March 30, 2026: All Newsclips

Lead Stories

Vance wins CPAC’s 2028 straw poll. Abbott and Cruz each get 1% .

Vice President JD Vance is the favorite to earn the Republican nomination for president in 2028, according to a new straw poll taken at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday. Vance earned support from about 53 percent of attendees who participated in the presidential preference poll at the annual gathering in Grapevine, Texas, according to New York Times reporter Kellen Browning. Secretary of State Marco Rubio came in second with 35 percent, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, tied at 2 percent for a distant third place. Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rand Paul (Ky.), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott each got 1 percent. The other two contenders on the list got no support.

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The closely watched straw poll often serves as an early barometer for how GOP voters are leaning, and Vance’s name at the top indicates that conservative Republicans view him as best suited to succeed President Trump and advance the MAGA agenda. Last year, Vance led with 61 percent support among 1,022 CPAC attendees, followed by former Trump advisor and right-wing media personality Steve Bannon with 12 percent. Rubio received only 3 percent support in 2025, a sign his stock is now rising among Trump’s core base. Trump is reportedly skipping CPAC this year — the first time in a decade — as the war with Iran rages on and he faces pressure to tamp down surging oil and gas prices ahead of the midterms. The outcome of Saturday’s straw poll was not unexpected, as Vance and Rubio have widely emerged as the expected GOP frontrunners heading into 2028. Trump is not eligible to run again. Vance has been seen as the heir apparent to Trump since becoming his running mate in 2024, but the president’s recent praise of Rubio’s diplomatic work has introduced fresh speculation over who may carry the party torch once Trump leaves office.

K Street: Trump immigration enforcement harms GOP

Most K Street leaders (88%) say the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement will harm Republicans in the midterms. This comes after federal officers shot and killed two protesters in Minnesota in January. Now, the Department of Homeland Security has been shut down since Feb. 14 with no end in sight. More than three-quarters of Republican respondents to The Canvass said President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown would harm the GOP come November. Only 17% of Republicans on K Street said the administration’s deployment of ICE and CBP will help their party. Only a quarter of Canvass respondents said immigration would be in the top three most important issues for voters in the midterms. K Street leaders said that inflation and the economy will be the most important issues to Americans in November. Health care ranked ahead of immigration, with 34%. The Canvass K Street was conducted Feb. 10 – March 2 in partnership with independent public affairs firm, LSG.

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Russia welcomes arrival of oil tanker in Cuba after Trump softens approach to U.S. blockade

The Kremlin on Monday welcomed the arrival of a Russian-flagged oil tanker to Cuba, saying energy supplies to the fuel-starved island had been discussed with the U.S. ahead of its delivery. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow considered it its duty to help Cuba, according to Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti. He added that Havana needed petroleum products amid a de facto U.S. oil blockade. A Russian oil tanker carrying a humanitarian shipment of 100,000 tons of crude oil reportedly arrived in Cuba earlier in the day. The sanctioned Anatoly Kolodkin vessel was said to be waiting to unload shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had "no problem" with a Russian crude tanker delivering fuel to Cuba. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said: "If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it's Russia or not."

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The shipment of crude oil is seen as something of a lifeline to the Caribbean nation, which is facing its biggest test since the collapse of the Soviet Union amid a deepening energy crisis. Cuba had been heavily dependent on oil supplies from Venezuela, but it has effectively been cut off since early January when the U.S. launched an extraordinary military operation to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration subsequently threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sent crude to Cuba, prompting the likes of Mexico to halt shipments. The Kremlin has previously shrugged off Trump's tariff threats, pointing out that Washington and Moscow "don't have much trade right now." Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel said last week that the island hadn't received oil shipments in more than three months. The country, which has said it is holding talks with the U.S., has sought to dramatically increase its solar power generation amid the ongoing fuel shortage. The island of roughly 10 million people has faced a series of power blackouts in recent weeks and the United Nations has warned that Cuban hospitals have been struggling to maintain emergency and intensive care services. "Cuba is finished, they have a bad regime and they have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil it's not going to matter," Trump said Sunday. "I prefer letting it in, whether it's Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need," he added.

