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EPA Expected to Roll Back Major Anti-pollution Policy Soon; NY Post Reports FBI Recovered Black Glove Near Guthrie's Home; Neighbors Asked to Check Camera Footage on January 11 and January 31; Home Heating Bills Soar as Temperatures Plunge; New Research Finds Trump's Tariffs Cost Americans $1,000 Last Year, Could Rise to $1,300 in 2026; Fewer Americans Filed for Unemployment Last Week. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 12, 2026 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[13:32:31]

PORTER FOX, VETERAN CLIMATE JOURNALIST: -- discovered back in the 1800s that there are certain gases in the atmosphere that trap heat. It's like wrapping a blanket around the earth. The solar energy can come in but it cannot get out.

And so that has been warming the earth. In the United States, we've seen two degrees Fahrenheit of warming since the Industrial Age. And the effects are not just the heat that you feel, the effects are really amping up all extreme weather events, droughts.

We've seen these incredible atmospheric rivers dropping 30 trillion gallons of rain on California and then followed by drought, and then followed by wildfire. Back when the endangerment finding was adopted in 2009, we were looking at billion-dollar climate disaster roughly every month or so. Now, it's every three weeks.

So, if Trump is going to claim that $1.3 trillion will be saved by easing these regulations, just do the math. In less than 10 years, we're already going into the red and those billion-dollar disasters are getting more and more expensive and more and more frequent every year.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": So, this policy has been in place almost 20 years. What has been the impact of it? What has been the benefit?

FOX: I mean, the impact of it is really getting American auto manufacturers to look into EVs. It has boosted the solar production in the United States. These offshore wind farms that are under attack now. This revolution to clean energy is really what is necessary for a nation these days to be on par with the rest of the world, to fight this climate change situation and really to bolster their economy.

And what we're going to see at the end of this, as was just mentioned, there will be lawsuits. There will be a tremendous amount of regulatory uncertainty, which is really a death knell in the auto industry, in the energy sector. These people need to know what the rules are, why they're there, how long they will be there so that they can adapt energy production, auto production, everything across the U.S. economy really is related to this in some way.

And now, it's going to be a giant question mark moving forward, which any boardroom is not going to be appreciative of that.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Porter, what should we be tracking for health considerations?

FOX: Health considerations are, you know, extreme heat is really a very obvious one. Air pollutants are slightly different from the climate change that we are talking about now in these rising temperatures. The real effect is this geophysical fallout of climate change is accelerating and snowballing so quickly.

You know, I wrote a book about the end of winter and what was happening to snow and ice around the planet. And in that reporting, I found that so much ice has melted from the poles that the axis that Earth rotates on, the rotational axis of our planet has shifted. That ice has melted into water. The water goes into the ocean. It kind of regulates there and moves around the planet. And ultimately, that is starting to put our coastlines underwater as well.

I mean, they're looking at, you know, potentially up to 10 feet of sea level rise in the worst-case scenarios by 2100. That puts most of the land between I-95 on the East Coast and the coastline underwater. That is what that is what the kind of health concerns would be for me, is that we are going to be moving homes, cities, highways, and obviously, the economic fallout from that is completely devastating.

KEILAR: Yeah, that is. Porter Fox, thank you so much for putting it into perspective. We appreciate it.

Still to come, why investigators are asking Nancy Guthrie's neighbors for video footage recorded on a specific date weeks before Guthrie was abducted.

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[13:38:15]

SANCHEZ: Investigators are nearly two weeks into an extensive search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie. Law enforcement agents have been combing rugged terrain near her Tucson home and potentially made another key discovery.

The New York Post captured these images yesterday of agents finding and recovering a black glove less than two minutes out from Guthrie's home. Now, it's unclear if officials believe this is the same glove worn by the masked gunman seen on Guthrie's doorbell video camera, but meantime, her neighbors are being asked to check their home doorbell cameras on two specific dates, January 11th and January 31st, the day that Nancy Guthrie was last seen.

Investigators are also looking to reports of a suspicious vehicle being seen in the area on that morning of January 31st. Let's get the latest on these new developments with CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, John Miller. John, so this request from law enforcement for neighbors to check their doorbell camera video from the two dates in January, that's a three-hour time span on the 11th, a 90-minute span on the evening of the 31st, again, the last day that she was seen. Help us understand the significance of these two dates.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, Boris, for a little while, we've been hearing in the background about these reports of suspicious vehicles that are a lead that's been being pursued, but I think what they're looking to do is, if they have a report of a specific suspicious vehicle on January 11th that's in the area, they want to see, can we get a picture of that vehicle driving by, the front corner of it, the back taillight, ideally something that shows what it is, ideally a license plate.

