00:00Sometimes the most interesting part of a story never makes it into the headlines.
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00:08an exclusive show where we turn off the prompter for smart insights about the stories shaping your week.
00:13There is evidence, right, that it's foreign actors who are creating these accounts.
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00:34Unbiased Updates Offscript, coming this week at Straight Arrow.
00:38The price of war just jumped again, the Pentagon's new multi-billion dollar estimate,
00:44and the senator accusing the defense secretary of gross negligence.
00:48Your fallback to the Biden administration is just a very, very obvious excuse.
00:56Plus, a Florida congressman facing new legal scrutiny.
01:00The reports of a Justice Department investigation and how Corey Mills is responding.
01:05And thousands of non-citizens mistakenly registered to vote.
01:10The software error behind it and the governor taking responsibility.
01:16The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
01:22These are your Unbiased Updates from Straight Arrow.
01:28Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
01:30This morning, the war is spreading.
01:32Iran's military says it launched a new wave of drone attacks into Kuwait,
01:37expanding the conflict beyond Iran's borders.
01:40The attacks came after the 11th consecutive night of U.S. airstrikes inside Iran,
01:45targeting aircraft hangars, drone storage sites, and military logistics infrastructure.
01:50The latest barrage follows President Trump's warning that the campaign would intensify.
01:56He also threatened to strike Iran's heavily fortified Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility.
02:02It doesn't mean anything unless they have the material.
02:04They don't have, we follow the material, that's where the action is.
02:06And we'll be hitting that area very, probably pretty soon.
02:11And there's not a thing they can do about it.
02:14Normally, I wouldn't say that.
02:15If I thought they could do something about it, I would never say that.
02:19But we'll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily.
02:24The strikes came as Iran's interior minister, a key figure in talks with the U.S.,
02:30visited Pakistan, which has been trying to broker a new ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.
02:36But Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran's demand to control the Strait of Hormuz
02:41and charge tolls for shipping shows Tehran is not serious about reaching a peace agreement.
02:47We are open-minded and always willing to engage in negotiated settlements of differences.
02:52And that remains true in the case of Iran.
02:54Unfortunately, as of now, despite their direct outreaches,
02:57and Iran has been reaching out to the United States both directly and indirectly
03:00to engage in talks about settling the differences with regards to what's happening in that part of the world,
03:06unfortunately, so far, even though we have reached agreements, they have not kept their commitments.
03:10The problem we're having right now is that they're not serious about talks.
03:14If they're serious, we're serious.
03:15If they're not, then we will do what is necessary to protect that, our interests, and also the interests of
03:20our allies.
03:20Speaking at the Asian conference in the Philippines, Rubio said Iranian control of the Strait
03:26would threaten the global economy and undermine freedom of navigation
03:30across one of the world's most important shipping routes.
03:33Meanwhile, the Pentagon has identified the third service member
03:37believed to have been killed in last week's Iranian attack on a U.S. airbase in Jordan
03:41as 28-year-old Army Sergeant Angel Rampersad.
03:46Later today, Trump will attend the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members killed in recent fighting,
03:52including two soldiers who were killed in that attack.
03:55In a related topic, the price tag for the war in Iran just got a lot bigger.
04:01Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Senators Tuesday the conflict has now cost an estimated
04:06$37.5 billion, up roughly $12 billion from the Pentagon's last public estimate just a few months ago.
04:14Lawmakers wanted to know whether that number is likely to keep climbing,
04:18especially as fighting between the U.S. and Iran continues.
04:21Do you have a new estimate about what the war has cost us so far in this,
04:26the fifth month of the first year of this war in Iran?
04:29Senator, the estimate we have as of today is $37.5 billion.
04:34And is the current activity, which we've been told about,
04:38the exchange of fire back and forth in Iran,
04:41an indication that that number is going to go up in the months ahead?
04:45Some of that number captures additional O&M, mill pay,
04:48and other that would be anticipated through the fiscal year.
04:50So some of that anticipates what cost would be going out in the future as well.
04:54So the new number you've given me is what?
04:57$37.5 billion.
04:59And that represents the cost of the war through what period of time?
05:03Through now for certain aspects of it,
05:06but also mill pay, O&M, other anticipated costs through September 30th.
05:11The hearing at times turned tense.
05:13When Hegseth blamed the Biden administration for the Pentagon's growing funding request,
05:18Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed fired back.
05:21We had U.S. boats that surrendered to Iranian ships under the Biden administration.
05:26So their navy was effective in expedited ways in the past.
05:29Listen, we're talking about the war you started,
05:31not a situation in which oil was flowing freely.
05:34There was no conflict.
05:36We weren't losing personnel as a result of Iranian actions.
05:41So your fallback to the Biden administration is just a very, very obvious excuse
05:50for what I think is probably, as you described so often, gross negligence.
05:55Hegseth was interrupted multiple times by anti-war protesters.
05:59The supplemental funding request is not a substitute.
06:14Earlier in the day, Hegseth appeared alongside President Trump in the Oval Office,
06:19where the president dismissed the idea of direct talks with Tehran for now.
06:23I will tell you, they want to desperately meet.