Trump says his 'preference' would be to 'take the oil in Iran'

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he would like to "take the oil in Iran" and is considering seizing the export hub of Kharg Island, which is responsible for more than90% of Iran's oil exports. In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said his "preference would be to take the oil." "To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the U.S. say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people," he said. The interview marks some of Trump's most direct comments about his thinking on what to do with Iran's oil. In an interview with NBC News this month, Trump sidestepped answering whether he had plans to try to take Iran’s oil.

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“You look at Venezuela,” he said. “People have thought about it, but it’s too soon to talk about that.” In January, the U.S. captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and proceeded to take more control over the country's oil industry. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night. Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that the U.S. has "a lot of options," including potentially taking Kharg Island, a rare island made of hard coral off Iran. “Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said. “It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while.” Oil prices have skyrocketed around the globe as the war continues, with U.S. crude oil costing over $100 a barrel Sunday. Thousands more U.S. troops are heading to the Middle East, with the USS Tripoli arriving on Saturday as part of a complement of 3,500 troops. But Trump and his administration continue to signal that they are working to negotiate a 15-point proposal to end the war. Trump declined Sunday to offer specific details about whether a ceasefire deal could be reached in the coming days to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway used to move about 20% of the world's oil exports. “We’ve got about 3,000 targets left — we’ve bombed 13,000 targets — and another couple of thousand targets to go,” Trump said in the Financial Times interview. “A deal could be made fairly quickly.”

State Stories

Most Texas prisoners live without AC. A landmark trial could change that.

A federal case that is set to go to trial on Monday could force Texas to air-condition dozens of its prisons, as attorneys argue the state is exposing inmates, guards and other staff members to dangerously high temperatures, and say the conditions have resulted in several heat-related deaths. Lawyers representing Texas prisoners are asking that cell temperatures remain between 65 and 85 degrees, a similar range to what’s already required in Texas jails and federal prisons. Nearly 70% of Texas prisoners live without AC, or roughly 90,000 inmates, according to the legal filings, and temperatures in cells routinely climb to above 90 degrees during the summer. The landmark trial will likely center on how quickly and comprehensively Texas must act to cool the second-largest prison system in the country.

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The judge presiding over the case has already warned that he plans to order the agency overseeing Texas’ prison system to install climate control in every cell. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman declared in a March 2025 ruling that the plaintiffs had shown they were likely to win at trial. "This case concerns the plainly unconstitutional treatment of some of the most vulnerable, marginalized members of our society," Pitman, an Obama appointee, wrote. The 91-page order said that scorching-hot cells likely violate inmates' Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment. His order followed a July 2024 hearing where former inmates described watching eggs cook on concrete cell floors and flooding their cells with toilet water, then lying in it overnight to cool down. The then-chief of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Bryan Collier, also acknowledged in the hearing that heat contributed to at least three inmate deaths in 2023, and that the system struggled with an unusually high staff turnover rate as employees fell ill from heat exposure.

‘We don’t have time.’ Texas-appointed superintendent sets urgent tone for FWISD

FWISD Superintendent Peter Licata leaned down and placed his hands on his knees to help a Morningside Middle School student connect to the internet. The seventh grader’s laptop wouldn’t load her English assignment. Refresh. Nothing. Then it appeared. “It was three minutes — three minutes of good instructional time lost and then she gets rushed,” Licata said in a hushed tone in the classroom. Moments like that, routine classroom delays, are what Fort Worth ISD’s new state-appointed superintendent says must change quickly. Students don’t have time to waste, he said. Yet he needs time for changes — from bolstering campus leaders to better support their teachers to rethinking the district’s nearly $1 billion budget. “It’s going to take a while to correct the system,” Licata said Friday as he walked around Morningside, a campus slated for a new academic turnaround model. “But we don’t have time.”

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The visit was one of the first looks at how Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath’s hand-selected leader is approaching classrooms just four days on the job. Morath picked Licata for leading Broward County Public Schools to its first A in 14 years and eliminated D and F campuses. Licata walked into a C district where 63 campuses improved in 2025 academic accountability ratings but which still has 39 D and F schools, including two middle schools teetering on triggering the state’s intervention law. The state intervened in October after more than a decade of low academic performance, with only about a third of students performing on grade level in reading and math. Improving outcomes will require urgency and a shift in expectations, Licata said. Poverty is not destiny. ZIP codes do not dictate students’ future. Success is possible. “That expectation when that kid walks in the classroom is as high as for every kid in the district,” Licata said. School board President Pete Geren has long seen Fort Worth ISD’s stubbornly low academic performance, particularly in literacy, as a moral failing. Licata shares that view. “He has a passion for the children who are the most economically disadvantaged,” Geren said of the new superintendent. “He’s a kid-focused, student-outcomes kind of person.”