[13:40:00]

But short of that, can we get some kind of image that gives us a ballpark of what this vehicle is and looks like. And the second thing is, well, if that vehicle was there on January 11th when people reported a suspicious vehicle and you can find a piece of video, can you find it back there around the time of the kidnapping because that makes a real connection. If it was there at a time when they could have been doing surveillance, pre-operational planning, is it back around the time of the actual abduction.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, and how about the black glove that was found not far from her home? I imagine it's being scanned for DNA and any other identifying feature right now.

MILLER: Well, that's right. That goes to the FBI lab. And at the FBI lab, they have very talented people and many departments with specialties. And they will figure out in exactly what order to process that glove through each specialty, whether it's the people who fume it or scan it for latent fingerprints on the outside to the people who will be looking for DNA traces on the outside to the people who will be turning it inside out and looking for hair fiber transfers, DNA on the inside. They're going to check this thing every possible scientific way for anything that can bring them to a clue or a person.

And what's the universe of possibilities there? If it's someone with a criminal record and they have DNA on file in the CODIS system, that could bring them very quickly to focus on somebody. On the other hand, it may be someone not in the records. And if they eventually get a suspect, then it gives them something to compare it to.

And of course, we have to remind ourself, there's always a possibility that the glove has nothing to do with it, but the fact that it is found along the road, that it looks similar to the one in the video is very promising.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, I also wanted to get, John, quickly your thoughts on the white tent that we saw set up today, just outside of Nancy Guthrie's home where that video was taken. This is new. It's been, you know, what, 11, 12 days. We hadn't seen something like this before. MILLER: Well, I think eventually, we'll get that explained, but it is most likely that they are trying to extract some kind of forensics from the house that can't be done in the open air and that they're trying to create an environment for whatever it is. It may be fuming for fingerprints. It may be using some kind of chemical process to bring something else up. But I think that that tent is probably part of that.

SANCHEZ: John Miller, thanks so much for that analysis.

Still ahead, some heating bills are soaring as much of the country faces frigid temperatures. We're going to look at how high those costs could go in just a few minutes. We'll be right back.

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[13:47:11]

KEILAR: Right now, home heating bills are soaring as temperatures plummet. A new report showing utility costs are expected to be 11 percent higher than they were last year.

CNN Senior Reporter, Matt Egan is here to break down the numbers. Oh, Matt, the pain. Tell us what we're looking at.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Brianna, I don't know about you, but I cannot wait for this winter to be over. It's just been so cold across so much of the country. And that means, yes, it's also been unfortunately expensive because home heating costs are expected to be up, as you mentioned, 11 percent this winter versus last winter.

Some context, that's roughly quadruple the overall rate of inflation. Now, some of this, of course, matters based on -- it depends based on what your fuel source is, right? So if you use propane to heat your home, then you're in luck, right? Because only expected to have a one percent increase in home heating costs, five percent for home heating.

But look at this, 10 percent increase for natural gas. That reflects that historic, but thankfully temporary, spike in natural gas futures that we saw just a few weeks ago, and a 14 percent increase for electricity. Now, during the Biden administration, the big pain point for energy, of course, was gasoline.

Now, gasoline has been relatively cheap, but it's all of these electricity and home heating costs. Now, on top of this, there's also all these costs related to tariffs. The president has argued that other countries are going to pay the brunt of the tariffs, but recent research finds the exact opposite.

This is from the Tax Foundation. They found that the cost of the president's tariffs per household was $1,000 last year, and they're seeing an increase this year to $1,300. Again, that's per household. And Brianna, the president argues that his tariffs are going to cause a manufacturing jobs boom, but that has not happened, at least not yet. KEILAR: Yeah, everyone's feeling it, these cost increases for heating. It's really wild. And Matt, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office is now warning of even higher budget deficits. What's driving this?

EGAN: Yeah, look, the budget is a mess, and the CBO says that the president's One Big, Beautiful Bill is just making matters worse. They're projecting a nearly $5 trillion increase to the federal deficit over the next 10 years, just from that tax and spending cut legislation alone.

Another $0.5 trillion from immigration policies. Now, they do see the president's tariffs bringing in about $3 trillion in tariff revenue, but that's not nearly enough to offset all of these other costs. And that's only if tariff policy stays the same for a decade.

Lately, it feels like tariff policy doesn't stay the same for more than a few weeks. And one other point here is the national debt is so high that, now, the government is spending $1 trillion this fiscal year on interest costs alone.

[13:50:00]

That's about $3,000 per resident. And Brianna, that's more than what the government is spending on national defense. Back to you.