06:26And until they're ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest in even.
06:31The administration is also asking Congress to approve roughly $70 billion
06:35in additional emergency military funding,
06:38saying the money is needed to sustain operations,
06:41replenish weapons, and prepare for what could become a much longer conflict.
06:46To politics now, Trump-backed Congressman Andy Biggs
06:50has captured the Republican nomination for Arizona governor.
06:54A staunch Trump ally, Biggs refused to certify the 2020 presidential election
06:59and echoed the president's false claims that the election was stolen.
07:03Biggs will face Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs in November
07:06in what is expected to be one of the country's most closely watched midterm races.
07:11Meanwhile, Republican State Representative Alexander Colliden
07:14has won the GOP nomination for Secretary of State.
07:18The office that oversees Arizona's elections.
07:20He will face Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes in November.
07:25Colliden has repeatedly questioned past election results
07:28and helped lead legal challenges seeking to overturn Arizona's 2020 and 2022 elections.
07:35Republican State Senate President Warren Peterson
07:37also won his party's nomination for attorney general.
07:41He will face Democratic incumbent Chris Mays,
07:43who won the office four years ago by just 280 votes
07:47out of more than two and a half million cast.
07:49And this story is getting a lot of attention.
07:52A software error and thousands of people
07:55who should not have been on New Jersey's voter rolls.
07:58State officials say more than 6,600 non-citizens
08:02were mistakenly registered to vote in 2023 and 2024
08:06because of an error in the state's motor vehicle system,
08:09even after they identified themselves as non-citizens
08:13while applying for driver's licenses or state IDs.
08:16A preliminary review found that fewer than 400 of them actually cast ballots.
08:21New Jersey Governor Mikey Sherrill says those registrations are now being removed,
08:26the software vendor replaced, and an investigation is underway.
08:30In a statement, Sherrill said,
08:32I am appalled by the reckless failures that allowed this to happen
08:35and the lack of transparency shown by those in charge at the time.
08:39This failure didn't occur under my watch, but accountability starts now.
08:44I am taking action to prevent anything like it from occurring in the future.
08:49The revelation comes just days after President Trump renewed his claims
08:53that non-citizen voting is a widespread problem in American elections.
08:58Sherrill says,
08:59There is no evidence any election outcome was affected
09:02and says the people who were mistakenly registered did nothing wrong.
09:06The Justice Department is reportedly now investigating
09:09and battled Florida Congressman Corey Mills.
09:12According to reports from NBC News and MS Now,
09:15Mills is the subject of a criminal investigation.
09:18Sources tell NBC News investigators are examining Mills' money,
09:22including alleged overseas business dealings.
09:25Meanwhile, one source told MS Now that the FBI contacted at least one person last year
09:30about Mills' finances, allegations of misconduct, and people in his orbit.
09:35Mills, who is running for re-election,
09:37is already under investigation by the House Ethics Committee
09:40over allegations that he violated campaign finance laws,
09:43misused congressional resources, and engaged in sexual misconduct.
09:47He has denied any wrongdoing.
09:49In a social media post, Mills dismissed the reports as fake news and a witch hunt.
09:54Writing, quote,
09:56Even the DOJ has not confirmed or made any official statement
09:59of such an investigation existing.
10:01The Republican lawmaker is running for a third term this November
10:05in Florida's 7th District.
10:07Finally this morning, talk about tedious work.
10:10In Poland, volunteers are carefully chipping away
10:14at the fossil of what might be one of the largest amphibians
10:18ever to roam the Earth.
10:20The Mastodontosaurus lived about 240 million years ago,
10:26around the time the earliest dinosaurs were just beginning to appear.
10:30Paleontologists say it had a flat, crocodile-like head,
10:33long jaws filled with sharp teeth, and grew to about 20 feet long.
10:37It spent most of its time hunting fish and smaller amphibians underwater.
10:42Two researchers with the Polish Academy of Sciences
10:45discovered the skeleton in 2023,
10:48and they say there's no other Mastodontosaurus specimen
10:51of this size anywhere in the world.
10:54Now, about 2,000 volunteers are helping clean
10:58and reassemble the massive fossil at a science lab in Warsaw,
11:02where visitors can watch the work up close.
11:05Volunteers spend about two hours at a time on the delicate project.
11:08When it's finished, the restored skeleton will weigh just under 3,000 pounds
11:13and go on display this October or November.
11:17Boy, what a spectacle that will be, right?
11:20All right, no noise, no signs.
11:21Unbiased Updates gives you the facts straight.
11:24Watch us anytime at san.com or on the app.
11:27And a special thanks to our listeners on Spotify,
11:29where more and more of you are choosing to start your mornings with us.
11:33And don't forget, tomorrow Unbiased Updates Off Script premieres at Straight Arrow.
11:37It's an exclusive news show where we turn off the teleprompter
11:40and have the conversations we can't fit into the newscast.
11:44So join us tomorrow afternoon only at san.com or on the app.
11:48Those are your Unbiased Updates for this Wednesday.
11:50We'll see you back here tomorrow.
11:51For all of us here at Straight Arrow, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
11:54Have a great day.
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