00:00Oil prices briefly surging over $100 a barrel overnight.
00:05Now the United States and its allies are preparing a massive release of emergency reserves.
00:10Plus, a drone threat to California.
00:13Intelligence shows Iran had considered striking targets in the state, possibly from unmanned ships.
00:20And President Trump takes his fight with a fellow Republican straight to his home district
00:25as Congressman Thomas Massey digs in for a tough primary battle.
00:31The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
00:37These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:43Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
00:45Oil prices have briefly surged above $100 a barrel this morning
00:49after reports of an attack on two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf near Iraq.
00:55Now the United States and its allies are preparing a massive release.
01:00of emergency oil reserves in an effort to calm global markets.
01:04Iran is warning the world to prepare for oil to spike even higher,
01:08saying prices could reach $200 a barrel.
01:11The threat comes after Iranian forces attacked merchant ships in the Gulf,
01:15while the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important oil shipping routes, remains closed.
01:21In response, President Donald Trump has ordered the release of 172 million barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
01:30Energy Secretary Chris Wright says those releases will begin next week and continue for about four months.
01:36The International Energy Agency, a group of 32 countries, mostly U.S. allies,
01:41says it will also release oil from its emergency stockpiles, totaling about 400 million barrels.
01:48Meanwhile, Trump is repeating his claim that the U.S. has already defeated Iran.
01:53We've won.
01:54You know, you never like to say too early you won.
01:56We won.
01:57We won the best.
01:58In the first hour, it was over.
02:00But we won.
02:00We don't want to leave early, do we, huh?
02:03We got to finish the job, right?
02:08Over the past 11 days, our military has virtually destroyed Iran.
02:15The war is also carrying a steep price tag for American taxpayers.
02:20Pentagon officials told senators in a closed-door briefing Tuesday that military operations against Iran
02:26cost at least $11.3 billion in just the first six days of the conflict.
02:32This morning, California is on alert after reports that Iran had considered retaliating against the United States
02:40with drone strikes targeting the state.
02:42The FBI warned California law enforcement last month that if the United States attacked Iran,
02:48Tehran could respond with a surprise drone strike on unspecified targets in the state.
02:54But new reporting suggests the intense U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran over the past 12 days
03:00may have disrupted or delayed those plans.
03:03California Governor Gavin Newsom's office told ABC News the state is aware of the threat
03:08and is coordinating with federal, state, and local officials to protect communities.
03:13In Los Angeles, law enforcement is operating at an elevated level of readiness
03:18with extra patrols around churches and other high-profile locations across L.A. County.
03:24Security experts say Iran maintains networks in Mexico and South America
03:28raising concerns that drones could potentially be launched from the Pacific or from Mexican territory.
03:35To politics now, President Trump took his feud with Republican Congressman Thomas Massey
03:41straight into Massey's own backyard Wednesday, campaigning in northern Kentucky
03:45and openly trying to defeat him.
03:47At a packaging company in Hebron, Trump blasted the six-term congressman,
03:52calling him a loser, disloyal, and a disaster,
03:55accusing him of opposing just about everything.
03:59He is the worst person.
04:01His name is...
04:02What the hell?
04:04How did he ever end up in Kentucky?
04:06His name is Thomas Massey.
04:10No, Massey voted against tax cuts for seniors.
04:14He voted against tax cuts for overtime workers.
04:17And he voted against tax cuts for earners, tip earners.
04:21Trump appeared on stage with the man he's backing in the upcoming Republican primary,
04:27former Navy SEAL and Farmer Ed Galrine,
04:29praising him as the candidate he wants representing Kentucky's 4th District.
04:34The president has made unseating Massey a priority,
04:38calling him, quote,
04:38the worst Republican congressman in history,
04:41in a post on Truth Social ahead of the visit,
04:44and predicting Massey will lose his upcoming primary.
04:47But Massey is not backing down.
04:49In an interview with ABC News, the Kentucky Republican argued,
04:53voters in his district are already questioning the economic cost of the war with Iran.
04:57Quote,
05:09The primary fight is quickly becoming one of the most expensive House races in the country.
05:14Outside groups aligned with Trump have already poured more than $5 million into the race,
05:19trying to boost Galrine and defeat the libertarian-leaning congressman.
05:23The war of words between Trump and Massey spilled across social media.
05:27After Trump attacked him online, Massey fired back, saying,
05:31quote,
05:31I predict President DJT will begrudgingly sign my beautiful Epstein Files Transparency Act,
05:38causing beleaguered princes, ambassadors, and CEOs around the world to be arrested or resign in total shame.
