The Latest: 03/17/2026 10:59pm 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. Flyers across the U.S. are dealing with bad weather and long lines. Delays and cancellations are starting to pile up as a line of thunderstorms hit the east coast as far south as Florida. Flight-aware reports over 1100 flights have been cancelled at last check with over 8,000 delays. Meanwhile, major airports are reporting long security lines due to the partial shutdown of the department of Homeland Security.

1:05TSA says its agents are fully stretched as they work without pay. The Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting began today. The Central Bank is widely expected to hold its benchmark interest rate unchanged when it wraps up the meeting tomorrow. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will hold a press conference following the announcement. His remarks will be coming just days after a federal judge block subpoena served against him by the Justice Department related to a renovation management probe. This all comes as President Trump has continued to pressure Powell to more aggressively lower interest rates. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondy is being ordered to testify about the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. House Oversight Committee Chair James Palmer issued the subpoena today. It requires Bondy to appear for a deposition on April 14th. Here's Mark Mayfield. The motion passed on a 24-19 vote with five Republicans voting in favor of the subpoena. That group included Representative Nancy Mase of South Carolina who introduced the motion. In a post on X Mase wrote,

2:05A.G. Bondy claims the DOG has released all of the Epstein files. The record is clear they have not. Mase went on to say the Epstein case is one of the greatest cover-ups in American history on Mark Mayfield. President Trump's top counterterrorism official is stepping down from his post amid the war in Iran. In a post on X National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent said, quote, He cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. He added, Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel. President Trump responded saying it was a good thing that he's out. I'm Lisa Cardin. The MTA and New York are suing the Trump administration over its second avenue funding freeze, Sarah Lee Kessler reports. They're taking legal action to force the feds to release nearly $60 million in Congressional approved funding for the second avenue subway, frozen since October. The lawsuit claiming breach of contract the $7 billion project would extend the queue line from 96th Street to 125th Street in East Harlem.

3:08Governor Kathy Hocal says the funding freeze threatens the jobs of thousands of union workers and the commutes of 100,000 writers. In North Carolina, the death penalty is on the table for the shooting death of a Greensboro police officer Scott Kimbler reports. A judge heard from prosecutors, family members and many others regarding whether prosecutors should be able to seek the death penalty for Tarell McMillan. He is accused of shooting police officer Michael Horan inside of a food line on Christmas Eve of 2024. Fox 8 reports a judge agreed, but is not yet set a trial date. The school district in one Texas town is banning 600 books from the high school library. The list includes ones written by John Steinbeck and William Shakespeare, as well as celebrity authors like Prince Harry, Tom Hanks and Will Farrell. The developing systems that often sweep up books that have really no controversial content at all. Frank Strong with the Texas Freedom to Read project says that in the case of the new Bronfell school district, they used AI to find books that may have adult content.

4:12Some that were flagged, he says, were actually part of AP coursework. And a new study finds listening to music at least 24 minutes in a day may significantly decrease anxiety. The study done at Toronto Metropolitan University involved 144 adults with anxiety and on medication. They listened to music for different lengths of time and researchers concluded that 24 minutes was the key to listening anxiety. I'm Lisa Carton.