The Latest: 03/15/2026 04:59pm ET

0:00This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human One ice coffee? 99 cents please. For real? No way. One ice coffee? 99 cents please. For real? No way. What a deal! Your new morning groove. Ice coffee from McDonald's any size for just 99 cents to 11 a.m. Price and participation may vary cannot be combined with any other offer. This is your 24-7 news update. The latest views this hour in just four minutes. President Trump says Iran is ready to negotiate a ceasefire but he's not ready to make a deal. Trump said that's because, quote, the terms are not good enough yet. In a weekend interview with NBC News, the president also said he's working with other countries on a plan to keep the straight of Hormuz open as global oil prices surge.

1:01The U.S. and Israel launched a joint military operation against Iran two weeks ago. The Israeli military says the brother of the suspect in last week's attack on a synagogue in Michigan was a Hezbollah commander and has been eliminated in a strike. In a post today on X, Israel Defense Forces says, Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali was responsible for managing weapons operations within a specialized branch of the body unit which is accused of launching hundreds of rockets toward Israeli civilians. His brother, Aiman Muhammad Ghazali, is accused of driving a truck full of fireworks and jugs of gasoline into that synagogue near Detroit. He reportedly had posted online the night before that several of his relatives had been killed in an Israeli air strike in Southern Lebanon. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says there's a good chance gas prices will fall below $3 a gallon by summer. Wright made the prediction on NBC's Meet the Press as Americans are paying steep prices at the pump as a result of the conflict in Iran.

2:01This is a short-term disruption in the flow of energy. Americans are feeling it right now. Americans will feel it for a few more weeks. But at the end, we will have removed the greatest risk to global energy supplies. We'll go to a world more abundant in energy, more affordable in energy and less risky for American soldiers and commerce in the Middle East. Wright says he's optimistic that will happen since the U.S. will have removed the risk of Iran's threat on global energy supplies. Thousands are still without power in Hawaii as powerful storms batter the islands. Flash flooding prompted evacuations on Huahu's North Shore. About 50,000 customers have lost power. I'm Lisa Carton. With the war in Iran driving up prices and cutting off the supply of oil for many, President Trump is making moves to boost oil production, more from Jason Nathanson. President Trump wants the oil to start flowing again off of California's coast. He signed an executive order that would allow the company's table to start using a pipeline that ruptured in 2015 causing one of the worst oil spills in California history.

3:03Sable bought the pipeline complex in 2024 and says everything's been fixed. But California hasn't yet approved a restart. Governor Newsom vows to fight the move, saying in a statement that Trump is exploiting the Iran war and putting California's coastal economy at risk. I'm Jason Nathanson. Police say a former worker at Memorial Sloan Kettering in Manhattan is in custody after dropping off a bag Saturday in the hospital lobby that he claimed was a bomb. Lisa Selvati reports from New York cops say it happened around noon at the hospital on York Avenue. The New York Daily News reports there was a note attached to the bag that a bomb was inside. Police swarmed the building and after investigating they discovered it was a statue made of cement inside that bag. Cops located the former employee nearby and arrested him in California Riverside County authorities say a week long anti-human trafficking operation has safely rescued dozens of teens. You're Sharon Reardon. This is a massive problem that we have not just in California, but our entire country Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco says some of the rescued teens became victims of child sex trafficking and sex assault.

4:09The minors ages 14 to 17 were located in Riverside County as well as Northern California, Nevada and Arizona. NBC 4 says operation safe return involved federal agents and more than a dozen local agencies. Our sex trafficking is through hotels or events apps online. 37 teens were safely rescued and seven arrests were made. The operation which ran from March 2nd to the 6th was spearheaded by the Riverside County Sheriff's Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force. I'm Lisa Carton.