War Pushes Gas Prices Near $4 a Gallon, and Anti-Trump Protesters Rally Nationwide

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0:34From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, March 30th. Here's what we're covering.

0:45The war in Iran is now in its fifth week and counting. And this morning, we're looking at how the conflict is expanding, the wave of U.S. troops that were just deployed, and how gas prices may be about to hit a new high. To start, another front in the war has opened as the Houthis, an Iran-backed militia in Yemen, opened fire on Israel this weekend and vowed to carry out more attacks going forward. At the same time, Israel and the U.S. continued to pound Tehran with airstrikes. One resident there told The Times that they felt, quote, hours and hours of explosions. Iran also stepped up its retaliation, launching a wave of drones and missiles at a military base in Saudi Arabia, injuring 12 American soldiers.

1:29It was one of the most serious breaches of U.S. air defenses since the war started. Are you considering still putting boots on the ground? Would you do that without going to conference? I just have lots of alternatives. We have tremendous numbers of ships over there. Also, as of this weekend, President Trump has new options if he decides to turn up the pressure on Iran. According to two U.S. military officials, several hundred special ops forces, including Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, have now arrived in the Middle East, joining thousands of recently deployed Marines and Army paratroopers. And on the energy front.

2:05They gave us, I think out of a sign of respect, 20 boats of oil, big, big boats of oil. Trump said that Iran is going to let some oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz. He framed it as a sign that talks with Iran to end the war were underway and going well. It wasn't immediately clear who the ships belonged to or where they would be headed. Still, any oil or gas getting through would be a major development. Since Iranian forces all but cut off the crucial waterway, global energy prices have soared. The cost of oil has climbed over 50 percent compared to before the war. And in the U.S., gas prices are approaching an average of$4 a gallon.

2:54Now, more on an energy crisis in a different part of the world. For months, the U.S. has had an effective oil blockade on Cuba as the Trump administration tries to force political and economic changes in the communist-ruled country. It has cut the island off from fuel, upending everyday life there. I can tell you that the situation on the ground is quite dire. Jack Nickus covers Cuba for The Times, And he says some of the most severe consequences so far have been to the country's health care system. The hospitals are canceling surgeries because many doctors and nurses can't commute to work. Many clinics are struggling to administer treatments like chemotherapy because of the power outages.

3:36Many ambulances are parked. Pharmacies are largely empty. They've halted medicine production because many of the factories run on diesel. All of this together has really resulted in a significant worsening of health care in Cuba, which once was a triumph for the nation. And six separate doctors we spoke to said that those rapidly deteriorating conditions were already causing deaths that would otherwise be preventable. This weekend, the Times learned that the U.S. Coast Guard will allow one tanker full of oil to reach Cuba, buying the nation at least a few weeks before its reserves totally run out, according to analysts.

4:15The ship, which is owned by the Russian government, was already very close to the island as of last night. It's unclear why the White House is letting it through, though the decision avoids a potentially thorny confrontation with Russia in the waters just off the coast of Florida.

4:37In Washington, to catch you up quickly on the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, it is still shut down with no new funding. This gambit that was done last night is a joke. I'm quite convinced that it can't be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill. Just hours after Senate Republicans struck a deal with Democrats to fund everything at DHS except ICE and Border Patrol, House Republicans angrily rejected that. That highlighted a major rift within the party, with hard-right Republicans in the House ripping on their counterparts in the Senate for what they consider caving to Democrats' demands.

5:17The stalemate has resulted in the exact situation many lawmakers have been trying to avoid. Congress is now scheduled to be off for Easter break. That means the partial shutdown will likely last until mid-April at least. The most visible consequence of the funding lapse, though, may get some relief as soon as today. TSA agents are set to get paychecks after President Trump ordered DHS to find the funds to do it. Before this, hundreds of TSA officers had quit and absence rates spiked, causing hours-long security lines and people missing their flights. Amid the chaos, the White House deployed ICE agents to airports.

5:56Over the weekend, the administration said those deployments would continue for now. Tell me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like. Also this weekend, protesters against the Trump administration gathered around the country for No Kings rallies. There are a lot of people here. The organizers said 8 million people took part, one of the largest protests in recent history. The Times has not independently confirmed the numbers spread over thousands of protest sites. We show up. And Minnesota, we showed the country that that is what we do. One of the largest gatherings took place outside the Minnesota state capitol, where people turned out in part to protest the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Preddy by federal agents in Minneapolis this year.

6:48Opposition to ICE and the administration's immigration crackdown remained a key part of the rallying cry at the protests. but there were also chants of end this war. At least in some places, the war in Iran seemed to be motivating many younger people to turn out. A 22-year-old organizer at a rally near the University of Iowa said the crowd there was a lot younger than at previous No Kings demonstrations, which she attributed in part to anger over the new conflict in the Middle East. The White House itself has mocked the nationwide protests. An administration spokeswoman said earlier that, quote, the only people who care about these Trump derangement therapy sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.

7:37And finally, every year at a mass the night before Easter, the Roman Catholic Church welcomes new converts. This weekend in the U.S., there will be a surprising number of them. The Archdiocese of Detroit will have almost 1 ,500, most in two decades. The same trend is happening in Los Angeles and Phoenix, as well as smaller rural places like Gallup, New Mexico and Allentown, Pennsylvania. One cardinal told the Times that when a bunch of bishops got together at a conference recently, they were all asking each other, What's your number? What's your number? For quite a while, the broader Christian population in the U.S.

8:14had been declining. But a survey from Pew showed last year that it stabilized. As for why Catholicism in particular is calling to people, there are a lot of theories. Some converts told the Times they were feeling disconnected or lonely, and they thought the church could help. Others said they were drawn in by Catholic podcast stars on social media. And then there's the fact that the new pope is American. Still, what exactly is behind the surge has stumped even church leadership. Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington said, quote, Of course we think the Holy Spirit is, but we are kind of stymied.

8:53Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.

9:06This podcast is supported by Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Here's a story that's not getting nearly enough attention. Defunding Planned Parenthood has already caused chaos and harm, and access to essential reproductive care is plummeting. Right now, the Trump administration's backers in Congress want to permanently defund Planned Parenthood, forcing even more health centers to close and millions at risk of losing access to care. It takes less than a minute to help. Go to plannedparenthood.org slash defend and make a gift of any size.