Dallas ISD voters to decide future of largest bond in Texas history

The Dallas Independent School District is asking its voters to approve the largest bond in Texas history at $6.2 billion. Among other things, the bond would improve safety and security, renovate and modernize all campuses, and build 26 new schools to replace some of the district's oldest campuses. “The average age of those 26 campuses that are gonna be rebuilt is 70 years old. That goes back to LBJ’s presidency. Those campuses could qualify for Medicare today. We’re trying to teach kids artificial intelligence and those campuses, they’re having a hard time with artificial lighting,” Miguel Solis told us on Inside Texas Politics. Miguel Solis is a former DISD Board President and a passionate advocate for the bond. He says more than 100 community members are on the steering committee, providing guidance. And he says there have been more than 65 community meetings.

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The bond will be split into four parts: Prop A: $5.9 billion to replace campuses, modernize buildings, increase security, Prop B: $144.7 million in technology upgrades, Prop C: $143.3 million in debt service refinancing, and Prop D: $26.3 million to repair and renovate district pools And it’s important to note that the bond will lead to a one-cent tax increase. “The average price of a coffee across the United States of America is a little more than $3. This one-cent tax increase to the average homeowner is going to be $2.79 a month. Over the course of a year, it’s $33,” Solis explained. “Our bet is that the average taxpayer is going to be willing, possibly, to pay that $2.79 a month because inevitably, more kids getting a better education and better school facilities means the ultimate economic outlook for our community is going to go up because good grades lead to good lifetime opportunities.” Solis says he knows of no organized opposition to the bond.

A women's prison in Texas conceals a sinister secret: Staff sexual misconduct, accusers say

Tucked in a residential neighborhood of bungalows and crape myrtle trees, the federal women’s prison in Bryan, Texas, doesn’t look like a traditional lockup. The women live in dormitory-style rooms without doors. In khaki uniforms and boots, some of the country’s most high-profile prisoners move freely between buildings for meals, work programs and recreation. But as sprawling and open as Federal Prison Camp Bryan appears, some women and staff whistleblowers say the minimum-security facility conceals a sinister secret: inescapable sexual misconduct, and punishments for those who try to report the abuse. Six women who were incarcerated at Bryan since 2020 told The Marshall Project and NBC News that staff members pressured them into unwanted sex acts in deserted corners where there were no security cameras or witnesses. Two more women said staff members groped them or touched them inappropriately.

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“Looking back, I wish I did a hundred things, you know, kick him, scream, cry, whatever,” said Darlene, 32, who alleges a prison chaplain sexually abused her in the chapel and in a closet after months of grooming her with compliments and hugs. Once, she said, he cornered her in a bathroom and reached into her underwear. She said she reported him to a correctional officer and a captain in early 2020 and also spoke to a Bureau of Prisons investigator but doesn’t know what happened to the report. Darlene is one of several women incarcerated at Bryan, who, along with three former staff members, say they faced retribution or threats from prison officials after reporting misconduct against incarcerated women under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, a federal law meant to protect prisoners from abuse. Days after she reported the chaplain, Darlene, who was incarcerated for methamphetamine possession, said she was shipped to a more restrictive facility. Others said they were too afraid to file complaints or didn’t expect that the employees would face consequences after seeing what happened when women had complained.

New DHS border buoys in the Rio Grande raise concerns

The Trump administration is moving ahead with a new border security project in the Rio Grande — not a wall of steel or concrete, but a floating barrier of linked buoys. The effort known as Operation River Wall, calls for more than 500 miles of buoy barriers in the river along the Texas-Mexico border. The first segment, now being installed near Brownsville, stretches about 17 miles. Federal officials announced the project in January, and public reporting has said the broader plan could total roughly 536 miles. The first section carries a price tag of about $96 million.

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The initial construction of the buoy barrier is in a remote part of the Rio Grande near Brownsville that is on the other side of the border wall and in an area that local residents call “No Man’s Land.” Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, stood on the riverbank looking out at the buoys. “This is a gorgeous riverbank,” she said. “And in the middle of our river I see these orange cylinder barrier buoys just floating in the center.” Nearby, more than 100 buoys sat at a staging area. Workers on a raft were linking them together and anchoring them to the riverbed. Each buoy appeared to be about 15 feet long and four to five feet high. Homeland Security has framed the project as a way to deter illegal crossings. But critics say the barriers could create a new problem when the Rio Grande rises.

