The Latest: 03/03/2026 06:59am ET

All the latest national and international news. Topics also include finance, weather and entertainment.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is your twenty four to seven use update.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
The latest use this hour in just four minutes.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
There's growing uncertainty spreading across the Middle East as the
United States military continues Operation Epic Fury against Iran. Matt
Bodner on Capitol Hill.

Speaker 4 (00:18):
As we entered day four of the bombing campaign against Iran,
there are growing concerns that the United States may be
entangling itself in another long Middle Eastern war. On Monday,
President Trump said that the military projected a four to
five week operation, but he did add that the United
States was committed to its goals, no matter how long
it takes to achieve them.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Six American service members have been killed since the start
of the operation that took out Iran Supreme leader Ayatola Aljameni.
After being briefed by the administration, Virginia Democratic Senator Mark
Warner said this.

Speaker 5 (00:51):
There was no imminent threat to the United States of
America by the Iranians. A threat to Israel is the
equivalent of an imminent threat to the United States. Then
we are in uncharted territory.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is almost at
a standstill as Iran threatens to attack any tanker that
tries to pass through the critical energy corridor. Tony Waterman
reports consumers will soon feel the effects at the gas pump.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Brin crude oil prices surged as much as twelve percent
on Monday, pushing the benchmark above eighty dollars a barrel
for the first time in more than a year. Strong
US supply helped temper the rise, but experts say the
longer the conflict drags on, the more prices will go on.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
About a fifth of the world's oil typically moves through
the Strait, but that movement ground to a halt after
the US and Israeli attacks on Iran. Some one hundred
and fifty tankers have been left stranded. Companies are re
routing ships around the southern tip of Africa, which is
greatly increasing. Shipping times and costs have dropped nine hundred

(02:01):
and fifty points as traders fear the US Iran conflict
could drag on. I'm Michael Kastner, a Tampa, Florida based
nonprofit specializing in getting people out of dangerous situations, is
preparing for the first evacuations of Americans stranded in the
Middle East by the conflict with Iran in Florida, Gordon Byrd.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Great Bull Rescue founder Brian Stern, a veteran of special operations, says,
even with leadership, debt, and communications degraded to ron, SIL
has ways to project power. These are the guys that
invented the suicide best. These are the guys that invented
how to take hostages. These are the guys that invented IEDs.
Stern's organization is launching rescue operations in the Middle East,

(02:43):
focusing on Tel Aviv as well as Dubai, where thousands
of Americans and others are stranded by airspace closures.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
A key gun rights case is now in the hands
of the US Supreme Court. The Justice has heard oral
arguments on whether marijuana users can be prohibited from possess
a pistol.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Habitual illegal drug users can regain their arms through their
own voluntary conduct by not using illegal.

Speaker 5 (03:07):
Drugs so often.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
Solicitor General Sarah Harris says that marijuana use should be
considered different from alcohol or even prescription drugs, because it's
illegal at the federal level. The case under review is
out of Texas. Alihemani was arrested for the possession of
marijuana in his home near Dallas. The FBI also found
a pistol. His lawyers argue that the law violates the

(03:29):
Second Amendment. Two people are safe with quite a story
to tell after their hot air balloon got stuck on
a cell phone tower in Texas and they had to
be rescued by firefighters. Rescuers responded to the scene in
Longview on Saturday morning to find the balloon stuck more
than nine hundred feet off the ground.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
It's just a basket that was swinging pretty good in
the breeze there, and they're just hanging out in that
basket with a marshy thorn balloon.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
Both occupants in the balloon's basket were conscious and unhurt,
and the Mega Million's jackpot stands at four hundred seventy
three million dollars ahead of tonight's big drawing. I'm Michael Kassner.