NPR News: 03-31-2026 2AM EDT

0:00Live from MPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. President Trump is again threatening Iran in a social media post Monday. Trump claimed progress is being made in talks with Iran, which dies direct negotiations. But he said, if the straight-of-form moves is not opened immediately, the U.S. would target Iranian power plants, oil wells, or Ireland, and possibly desalination plants. Meanwhile, an Iranian missile strike on a base in Saudi Arabia wounded at least a dozen U.S. troops. Iran also destroyed two vital American radar planes as MPR's Quil Lawrence reports. A U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly has confirmed to NPR that two E3 century aircraft were damaged in the Iranian missile and drone attack on Friday. The E3 centuries are known as AWACS, which stands for airborne warning and control system aircraft, and are crucial along with U.S. drones and satellites to de-conflicting friendly aircraft and detecting threats. Iran appears to have targeted the planes precisely where they sat,

1:02uncovered, at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. Also, the official confirms that the number of wounded service members has grown since the initial reports, including several injuries described as serious. Quil Lawrence and PR News. Fed Chair Jerome Powell says it's important to closely monitor the spike in energy prices brought on by the Iran War. You have to carefully monitor inflation expectations because you can have a series of these supply shocks, and that can lead, you know, the public generally, businesses, price centers, households, lead them to start expecting higher inflation over time. Why wouldn't they? At the end of a certain number of years, the inflation is now just higher, and that can happen. So you monitor that very, very carefully. I'll spoke about data students at Harvard University saying higher energy prices have not yet created a hard choice for the Fed. He said the Fed can wait and see how the war affects inflation, the Iran War. Now in its fifth week, as the average price for gasoline years, $4 a gallon. Lawyers for the Justice Department whistleblower warning about what they

2:07call a failure to investigate his claims. And PR's Kerry Johnson reports on a new letter to Congress about the issue. Arizona helped oversee major lawsuits over President Trump's immigration policy last year, but he was put on leave and then fired nearly a year ago after he raised concerns that top Justice Department officials were telling lawyers to ignore or mislead federal courts. Ruvaney's lawyers say 15 months have passed since he blew the whistle, but there's no sign the inspector general at the DOJ launched a serious investigation, and they cited correspondence showing the IG had closed the matter. They say it's part of a broader abdication of responsibility at the Justice Department. DOJ says Ruvaney is, quote, desperate for relevancy, and there's no legitimate basis to investigate. Kerry Johnson in PR News, Washington. This is NPR News. Colorado's Department of Transportation is requesting millions of dollars and unspense snow plow funds to prepare state roads for wildfire season and event at 90 reports.

3:12Up to $12 million of snow contingency funds could be used to clear fuels along roads, but officials caution they'll need more to handle the season ahead. Bob Fifer is the deputy director of operations for the Colorado Department of Transportation. He says this is the first time they've been able to request these funds due to the record lack of snowfall. We've actually hit our peak snowpack about two weeks ago, which means that's the most snow our mountains will see, which was not very much. In fact, most of our mountains are really down to dirt. The National Interagency Fire Center says parts of interstate 70 and the western slope are expected to be at above average risk for significant fires. For NPR News, I'm Emma Van Den Eindy in Denver, Colorado. Chicago Bulls have waived Garjaden Ivy. The Bulls decision came after Ivy posted a series of videos on his Instagram account in which he criticized the NBA for celebrating Pride Month, expressing his disapproval from a religious perspective. Team officials say Ivy's comments do not reflect the values of the organization.

4:15The Bulls are acquired Ivy in a trade early last month, but he appeared in just four games before he was sidelined to two left knee issues. Financial markets in Asia mostly lower in Tuesday trading shares in South Korea down more than three percent. Tokyo's benchmark in the UK down eight tenths of a percent. US futures have turned higher, following a mix finished for Wall Street on Monday. I'm Jail Snyder in PR News. 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.