Houston ISD board approves outside management for 4 top-performing high schools, pre-K centers

Houston ISD's state-appointed board of managers approved contracts Thursday night to allow four top-performing high schools as well as prekindergarten centers to be managed by outside organizations. The move is possible under a 2017 law, Senate Bill 1882, which permits partnerships between public schools and other educational organizations, including nonprofits and charter school networks. HISD announced the district would explore the partnerships for highly rated high school campuses back in October. The partnership also could come with additional per-student funding from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The district could use more funding after years of enrollment declines that have resulted in tens of millions of dollars in lost state funding, which is tied to enrollment and attendance.

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The district is now cleared to submit an application to the TEA for final approval of the partnerships. If approved, the schools will begin working with nonprofits to have more control over instruction, curriculum, testing, staffing, hiring, evaluations and their academic calendars. The partnerships, which are set to begin for the 2026-2027 school year, are as follows: Kinder High School For The Performing And Visual Arts to be operated by HSPVA Friends, Challenge Early High School to be operated by Friends Of Challenge Early High School, Houston Academy For International Studies to be operated by Friends Of The Houston Academy For International Studies, Energy Institute High School to be operated by Friends Of Energy Institute High School, and Prekindergarten centers to be operated by Collaborative For Children.

Texas Supreme Court to decide whether Allen mall owner should be removed from shooting lawsuit

The Texas Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments over whether the owner of Allen Premium Outlets should be removed from a lawsuit brought against it by victims of a deadly 2023 shooting. Families of several victims in the shooting sued Simon Property Group and its security contractor, Allied Universal Security Service, in 2024 for allegedly not keeping the property safe. "We thank the Texas Supreme Court for the opportunity to address crucial matters of law and public safety that are raised by this case: Do mall owners who invite the public to gather and spend money at their malls have a legal duty to try to protect those mallgoers from the foreseeable threats posed by mass shooters?" Jeffrey B. Simon, a lawyer representing families of victims, told KERA in an email.

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"As we interpret their briefing, Simon Property Group LP, the mall owner, argues that only after there have been one or more mass shootings on a particular property does the mall owner have any legal duty to try to prevent subsequent ones or form a plan to protect the public when they occur." The lawsuit first went before Dallas County District Judge Staci Williams. She struck down a motion from Simon Property Group to dismiss the suit. The company then appealed Williams' order to the Fifth District Court of Appeals, which upheld her decision. Simon Property Group has denied any responsibility for the shooting and argues they can't be held responsible for the actions of Mauricio Garcia, the white supremacist mass shooter. "Tragic as this deadly attack was, those who owned or controlled the Outlets have no responsibility, as a matter of law, for not preventing it," the company's lawyers wrote in their petition for an appeal.

WNBA returning to Houston after Connecticut Sun reach deal to sell to Rockets owner, AP source says

The Connecticut Sun have reached an agreement to sell the team to Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta for $300 million and will move to Houston in 2027, according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press on Friday because the deal hasn't been announced publicly. The WNBA Board of Governors still needs to approve the sale and the move. The team will play in Connecticut for the upcoming season before moving to Houston and becoming the Comets again. This will end a 23-year run by the team in New England after the team moved to Connecticut from Orlando in 2003.

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Houston was one of the groups that expressed interest in buying the team last year, eventually raising its bid to $250 million — the amount that Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia paid for expansion fees. Now with the $300 million sale price that’s the highest a team has been sold for in WNBA history. The Sun had an offer for $325 million from a group led by Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca that would have moved the franchise to Boston. The WNBA basically blocked that deal from happening by saying that "relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors and not by individual teams." The league also went on to say that other teams had gone through the expansion process and had priority over Boston. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said during a news conference to announce the three new expansion teams that Houston was up next.

