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President Trump said he's prepared to wait for Iran to make a deal. He also ordered the Navy to quote, "shoot and kill." Any boat laying mines in the street of Hormuz. The Pentagon says clearing mines could take up to six months.
I'm Michelle Martin, and this is up first from MPR News.
[MUSIC] The federal government is moving, medical marijuana out of the category reserve for the most dangerous drugs. Medical cannabis will no longer be in the same category as heroin. It's a major shift in federal drug policy that could reshape how marijuana is bought,
sold and studied, and a fast-moving wildfire in South Georgia has destroyed nearly 90 homes. It's just a heartbreak and thing to leave your home and not know what you're going to come back to. The fires keep changing direction with the wind and people are being told to evacuate with almost no notice.
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listen to 48 hours case by case wherever you get your podcasts. President Trump says he is prepared to wait for the best deal to end his war with Iran. This comes as he also orders the Navy to quote, "shoot and kill." Any boat trying to lay mines in the street of Hormuz, shipping through the Strategic Waterway has just about ground to a halt over the fear of mines,
and Iranian attacks and seizures of ships. The crisis continues to have a knock on effect globally, creating high prices and shortages of valuable commodities. And PR International Affairs correspondent Jackie Northam has been following all this, and she's with us now to bring us out today. Good morning Jackie, morning Michelle. Okay, so President Trump is ordering the U.S. Navy to target any ship, presumably from Iran that's laying mines in and around the street of Hormuz.
How big a problem are mines? Well, you know, there are no reliable figures as to how many mines are in and around the street of Hormuz. There's one school of thought that there may not be as many as Iran as letting on. And there's also the chance that Iran doesn't know where all the mines are. So it's tough to say exactly what's out there.
But you know, it's an incredibly slow and dangerous process to clear the mines under the possible threat of attack. And in fact, the Washington Post reported that a Pentagon assessment shared with Congress on Tuesday said it could take up to six months to fully clear the street of mines. And that the operation wouldn't likely start until the war ends. Now, Michelle and PR has not been able to independently verify that intelligence assessment. And President Trump disputed it.
He said in the social media post that U.S. minesweepers were already clearing the street.
“What kind of impact are the threat of mines and the threat of attacks by Iran having?”
On the hundreds of ships that have been stuck around the street of Hormuz since the end of February. Are they still trying to move? Well, we've seen just a trickle of ships trying to transit the streets since the beginning of the war. Mostly with links to Iran. But, you know, after three ships were attacked with gunfire by Iran earlier this week and two of those were seized.
It's having a chilling effect. It's just very risky even if they're not moving Iranian oil. I spoke with Basel Karazas, who heads up Karazas Marine advisors. And he says it's a lucrative business for oil tankers to go to the Gulf. But not if they're getting stuck.
And many are choosing other routes now. Here he is. There are a substantial number of tanker ship owners that they keep their vessels away from Middle East. They will rather do a conventional trade. That's mighty in the bank.
And without having to worry about the Middle East, Hormuz, whether they're open or closed in or whatever. And you know, Shabby and oil. There are things like helium and fertilizer aluminum.
You know, critical elements for industry and farming and the like that are not moving through the Gulf now.
And this is causing shortages worldwide. And of course, driving up the cost. And let's not forget the 20,000 seafarers who have been stuck on these ships since the beginning. And there's no sign of that change. So President Trump earlier this week announced he would extend the ceasefire with Iran.
“And definitely, is there any sign of a breakthrough in this war?”
At the moment, it feels like a stalemate with, you know, some incremental developments certainly these attacks on the ships by Iran are complicating the ceasefire. You know, the UK has been hosting military talks with other nations such as France to see if they can help out with the situation. But nothing is really come of these primarily because they want to wait until the war is over. And in the meantime, you'll have Israel's defense minister said yesterday the country is waiting for the green light from Trump to push,
to run back to the Stone Age. That is NPR Jackie, Northam Jackie, thank you. Many thanks Michelle. The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday ordered an immediate change to the classification of medical cannabis. It is considered a major shift in marijuana policy by moving it out of the most dangerous class of drugs.
This could open up research and the legal marijuana industry is hoping it wil...
Joining us to tell us more about this is Colorado Public Radio reporter Ben Marcus.
Ben Good morning. Good morning.
“So what exactly does the order say and how will it affect marijuana businesses?”
So this order moves medical marijuana from schedule 1 to schedule 3. So rather than being in the same category as heroin, it will be in the same category as antibiotics, steroids or Tylenol with coden. That's expected to normalize the business, meaning it could possibly open up more banking services. Allow customers to use credit cards. It could allow businesses to make common tax deductions that they can't right now.
This order is for medical though. DOJ did say that it's moving fast to more broadly reschedule marijuana, which would be good for recreational businesses. Sam Cameron is a law professor at the University of Denver who's been studying marijuana policy for more than a decade. And you see here Trump and Barry Trump being way saying it's not happening fast enough. Make it happen faster.
