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I'm Tori.

Today is Tuesday, February 17th, 2026.

And we begin with party time in the Big Easy.

Today is Fat Tuesday, the last day of Marty Gras and the ultimate day of indulgence before Lent begins tomorrow. And while New Orleans always steals the spotlight with its legendary parades, street parties and beads, so many beads, other cities across America also join the fun, from Mobile, Alabama,

to Galveston, Texas, to St. Louis, Missouri. Purple, green, and gold are the colors of the day,

and kingcakes are the sweet of choice, with over half a million baked specifically for Mardi Gras season. But today isn't just Fat Tuesday. It's also the start of the

Lunar New Year, which is widely considered the most popular holiday of the year for China and

Chinese communities. This is the year of the horse. Celebrations and traditions promising good

luck and prosperity will last 15 days.

A former president is clarifying comments he made about Martians.

On the No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen podcast Saturday, when asked about extraterrestrials,

Barack Obama said, they're real before quickly adding, but they're not being kept at Area 51. Area 51 is a super secret Air Force facility in the Nevada Desert that has long been rumored to house space aliens

from a crashed UFO. Mr. Obama's off-the-cuff comment sparked a huge reaction, so much so, he had to

backtrack. He issued a statement saying he had just been

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