Austin ISD board hands control of 3 middle schools to outside partner to avoid state takeover

Dobie, Webb and Burnet middle schools will be run by Texas Council for International Studies next school year, a high-stakes move that avoids a potential fifth failing accountability rating that could trigger a district takeover from the state. After a brief debate over the group’s track record, Austin ISD board members voted unanimously Thursday night to surrender control of the three schools to the nonprofit for the next three school years, ceding day-to-day campus operations in an effort to reset performance. The decision temporarily shields the campuses from immediate state intervention. The vote came days before the March 31 deadline to apply to the Texas Education Agency under the Texas Partnerships program, which allows districts to turn over campus operations to an approved external partner.

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Superintendent Matias Segura said the district was fortunate to find a partner that met the district’s expectations, and the search also exposed a need to bring in a technical advisory partner given the urgency of the turnaround effort. He said district leaders visited schools where Texas Council for International Studies already operates as a partner and consulted with TEA to receive feedback about what configurations work and how to ensure the partnerships are successful. “After spending time with the partners and understanding their structure, having conversations with the staff at these schools, meeting with principals, I am confident this partner and this iteration will help us be successful,” Segura said. Final approval could take months, possibly until May or June, Segura said. TEA could still deny the application. If that happens and any of the three schools receive a fifth failing rating, state law requires the education commissioner to either close the school or appoint a board of managers to replace the elected school board, a move that could strip control away from Austin ISD.

On Palm Sunday, First Baptist Dallas announces groundbreaking of new sanctuary

Questions surround the future of downtown Dallas, as posed by First Baptist Dallas executive pastor Ben Lovvorn. But for his church, the future is clear. The church in the heart of downtown Dallas announced on Sunday – Palm Sunday – that construction will soon begin to rebuild the church’s 134-year-old historic sanctuary that was destroyed in a four-alarm fire in July 2024. Nearly two years later, after workers have cleared the hollowed-out structure and stabilized portions that survived the disaster, a new era will begin with a groundbreaking ceremony June 7. On Palm Sunday, congregants and Christians around the world remember the story of Jesus Christ’s entry to the city of Jerusalem, where he was greeted by people waving palm branches. The day marks one week until Easter and the beginning of Holy Week, a period to reflect on the story of Christ’s death and resurrection.

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In an interview ahead of Palm Sunday, senior pastor Robert Jeffress reflected on specific scripture that says the whole world will burn someday, but there will be a new heaven and a new earth with Christ. “We’re rebuilding a historic sanctuary,” he said. “And as wonderful as that is, it’s going to be destroyed one day. It’s not going to last forever. But the people who worship in it will last forever.” First Baptist Dallas’ historic sanctuary served as a secondary, but beloved, worship space after its $130 million expansion was completed in 2013. John Paul DeFrank, the managing principal at Beck Architecture and the lead of the First Baptist project, said the goal of the new chapel is to create a space that honors the past with an eye to the future. “It will be very traditional looking in terms of its architecture,” DeFrank said in an interview.

Remembering Austin musician Jon Dee Graham, who died at 67

For some, it began with the True Believers — or the Skunks, if you’re hardcore. The music career of Jon Dee Graham, who died Friday at 67, began when he left his studies at the University of Texas to join the Skunks, where he opened for bands like The Clash and the Ramones. Eventually, Graham left the group to back blues singer Lou Ann Barton before joining the seminal True Believers with Alejandro Escovedo. But his ride was far from over when he left the band right before they split in 1987. He went on to collaborate with John Doe and Exene Cervenka of X, Kelly Willis, Patty Griffin and many others.

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Still, it was Graham's solo work that connected a lot of fans to his understated yet incredible talent. Hooray for the Moon (2002), The Great Battle (2004) and Summerland (1999) are good starting points, and Only Dead For a Little While (2023) is a damn treasure. KUTX's Laurie Gallardo put it best when she said his songs "connect to the soul in ways you didn’t think possible.” You know the truth of that statement if you’ve ever spent any time with Graham and his music, especially if you ever caught him live at one of his Wednesday residencies at the Continental Club, or any other space he chose to bless with his presence.

National Stories

ICE agents may remain at airports even after TSA agents get paid

White House border czar Tom Homan suggested Sunday that ICE agents deployed to airports may remain there even after Transportation Security Agency officers are paid this week. Speaking to CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Homan said “we’ll see” when host Jake Tapper asked whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will leave airports after TSA personnel are paid. Homan said some of that decision will depend on whether TSA agents “come back to work.” “I’m working very closely with the TSA administrator and the ICE director to decide what airport needs what,” Homan said. ICE agents, he said, “are keeping the security at the airport at a high level, again, because of heightened threat that we’re in right now.”

