous job last year and it was like, let's build on that," Tressel told USA Today Sports. "It was a place where we could be confident they're going to do some great work and a great job there.

"It's just the right size for what we're going to be doing."

Combined divisions, for now

Iowa is one of six Division I teams that competes in women's wrestling at the varsity level, the only program in the Power 4. The Hawkeyes enter regionals as the No. 1 ranked team in the country. In the 145 weight class, Iowa's Reese Larramendy leads the nation in technical falls with 145. The Hawkeyes also feature Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades in the 160 weight class.

This season, more than 112 programs across all NCAA divisions compete in women's wrestling at the varsity level. For this year and next, the national tournament will be a combined one, featuring wrestlers from across all divisions.

In 2028, that will change. A good chunk of the NCAA programs that sponsor women's wrestling come from Division III — 55 of them this season — and they will have their own tournament. The change was approved at the NCAA convention in January, but organizers still have time to figure it out.

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"How that looks, that's what we're talking about now. Is there a way we can adjust, figure out the schedules where they're all in one spot still and they're handing out multiple trophies? We do that with rowing, for instance. Those are some of the questions that will come up," Tressel said. "For this year and for next year, we'll be all together, one big happy family."

What to watch

In addition to powerhouse Iowa, the other Division I schools competing in women's wrestling this year are Lehigh, Presbyterian, Delaware State, Lindenwood and Sacred Heart. Kent State and Mercyhurst will add teams in the coming seasons, and Oklahoma State is among those with a club team.

Lehigh has the top-ranked wrestler in the 110 weight class in Audrey Jimenez, who is 13-0 this season and won a gold medal at the 2025 Pan American Championships.

There are stars in other divisions too, like Division III North Central's Bella Mir. The daughter of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, she was named USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week earlier this month after posting a 10-0 tech fall 43 seconds into her match in a dual against Wartburg.

One difference between men's and women's wrestling at the NCAA level is that the women compete in freestyle wrestling, which matches the Olympics. The men compete in folkstyle. In women's freestyle, points are not awarded for escapes. They can earn a point for a step-out, when one wrestler pushes another out of the competition circle.

A path for other women's sports

With this being the first NCAA Tournament for women's wrestling, Tressel and his team will be watching the competition closely to find ways to improve.

"The student-athlete experience is our biggest thing," Tressel said. "How can we make that better? That's No. 1. And then there's other things operationally — how we're managing the mats and floor control and access and things like that."

Women's wrestling was added to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program in 2020. By 2023, more than 40 schools sponsored the sport and it was awarded championship status in 2025.

That timeline could be similar for flag football,which was added to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women programthis year.

"(NCAA President Charlie Baker) is really excited about this. It's starting this excitement, which is what I've felt," Tressel said. "You know, what's the future hold for other emerging sports out there too, with women's flag football coming on? There's a lot of great opportunities coming up for women's sports in the next number of years."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:2026 NCAA Women's Wrestling Tournament: Everything to know

Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson is returning for the 2026 season, his 14th in the NFL,The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff McLanereported Thursday.

Johnson, 35, missed the final eight games of his injury-riddled 2025 campaign, including the Eagles' wild-card playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers,because of a Lisfranc foot injury.

The 2013 No. 4 overall pick is a six-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro who has helped Philly reach three Super Bowls and win its first two rings in franchise history.

Johnson is a cornerstone of the Eagles' offensive line and will offer valuable continuity up front as the team transitions to a new offenseunder 33-year-old coordinator Sean Mannion.

Longtime O-Line coachJeff Stoutland resigned earlier this month, and Chris Kuper — a former Denver Broncos guard who most recently coached with the Minnesota Vikings — will serve as his replacement.

With the scheme expected to change, and a new voice in the O-Line room, Johnson coming back is significant, particularly during an offseasonthat's also reportedly included 27-year-old left guard Landon Dickerson mulling retirementafter weathering a slew of injuries in his young career.

Johnson isn't just a locker room pillar, but he's likely a future Pro Football Hall of Famer as well.

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Consistently one of the NFL's best right tackles, Johnson has allowed just six total sacks since the start of the 2019 season, playoffs included, according to Pro Football Focus. He's a force in the run-blocking department, too, and played a role in Eagles running backs LeSean McCoy (1,607 rushing yards) and Saquon Barkley (2,005 rushing yards) leading the league on the ground in 2013 and 2024, respectively.

Barkley, of course, became the ninth back in NFL history to pile up more than 2,000 rushing yards in a single season.

This past season, though, Philadelphia's vaunted offensive line wasn't as dominant as usual. Injuries were certainly a factor, and so was a predictable offensethat then-OC Kevin Patullo called.

Barkley averaged just 4.1 yards per carry — 1.7 fewer than the previous season — and the Eagles plummeted from second in the NFL in rushing yards per game (179.3) in 2024 to 18th (116.9 per game) in 2025.

Johnson sustained his Lisfranc injury during a Week 11 "Sunday Night Football" win over the Detroit Lions. In Week 10, he injured his ankleamid the Eagles' "Monday Night Football"victory over the Green Bay Packers. All the way back in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Rams, he left the game with a stinger.

Johnson's presence makes a difference.

The Eagles were 8-2 in games he played in last season and just 3-5 in his absence,according to The Athletic, which reported that, since 2016, Philadelphia is 96-41-1 with Johnson on the field and a mere 15-28 when he doesn't play.

Feb 19 (Reuters) - The Washington Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday ‌that Amazon.com must face ‌lawsuits brought by families with relatives who took ​their own lives by consuming sodium nitrite they bought on the online retailer's platform.

It rejected a lower ‌court's ruling ⁠that the families could not pursue negligence claims under ⁠a Washington state product liability law, because suicide was a superseding ​cause of ​their relatives' ​deaths.

Four families accused ‌Amazon of promoting the sale of sodium nitrite on its website alongside other products that could assist people in carrying out suicides.

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They said ‌the Seattle-based retailer ​has known of the ​link between ​sodium nitrite and suicide ‌for years yet continued ​to sell ​the product without restrictions.

Amazon and its lawyers did not immediately ​respond to ‌requests for comment.

(Reporting by Jonathan ​Stempel in New York; Editing ​by Joe Bavier)