NPR News: 03-26-2026 5PM EDT

his deadline for Iran to reopen the state of Hormuz to April 6th or face the destruction

of its energy plants. Iran and the U.S. appear to be at an impasse with each side hardening their positions and setting the stage for another potential escalation in the Middle East War. Still, President Trump says 26 days into the conflict, the U.S. is meeting its objectives and ahead of schedule. "They want to use the nuclear weapon on Israel and they would have used it on the other in the neighbors and then they would have come after us. And

we had a weak President, they would have done great damage. But fortunately, you don't have

“a weak President and I knew what was happening. And I think we've been proven right."”

Thousands more U.S. troops are nearing the region, heavy strikes are reported in Iran's capital and other cities. The war in Iran continues to send oil prices higher and it's

starting to ripple through the airline industry and PR's Windsor-Johnston reports.

Airlines typically raise fares when fuel costs rise, but are slower to lower prices when those costs fall. Bill McGee is a senior fellow for aviation at the American Economic Liberty's Project. He says that's likely to show up in ticket prices over the next several months. "If you're going to be traveling and you're thinking of holding off to see a better fair, it makes sense not to do that right now to book early. We're going to have to keep

a very close eye on this and keep trying to keep the airlines honest. But there's no doubt that fares are going to increase." McGee says demand is also getting a boost from travelers rushing to lock in fares before

“prices climb higher. It trend that could add more pressure heading into summer. Windsor-Johnston”

and PR news. "There's still no sign of a breakthrough in Congress to fund the Department

of Homeland Security as the TSA says it may have to shut down operations at some airports. Eight times have exceeded four hours and employees at those airports are calling out, calling out of work at rates of 40% to 50% more than 480 TSA agents have quit altogether." But it's way less often President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were back in federal court today. It was their second court appearance since they were captured in January and PR's

Ryan Lucas reports. "Nucodos Maduro and his wife Celia Flores have pleaded not guilty to the charges. At the hearing in federal court and law are Manhattan, both Maduro and his wife were dressed in beige jumpsuits and headphones through which they listen to the proceedings via an interpreter. The hearing focused on a dispute over allowing the Venezuelan government to pay for the

“Maduro's legal defense. Maduro's attorney says the US isn't allowing Venezuela to pick”

up the tab. He says that interferes with Maduro's constitutional right to counsel and the case should be dismissed. Prosecutors say the Venezuelan government can't pay because it is under American sanctions. US District Judge Elven Hellerstein did not rule from the bench on the matter and noted that this case is unique. Ryan Lucas and PR news. "US stocks had their worst day since the war with Iran started, you're listening to

NPR news from Washington." New population estimates show that US growth in metro areas slowed sharply last year as immigration dropped in hurricanes pushed people out of some Gulf Coast counties. The US Census Bureau reports that the average metro growth rate fell from 1.1% in 2024 to 0.6% in 2025. Metro areas along the US Mexico border saw the steepest declines as the number

of immigrants fell. Miami-Dade County, Harris County, Texas and LA County all took in far fewer immigrants last year. Religious radio stations make up about one quarter of all stations in the US and new study from Pew Research Fines that an even larger portion of Americans listened to faith-based radio as NPR's adjacent arose reports. The study found that 45% of Americans listened to religious radio stations and they do

so for a variety of reasons. For spiritual uplift, to relax, for advice or guidance and because programming is what they consider family friendly. The kinds of programs listeners tune into very nearly four in ten say they listened to religious music, three in ten listen to sermons or religious services. While the analysis found that political commentary makes up a relatively small part of programming on these stations, 40% of those surveys

said keeping up with news and politics was a reason for listening. Jason D'Ros and PR news. Cherry blossoms have reached peak bloom here in Washington DC. The National Park Service says 70% of the Yoshino cherry blossoms are open, but it only lasts a few days. The title basin is where most of the trees are located, but parts of it are fenced off for seawall repairs. This is NPR. We started making embedding ten years ago, but the stories in our archive

are as relevant as ever, like this series about President Trump from 2017. He hustled himself with TV show. He hustled himself a gig. I continued to go wow. To better understand how we got here, hear the inside story of how he got here, find Trump stories, and every season of embedded