The Daily Populous

Wednesday February 18th, 2026 evening edition

image for Texas Senate candidate James Talarico is flying high thanks to Colbert’s war with CBS over his banned interview

Texas Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate James Talarico saw a boost in campaign cash and had his profile skyrocket amid a war of words between Stephen Colbert, CBS and the Trump administration over his spiked The Late Show interview.

Colbert said that the network’s lawyers told him that Talarico, a state legislator from Austin, could not appear on the show.

This comes as early voting for the Senate primaries in Texas began on Tuesday.

As of Wednesday morning, the taped-but-never-aired interview that Colbert’s show posted on YouTube had garnered 5.2 million views.

Talarico’s campaign, which also posted it, announced that he had raised $2.5 million in the past 24 hours off the controversy.

open image in gallery Stephen Colbert said that CBS News banned him from broadcasting his interview with Texas State Representative James Talarico ( The Late Show with Stephen Colbert/YouTube ).

Colbert for his part does not seem deterred from the tussle with CBS. »

Gov. Newsom expanded free preschool. Now private daycares say they can’t afford to stay open

Authored by apnews.com
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Many advocates say his legacy on child care includes some unfulfilled promises, though the expansions have been substantial.

No move has been more significant than the expansion of a free, public pre-kindergarten grade for all families regardless of income.

Whether Newsom can achieve his ambitious child care goals depends in part on whether people like Moore can afford to stay open. »

Why do we never see baby pigeons in cities? The scientific explanation

Authored by sciencesbrief.com

It’s one of those urban mysteries we’ve all wondered about at least once: you see thousands of pigeons in the city, but you never see a baby one.

The primary reason you don’t see baby pigeons is that they belong to a category of birds known as altricial (or nidicole).

Unlike precocial birds—such as ducks or geese, whose yellow ducklings follow their mother as soon as they hatch—pigeons are born completely helpless. »

Marshall Islands Experience Explosion of Wildlife One Year After Invasive Rats Were Removed

Authored by worldatlarge.news
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The rats have had a devastating effect on their delicately balanced ecosystems on certain islands in the Marshalls.

Having already eradicated black rats on dozens of islands before, Island Conservation trained local teams with the best practices to remove the rats via poison without harming the native wildlife.

In partnership with the Island Conservation, local groups removed the rats allowed the “turtle islands” to thrive once again. »