05:46To the East Coast now,
05:48the two Pennsylvania teens accused of trying to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack
05:53at the New York City mayor's mansion may have been considering other targets first.
05:58That's according to a new report from ABC News.
06:01Law enforcement sources tell the outlet evidence shows 18-year-old Amir Balat
06:06and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi of the Philadelphia area had been planning an attack for some time
06:12before throwing IEDs outside Gracie Mansion during a protest last weekend.
06:17Investigators who searched a storage unit in the teen's hometown
06:20reportedly found a notebook filled with details about soft targets like shopping centers,
06:26though no specific location was named.
06:28New video also appears to show Balat at a phantom fireworks store in Pendell, Pennsylvania,
06:34on March 2nd.
06:35The company vice president told ABC in an email
06:38that Balat bought a 20-foot-length consumer fireworks safety fuse.
06:43Meanwhile, two New York City police officers being hailed as heroes for chasing down the suspects
06:49say they were just doing their job.
06:52What in the heck were you thinking?
06:54Catch the bad guy.
06:55That is it.
06:56Catch the bad guy.
06:57I am very impressed that I cleared that barrier.
07:00In that moment, I didn't think of anything.
07:02To me, it was to try to save as many lives as possible.
07:06Would you do it again?
07:07Yes.
07:08Yes.
07:09Balat and Kayumi are now being held on multiple charges,
07:12including terrorism counts and use of a weapon of mass destruction.
07:16They have not yet entered a plea.
07:18The Trump administration is moving quickly to rebuild its tariff strategy
07:23after last month's Supreme Court ruling struck down some of the president's earlier trade duties.
07:29The administration has now launched a series of new Section 301 trade investigations
07:34targeting what it calls structural excess capacity.
07:38That's when countries build far more factory output than global demand can absorb,
07:43a practice American officials say can flood markets, undercut prices, and squeeze American manufacturers.
07:49More than a dozen countries are now under review, including some of the United States' biggest trading partners,
07:55China, the European Union, Mexico, Japan, India, South Korea, and Taiwan.
08:00The process begins with the public comment period and a hearing set for May 5th.
08:06Trade officials want the investigations completed before a temporary 10% global tariff
08:11put in place under a different trade law expires in July.
08:15And the administration says another trade probe could launch as early as today,
08:21focused on whether countries are doing enough to block imports linked to forced labor.
08:26Finally this morning, a NASA spacecraft that spent years flying through one of the most dangerous regions around Earth
08:34has finally come home.
08:36The Van Allen probe re-entered the atmosphere Wednesday nearly 14 years, 14 years after launch.
08:43NASA sent up the satellite in 2012 to explore the Earth's radiation belts,
08:48which are rings of supercharged particles trapped by our planet's magnetic field.
08:53Most spacecraft avoid that region because the radiation can destroy electronics.
08:59But the Van Allen probes flew straight through it for years,
09:03collecting the most detailed data ever on how those belts behave.
09:07The pictures are pretty cool, right?
09:09Even discovering a temporary third radiation belt during periods of intense solar activity.
09:15NASA originally expected the probe to stay in orbit until 2034,
09:19but the current solar cycle increased atmospheric drag, pulling it back to Earth much sooner.
09:26Most of the 1,300-pound spacecraft burned up during re-entry over the Pacific.
09:31Its twin probe is still in orbit, though it's expected to fall back to Earth sometime in the next decade.
09:38It's like something out of the Big Bang Theory, right?
09:41Wow.
09:41I actually like that show.
09:43All right, before we head out, here's what we're tracking today.
09:45At 8.30, the Labor Department releases its weekly report on new unemployment claims,
09:50a fresh snapshot of layoffs and the health of the job market.
09:54At noon, Freddie Mac publishes its latest reading on U.S. mortgage rates.
09:58Out west, at 3 Eastern, the city of Oakland honors Olympic gold medalist Alyssa Liu with a celebration at City
10:05Hall.
10:05That same hour, NASA holds a briefing on the progress toward a potential Artemis II launch.
10:11Hey, thanks for making us part of your morning routine.
10:14Unbiased Updates is the quickest, clearest few minutes of news.
10:17If you agree, tell your friends about us.
10:19You can watch us at SCN.com, on our app, or on YouTube, and you can stream us on Spotify.
10:25Those are your Unbiased Updates for this Thursday.
10:27We'll see you back here tomorrow, Friday.
10:28We love that.
10:29For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
10:32Have a great day.
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