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TSA agents, Homan said, will get paid “hopefully by tomorrow or Tuesday” after President Donald Trump issued an order Friday to use preexisting funds for the paychecks. Trump’s move came after Congress failed to strike a deal to end the shutdown of much of the Department of Homeland Security. “It’s good news, because these TSA officers are struggling,” Homan said about the paychecks Sunday. “They’re sitting there right now, working very hard, not being paid by members of Congress [who are] out on vacation getting paid. It’s ridiculous.” Airports around the nation have recorded lengthy wait lines at TSA checkpoints, and nearly 500 TSA officers have quit during the shutdown. On Friday, lines for security at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport stretched outside and wrapped around the building’s exterior. Wait times have gotten so excessive that some travelers are hiring line-sitters. The president’s emergency paychecks for TSA officers may lessen wait times in the coming days, but it does not solve the issue of the ongoing DHS shutdown, which reached 44 days on Sunday.

Trump weighs military operation to extract Iran’s uranium

President Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, according to U.S. officials, a complex and risky mission that would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer. Trump hasn’t made a decision on whether to give the order, the officials said, adding that he is considering the danger to U.S. troops. But the president remains generally open to the idea, according to the officials, because it could help accomplish his central goal of preventing Iran from ever making a nuclear weapon. The president has also encouraged his advisers to press Iran to agree to surrender the material as a condition for ending the war, according to a person familiar with Trump’s thinking. Trump has been clear in conversations with political allies that the Iranians can’t keep the material, and he has discussed seizing it by force if Iran won’t give it up at the negotiating table.

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Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt have acted as intermediaries between the U.S. and Iran. But Washington and Tehran haven’t yet engaged in direct negotiations to end the war. “It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. The Pentagon didn’t comment and a spokesman for U.S. Central Command declined to comment. On Sunday night, Trump told reporters that Iran must do what the U.S. demands or “they’re not going to have a country.” Referring to Iran’s uranium, Trump said, “They’re going to give us the nuclear dust.” Before Israel and the U.S. conducted a series of airstrikes on Iran in June last year, the country was believed to have more than 400 kilograms of 60% highly enriched uranium, and nearly 200 kilograms of 20% fissile material, which is easily converted into 90%-weapons-grade uranium.

Trump officials cite white supremacists in bid to end birthright citizenship

Alexander Porter Morse, a Confederate officer during the Civil War and a Louisiana attorney, argued for legalized segregation inthe landmark 1896 Supreme Court case that established the “separate but equal” doctrine and buttressed Jim Crow laws. He is again playing a key role in a monumental case to be argued before the justices Wednesday: The Trump administration has tapped Morse as an authority in its push to upend long-settled law that virtually everyone born in the United States is a citizen. Over a century ago, Morse was among a trio of thinkers who spearheaded a failed effort — steeped in anti-Black and anti-Chinese racism — to erase birthright citizenship. The Trump administration is reviving their arguments to make its case today, some legal scholars say. The administration is citing arguments “built on a racist foundation,” Justin Sadowsky, an attorney for the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA), wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief.

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Lucy Salyer, a University of New Hampshire history professor who has written on Morse and others, said she was struck that the Trump administration had chosen to elevate those figures and their ideas: “If you know the history and the broader context of what they were trying to achieve, it does ring alarm bells.” The case, which could redefine who is considered an American, centers on the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” When asked for comment about relying on Morse and his compatriots, the Trump administration pointed to a brief in which it wrote “this Court has repeatedly cited their work in other contexts.” Some legal scholars also argued their stance on birthright citizenship was shared by a number of prominent politicians who did not have racist views. The Trump administration argues the 14th Amendment does not apply to people in the country illegally or on temporary visas. If the high court agrees, and reverses the long-held interpretation, it could render hundreds of thousands of children born to immigrant parents stateless.

Democrats push Trump administration to tackle insider trading in booming prediction markets

Over 40 Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate signed a letter to top administration regulators and ethics officials on Monday asking for governmentwide training on insider trading in prediction markets. The letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Office of Government Ethics comes after weeks of increasing scrutiny regarding potential insider trading by government employees using prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi. The letter highlights concerns that federal employees may have used insider knowledge to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit from trades relating to the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the length of White House press conferences. To date, no federal employee has faced federal charges related to insider trading on event-driven news.

