00:01Possible complications with the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
00:04How Israel's bombing attacks on Lebanon appear to be clouding the deal.
00:09Plus, Pam Bondi is gone as Attorney General, and she has no plans to go back to Washington
00:14to testify before Congress in the Epstein Files case.
00:18Will the threat of being held in contempt compel her to change her mind?
00:22And his wife went overboard while on a small boat in the Bahamas.
00:26The husband says winds, high seas, and the current swept her away.
00:29But now he's under arrest, and she still has not been found.
00:35The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
00:41These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:47Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
00:49The two-week ceasefire with Iran is already tenuous this morning,
00:53with Iran accusing the United States and Israel of violating the terms of the deal after attacks on Lebanon.
01:00The Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah says in retaliation it launched, quote,
01:05a large barrage of rockets at a settlement in Israel overnight.
01:09The Israeli military announced this morning it killed Ali Youssef Karshi,
01:14the nephew and personal secretary of Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qasim,
01:20in what it calls its most powerful attacks yet, on Lebanon Wednesday.
01:25They say Karshi played a central role in providing Qasim security.
01:29The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health says Wednesday's strikes claimed the lives of at least 182 people.
01:36Iran and other world powers, including some U.S. allies, have condemned Israel's strikes,
01:42saying they violate the ceasefire deal.
01:44But President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insist the ceasefire deal does not include Lebanon.
01:51Despite that, an Iranian delegation is still set to arrive in Pakistan Thursday night,
01:56ahead of talks about a permanent ceasefire with the U.S.
01:59Pakistan, which is mediating, says those talks could begin as early as Friday.
02:05The White House has confirmed that Vice President J.D. Vance will lead the U.S. negotiating team.
02:10Vance told reporters in Hungary that it is his understanding that Israel will now back off its attacks on Lebanon
02:17for the good of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
02:20Meanwhile, President Trump says American troops will remain in the region until, quote,
02:25the real agreement reached is fully complied with.
02:28In a related topic, the Strait of Hormuz appears to be closed again this morning,
02:33as Iran claims the United States violated the ceasefire.
02:37The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says shipping through the critical waterway is now halted.
02:44Traffic had begun to resume after the ceasefire went into effect.
02:48Marine traffic data, however, shows most ships remained anchored in the Persian Gulf,
02:52and only four passed through on Wednesday.
02:55The Iranian Ports and Maritime Organization is urging vessel operators to use alternative shipping routes
03:01to avoid potential naval mines.
03:03It comes after semi-official news agencies in Iran published a chart showing
03:09Iran's military put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war.
03:13The chart was dated from February 28th until April 9th, and it's not clear if any of the mines have
03:20been removed.
03:21Vice President J.D. Vance restated Wednesday night that if Iran does not follow through on its promise to reopen
03:28the Strait,
03:28the ceasefire will end.
03:30Now to a different topic.
03:32Former Attorney General Pam Bondi was supposed to appear before the House Oversight Committee next week,
03:37but the Justice Department now says she will not.
03:41The department argues that because Bondi was subpoenaed in her official capacity as Attorney General,
03:46the subpoena no longer applies.
03:49President Trump fired Bondi last week.
03:51Lawmakers on both sides say they still expect her to sit for the deposition.
03:56Republican Nancy May says Bondi cannot escape accountability by leaving office.
04:01Democrat Robert Garcia says he will push for contempt charges if she refuses to appear.
04:07The fight centers on Bondi's role in releasing the so-called Epstein files,
04:12which lawmakers say contained multiple errors and missed a release deadline set by Congress.
04:17The committee is also pressing ahead with other witnesses.
04:20Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is set for a closed-door interview on June 10th.
04:26Gates has denied any knowledge of Epstein's crimes and says he's willing to cooperate.
04:30He has called his meetings and dealings with Epstein a huge mistake.
04:35New developments this morning in the case of the missing boater from Michigan, Lynette Hooker.
04:40She went overboard last Saturday on a dinghy in the Bahamas and did not resurface.
04:45Her husband, Brian Hooker, said she lost her balance, fell into the water and disappeared.
04:50He is now under arrest, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force, and considered a suspect.
04:56The couple was on the small boat heading for their yacht when the incident occurred at around 7.30 Saturday
05:01night.
05:02Brian Hooker then showed up on shore around 4 a.m. Sunday, claiming strong currents swept his wife away.
05:09The 55-year-old woman is still missing, and it's now a recovery effort in the Bahamas.
05:13Her daughter told ABC News she wants a full investigation. The U.S. Coast Guard will lead that probe.
05:19The husband has denied any wrongdoing, blaming unpredictable seas and high winds for her fall and saying that he is
05:26heartbroken.
05:28The man charged with terrorizing women on Long Island, New York, for decades, killing them and leaving their remains strewn
05:35about at Gilgo Beach has now pleaded guilty.
05:3862-year-old Rex Hewerman, a former architect, admitted in court on Wednesday that he actually killed eight women, not
05:45seven, over a 17-year period.
05:47In court, Hewerman admitted to meeting all eight women, some of them prostitutes, strangling them and dumping their bodies on
05:54a parkway near the beach on Long Island's southern shore.
05:57The first murder happened way back in 1993.
06:00The cases later became known as the Gilgo Beach serial killings.
06:05Investigators arrested Hewerman in 2023.
06:07They used DNA evidence from discarded pizza crust to connect him to the murders.
06:12The Suffolk County Police Commissioner calling him a demon, a predator that ruined families.
06:17A judge will sentence Hewerman in June.
06:19He is expected to get consecutive life sentences without parole, never to be released from prison.
06:26Finally this morning, for the first time ever, a new species of spider caught on video.
06:31This is Cryptodrasus michaeli.
06:35Say what?
06:36It's actually tinier than the tip of a pencil.
06:39It's also incredibly rare, one of only eight to ever be captured.
06:44Researchers are now working to learn more about the elusive species, starting with what this spider feeds on and what
06:51feeds on it.
06:52It is a new species, and the particularity of this species is that it is very tiny compared to others
07:00in their family, which is Nafrosidae, ground spiders.
07:04And we don't know yet anything about the biology, but we know they are in these footwebs that we are
07:11studying.
07:12The spider, which only measures between two and three millimeters, was first caught in southern Spain in 2021.
07:20Proving what kids have sung about for decades, right?
07:23There really is an itsy bitsy spider that went up the water spout.
07:28All right, before we head out, here's what we're tracking today.
07:30Starting at 10 this morning, some of the nation's top Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries
07:36and former Vice President Kamala Harris, will deliver remarks at the National Action Network Convention on Civil Rights.
07:43Then, at 11, NATO Secretary General Mark Ruta will be at the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington
07:49to talk about the threats the Alliance faces and what it takes to ensure peace.
07:54At 6 p.m., the astronauts aboard the Artemis II will hold a news conference from space as they make
08:00their way back to Earth.
08:02Want more on biased updates? Sign up for our newsletter.
08:05It's just the facts, no fluff. Delivered right to your inbox each morning.
08:08Go to san.com slash newsletters.
08:11Those are your unbiased updates for this Thursday.
08:13We'll see you back here tomorrow, Friday.
08:15We love that.
08:16For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig Negrelli.
08:19Have a great day.
Comments