KEILAR: That is wild. Matt Egan, thank you so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. The estimated number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits dropped slightly last week. More than 220,000 initial claims were filed, 5,000 fewer than the prior week's revised total. Those levels are similar to what we saw around the end of last year.

There was a dip in January, but economists attributed this to weaker than typical seasonal hiring and therefore, fewer post-holiday layoffs. Also, the Trump administration abruptly fired the U.S. Attorney in Albany, New York, the interim one, just days after he was sworn in.

Donald Kinsella had been appointed by a panel of judges after a federal court found his predecessor was serving unlawfully. Kinsella was notified by email from the White House that President Trump had removed him. Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche responded to criticism of this move, saying that judges don't pick U.S. attorneys, the president of the United States does.

And a new investigation has found alarming levels of lead, mercury, and other contaminants in dog food. According to a report from the non-profit, The Clean Label Project, commercial dog foods contained up to 13 times more heavy metals than human food that was tested over the past decade. Kibble had the highest levels, while fresh and frozen dog foods contained the lowest levels of these heavy metals.

The Pet Food Institute, which represents dog manufacturers, says it is reviewing the report. You should stick around, because we're speaking to a veterinarian about that story in the next hour. Up next, we're also going to take you to the Winter Olympics in Italy and tell you why an athlete was barred from racing just minutes before their competition was slated to start. We'll be right back.

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[13:56:40]

KEILAR: Day six of the Winter Olympics, bringing us both hope and heartbreak. The headline of the day, Ukrainian speed skater, Vladyslav Heraskevych has been disqualified from competition over his helmet. You can see it here. It features images of some of the athletes killed in Russia's war on Ukraine.

Well, the IOC's president said she didn't disagree with the message, but ultimately, it violates the athlete expression guidelines. He plans to appeal that decision. And there's a lot of action happening today. So let's check in with our CNN Sports Anchor, Coy Wire, who has that rough assignment of being there in Italy for us. Sorry, Coy. Tell us what you're looking at.

(LAUGH)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm keeping warm, 28 degrees, but I feel, oh, it's so good up here. It's incredible. And today, we have the NHL players, right, Brianna, who have returned to Olympic ice for the first time in 12 years.

Well, Team USA has their first game today, powered by a frontline of Jack Eichel and Brady and Matthew Tkachuk. And they'll be facing Latvia. Better seem to think that Latvia is about to Tkachuk around and find out. Americans are favored by three-and-a-half goals. Team USA has a whopping 25 NHL players. Latvia has six.

Now, Team USA's Jessie Diggins, 34-years-old, persevering a rib injury sustained earlier in these games. She won bronze in the women's 10- kilometer freestyle and that makes four Olympic medals in her career, all in different events. Jessie knows all about perseverance, overcoming an eating disorder. And she wanted to use the spotlight to share her story in hopes that it may help anyone who needs to hear it. Listen.

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JESSIE DIGGINS, FOUR-TIME OLYMPIC MEDALIST (One Gold, One Silver, Two Bronze): I'm here at the Olympics. I'm racing. I'm happy and healthy now, because I got professional help. So if someone out there is watching this or listening to this or reading this, and they're struggling, like you can do this too. And I know that because when I was 18, I thought that would be my life. And I thought my life would actually be quite short because of my eating disorder.

And I was in a really tough place. And because of the help I received and the love that I got and the love I was able to finally show myself, I'm sitting here at my fourth Olympics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Awesome stuff. Now, Brianna, there was pure chaos on the slopes at the women's Super-G competition earlier today. 17 skiers crashed out or did not finish more than a third of the field. One of them was Team USA's Breezy Johnson, who took home gold here in the downhill. So, no more medal chances for her here.

But at the bottom of the Super-G, when she's all done, she's still got some bling, Brianna. Her boyfriend, Connor, proposed to her. He got down on a knee in the snow. Breezy said yes. Unforgettable games for her, going home with a gold medal and a fiance.

(LAUGH)

KEILAR: Nice. And let's hope the ring doesn't fall off.

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WIRE: I know, right?

KEILAR: Like those medals.

(LAUGH)

WIRE: Oh, goodness. It's so cute (ph). So we just talked to two more Olympians on Team USA and they had a medal break as well. I don't know what's going on. But listen, hey, in action today, actually ongoing, Chloe Kim, she's going for a three-peat in the halfpipe. No Olympian has ever won three straight snowboard halfpipes. She has a chance to three-peat, so maybe a little more history from Team USA in the hours to come.

KEILAR: All right, we'll be looking for that. And I just want to correct myself because I said that Heraskevych is a speed skater --