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“Given the exponential growth in prediction market trading, rising evidence suggesting possible governmental insider trading in prediction markets, and potential confusion surrounding existing law in this area, we ask that the CFTC and OGE issue guidance reminding federal employees of their existing legal obligation to refrain from using their insider governmental information to profit from prediction market trades,” the letter states. The letter notes that federal employees are prohibited by the Commodities Exchange Act and the STOCK Act from entering into futures contracts or similar types of trades using nonpublic information they gain from their government postings. Prediction markets use these contract mechanisms to allow people to bet on whether certain events will happen. The CFTC oversees these types of contracts and is currently seeking public feedback about new regulations that might be required to confront the rise of prediction market betting. The letter, organized by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was signed by senators including Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and representatives including Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Betty McCollum, D-Minn.

The Final Four is set as UConn stuns Duke to join Illinois, Arizona and Michigan

All that talent at Arizona and Michigan. All that momentum and good vibes at UConn. And somebody has to play the part of the unheralded “little guy.” At the Final Four next weekend, that role belongs, improbably, to Illinois. In a sign of the times, the Illinii — a Big Ten team with more wins in the conference over the last seven seasons than any other program — will pass for something resembling Cinderella when college basketball’s biggest party kicks off in Indianapolis on Saturday. The first challenge for coach Brad Underwood’s team will be stopping a hard-charging UConn juggernaut that came from 19 points down and got a game-winner from the logo with 0.4 seconds left from an Indy native — Braylon Mullins — to make its third Final Four in the last four years.

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The last two times the Huskies reached this point, they won the championship. “It’s a UConn culture, a UConn heart,” coach Dan Hurley said. “We believe we’re supposed to win this time of year.” All these teams do. Arizona, led by Brayden Burries, and Michigan, with Yaxel Lendeborg, have up to nine NBA prospects between them. The Wildcats opened as slight favorites — at plus-165 to win the championship, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. That was a shade ahead of the Wolverines, who are plus-180 after their 95-62 romp over Tennessee on Sunday. But, in one of a few strange twists on the odds chart, the Wildcats are 1 1/2-point underdogs to Michigan in Saturday night’s marquee semifinal, a matchup of No. 1 seeds. Illinois is a 1 1/2-point favorite over UConn and, in reality, it’s the Huskies, at plus-550, who are the biggest long shot in Indy. Even so, the fact that Illinois — the flagship university in the nation’s sixth most populous state and a school with an enrollment of nearly 60,000 — feels most like this year’s out-of-nowhere underdog speaks more about the current state of college hoops than the Illini themselves. They are a No. 3 seed — the highest number at the Final Four in two years. (UConn is a 2. Last season, all four No. 1s made it.)

House Democrats force a floor vote on restoring TPS for Haiti

A Democratic-led discharge petition gained enough votes over the weekend to force a House vote on extending temporary deportation protections for Haitian migrants that the Trump administration has tried to end. Rep. Ayanna Pressley worked to whip support for the bill introduced by Rep. Laura Gillen earlier this year, gaining the support of Republican Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar, Brian Fitzpatrick, Mike Lawler and Don Bacon. Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez was the petition’s final and 218th signature Friday night. The successful discharge petition moved the bill out of the Rules Committee and toward a full House vote. If passed, the measure would extend Haiti’s designation under the Temporary Protected Status program for three years.

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“Throughout the nation, Haitians are parents, workers, caregivers, faith leaders, business owners, and children who are deeply rooted in our communities, essential to our economy, and are shamefully at risk of being deported to an island grappling with a devastating humanitarian crisis,” Pressley said in a Saturday press release. “Today we are a critical step closer to saving lives and delivering the protections they deserve.” President Donald Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to halt TPS for more than 350,000 Haitian migrants last year, but a federal judge in February blocked the order from taking effect. “Since taking office, I have fought tirelessly to extend TPS for Haitian recipients after the Administration refused to do so,” Gillen said in a statement. “Bringing this bill to a vote is an important milestone to protect the lives of our Haitian friends and neighbors across the country. TPS has safeguarded law-abiding, hardworking, taxpaying members of our community who came to the U.S. seeking safety.” The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court earlier this month, arguing the conditions on the island no longer constitute the need for protected status. The State Department currently designates the country a “Level 4: Do not travel” risk “due to kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and limited health care.”

Copyright March 30, 2026, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved