NPR News: 03-30-2026 11AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, on Corva Coleman, President Trump is again threatening to blow up Iran's electricity plants, oil wells, and possibly desalination plants. Those provide water to tens of millions of Iranian civilians. Trump says Iran needs to reopen the state of Hormuz to oil tankers, but he also says his team is talking with a new Iranian regime he finds reasonable. However, Trump is still sending U.S. troops to the mid-east. NPR's Greg Maire says about 50,000 U.S. troops will be there. This expanding force gives President Trump additional options, but these are still relatively small numbers. They could carry out specific limited operations, but it's not nearly enough for a major, sustained ground invasion. And neither Trump nor the Pentagon has hinted at the mission, but clearly the most urgent issue is the straight of Hormuz. So there's speculation that the troops may be part of an effort to try to open the straight for oil tankers. NPR's Greg Maire reporting, TSA agents have now gone without pay for more than 40 days

1:05that's triggered historic wait times and airport security checkpoints. But as NPR's Joe Hernandez reports, the Trump administration says TSA workers could be paid as early as today. The Trump administration says it's using funding within the Department of Homeland Security budget to pay TSA workers. That's after Congress failed to reach a deal to fund DHS. Lawmakers have disagreed over calls for tighter restrictions on immigration enforcement. It's unclear exactly how the Trump administration's funding plan for TSA will work. The agency is seeing its longest wait times in history, with some travelers stuck four hours or more in airport security lines. Meanwhile White House borders are, Tom Homan told multiple media outlets ICE agents sent to airports could stay there even after TSA officers are paid. Joe Hernandez and PR News. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Wednesday that could narrow or end birthright citizenship in the United States. And PR's Jnaki Metha reports on how this could change the lives of students with disabilities.

2:11Medicaid is best known for health insurance, but the program is also among the largest funding sources for K-12 schools, sending billions of dollars each year to help student learning and development. That includes paying for things like occupational therapy and speech therapy for students with disabilities. But to qualify for Medicaid, a student must typically have legal status. If birthright citizenship is narrowed or ended altogether, hundreds of thousands of children each year may no longer qualify for Medicaid. Schools are still required to serve children with disabilities, though. The ending birthright citizenship could shift the financial burden of serving those students to schools, which are already stretched then. Jnaki Metha and PR News. On Wall Street, the dials up 400 points. This is NPR News. Russian-controlled news media say that a Russian oil tanker has arrived in Cuba. The Trump administration essentially imposed a fuel blockade on Cuba in January. Cuba is now in the throes of an energy crisis.

3:14There have been island-wide blackouts. Yesterday, President Trump said he had no problem with the arrival of the Russian oil tanker. NASA officials say preparations are going smoothly for a Wednesday-launch attempt for the Artemis 2 mission. As NPR's Nell Greenfield Voice reports, its goal is to send astronauts around the moon for the first time since the 1970s. The four-person crew is in quarantine at Kennedy Space Center, where a 322-foot tall rocket is being readied at the launch pad. The crew includes a few firsts for a moon mission, the first person of color, the first woman, and the first non-American, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut named Jeremy Hansen. At a press briefing, Hansen said their flight is actually a collaboration with lots of international partners. It's not just three Americans in a Canadian. It is people literally around the world, and it's a beautiful thing. Their space journey is expected to last about 10 days. They'll test out their capsule's systems close to Earth, and if all looks good, they'll

4:16go on a looping trip around the moon and back. Nell Greenfield Voice, NPR News. Thieves in Italy have stolen three famous paintings. There by Sezon, Matisse, and Renoir, local Italian media say that thieves needed about three minutes last week to grab the art works from a private museum near Parma. This is NPR. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.