And while this doesn't legalize marijuana came and said this is a historic first step. The order, as I understand, it does not apply to recreational marijuana. How does that work?
“Is that the dominant market in states like Colorado?”
Yeah. So for medical only states like Florida or Oklahoma, this will benefit more quickly. Colorado's medical market has shrunk every year since recreational cannabis was legalized in the state. So medical has become pretty small here.
It's about 10% the size of the recreational market, which had $1.2 billion in sales last year.
Tim Colin, he started Colorado harvest company as a medical marijuana business and switched to recreational fully in 2014. So even though Thursday's order doesn't impact his business immediately, he's still hopeful that this signifies a major shift for all cannabis. Well, I'm excited about it. It's the largest federal move that's happened since I've been in this industry, which is coming up on 17 years now. Now, the Justice Department says it will expedite that broader review of marijuana, which could include recreational and administrative hearing is scheduled for June.
And that's lightning fast for the federal government on this issue. Oh, that's certainly true. So it's a relief for states that are majority medical marijuana to relief for business, but it's wait and see on recreational. But talk about research.
“How will this order open up research into marijuana?”
So the Department of Justice said that this provides a long-term solution for researchers who want to study medical cannabis. But the researchers I spoke with in Colorado said it may not have as big an impact for them. What they want to do is by recreational products off the shelf for testing. The kinds of products the consumers actually use, like high potency concentrates and vape pens or edibles. And they say there's also a larger stigma around funding from marijuana research generally.
Are there legal challenges expected to this order? Advocates against marijuana, they continue to caution about the impact on kids of loosening marijuana policy. So the cannabis supporters, they're cautiously optimistic that this is a permanent change, but they do expect challenges. It's not a done deal yet. And attorneys from all sides will be picking this complex order apart for some time.
That's Colorado Public Radio. It's been Marcus. I want to mention he's been reporting on marijuana policies since the state legalized it in 2012. Ben, thanks. Thank you.
Wildfires are still burning in South Georgia and Northern Florida. One in Georgia has destroyed nearly 90 homes and forced people to evacuate. The region has been in a worsening drought for months, which has made it easier for wildfires to spread and harder for firefighters to contain.
Emily Jones from Never Station W.A.B.E. has been covering the fire she's with us now.
You were reporting yesterday on the ground in Brantley County where some people have lost their homes. What did you see in here there? People are pretty shaken. They're not used to dealing with wildfires here. They've seen hurricanes, but not really fires like this. So this is a community near Brunswick, but it's a pretty rural area.
There's lots of forest land. The evacuation orders are popping up really suddenly because the fire is changing direction suddenly with the wind. And that's been really tough on people. They think they're okay one minute and then before they know it, police or firefighters show up telling them that they need to get out. Yesterday evening, I was at a church where people are sheltering.
And I spoke with Spring Gillis right after she arrived with her husband, her kids and her dog. They had just been ordered to evacuate. It's just a heartbreak and thing to leave your home and not know what you're going to come back to. And for her and most people who've evacuated, it may be a while before they find out if their homes are okay. So what's the situation now? Have firefighters managed to get the wildfires under control?
They have not.
So one fire down by the Florida border is actually a lot bigger, but it's farther from where people live.
So there hasn't been as much damage or as many evacuations. Actually some folks down there who had to evacuate earlier in the week have been able to return home. That is not the case in Brantley County where I was yesterday. That fire has kept moving quickly and it keeps threatening new areas.
“And we mentioned that the region has been dealing with a major drought. How much is that a factor in these fires?”
It's a huge factor. It is about as dry as it has ever been here in the last six months.
Georgia got the least rainfall that we've had since we started keeping records in the 1890s. It's more than a foot below the normal rainfall. And that makes it a lot easier for fires to spread. It's usually pretty wet down here and that really helps keep fires in check. Right now the trees and the underbrush are really dried out. The water levels are so low in all of the rivers and in the swamp.
This time of year actually is the normal fire season for Georgia, but that just does not mean the same thing that it means out west. Normally we see fires start, but they just don't get very far because there is plenty of water and rainfall to stop them.
“And before we let you go Emily, climate change is that contributing to this?”
It's hard to say how much of an impact climate change is having on a specific event like this while it's still ongoing. But in general, we know climate change is making many severe weather events more extreme. So when we get rain, it can be a lot more rain. When we have a severe drought, climate change can make it more intense. And I know from my own reporting that communities here in the southeast are having to prepare for weather events that they are not used to.
That is Emily Jones from WABE.
“Her reporting is part of a partnership between WABE and non-profit news outlet.”
Chris, Emily, thank you so much. Thank you.
And that's up first for Friday, April 24th.
I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by James Heider. We're sure like Alfredo Carbohawk, Rachel Walholtz, Mohammed O'Bardisi and H.J. My. It was produced by Katie Klein in the Ed Demas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support for nation-highness.
Our technical director is Carly Strange. And our executive producer is Jay Stayler. We hope you'll join us again on Monday. [MUSIC PLAYING]
