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Today is Wednesday, April 8th. We're talking about a temporary truce. The US and Iran reach just hours before President Trump could have carried out his threat to kill an entire civilization. But the threat isn't over yet for Iran or the U.S. also, all about ICE's latest controversial arrests. One led to a shooting. Another involves the wife of an army sergeant. And hundreds more have stemmed from TSA officers. Plus the impact of rising fuel prices on air travel. Who will replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress. And another special first for the Artemis 2 crew. Those stories and even more news to know coming up. Welcome to the newsworthy all the days news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica. Mandy, thanks so much for being here. Let's do this. The US and Iran have reached an 11th hour ceasefire deal. It was announced just hours after President Trump posted on social media his most dire threat yet, saying, quote, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. That was unless Iran's government did not cede to his demands by 8pm last night, something he said was not likely. Then both sides announced a two week ceasefire saying military strikes had been called off. And both sides claimed victory. In one key component of this deal. Iran said it would allow oil, gas and other vessels to pass through the economically vital Strait of Hormuz and if they coordinate with the Iranian military. This was a big turnaround since in the hours before the deal was announced, it wasn't even clear if talks were happening and the US And Israel had stepped up their attacks on Iran. In fact, the American military says it hit another 50 military targets on Kharg island, which is Iran's main oil export hub. Israel and countries around the Persian Gulf also reported missile and drone strikes coming from Iran. And they've actually reported even more this morning. It's not clear if they were in violation of the ceasefire, though for now, it seems like there's at least a chance the deal could lead to an end of the war. Pakistan is brokering talks and has invited both Iran and the US To Islamabad on Friday. As the US has been threatening Iran's critical infrastructure like bridges and power plants. Iran has actually been targeting American infrastructure, too. But the difference is the US has threatened to use bombs, while Iran has already started attempting cyber attacks. U.S. intelligence agencies now say Iranian hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in key software systems at American water and energy providers. Basically, they're targeting the industrial computers used to control and run critical networks all around the country. And some disruptions have already been reported. The government says certain computer Controllers are actively being exploited. So American energy, water, transportation, and communications corporations have been told to lock down the impacted systems and check logs for any suspicious activity. Corporations are also working with the government now to shore up their defenses. The American journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq last week has now been freed. An Iranian backed group admitted to abducting Shelly Kittleson in Baghdad, and yesterday it announced her release. It was part of a prisoner swap the Trump administration negotiated in which two Iraqi security officials were also let go. But the militia group had another demand, that Kittleson leaves Iraq right away. She's apparently in good physical condition, so the US State Department now says it's working on getting her out. Another man being arrested by ICE officers was shot, this time in California, and now he's in critical condition. ICE says he is an undocumented immigrant and a gang member who's wanted in El Salvador for questioning in a murder investigation. The agency also says the man tried to run an officer over with his car, so ICE agents opened fire. The FBI is now investigating the shooting. Meanwhile, the story of another undocumented immigrant's arrest has prompted outcry from critics of the immigration crackdown. Annie Ramos was brought to the US From Honduras when she was a toddler. She was eligible for DACA and applied years ago, but the program is currently on hold for new applicants. Well, Ramos recently married Army Sergeant Matthew Blank, who was getting ready for an overseas deployment. Last week, the couple started registering her for a military ID so she could begin the process toward getting her green card and moving onto the military base. But as they got ready for the new phase in their lives, ICE agents entered the base and detained her. Ramos spent nearly a week in a detention center until her story spread and the new Homeland Security secretary was contacted. Now, Ramos, who has no criminal record, has been released, but she's wearing a GPS monitor. The Trump administration says bottom line, she has no legal status to be in the US And DHS won't ignore the rule of law. The government is now continuing deportation proceedings against her. A new Reuters investigation found ICE has arrested more than 800 travelers at American Airport since the start of the Trump administration and that ICE has been getting its tips from TSA agents. The agencies have historically shared information related to national security threats, like people who may be on US Government watch lists. But they started focusing on routine immigration arrests just last year. Since then, the airport security officials have supplied ICE with records on more than 31,000 travelers so far, despite the ongoing partial government shutdown that has stopped all new funding for FEMA the new DHS secretary focused on disaster relief for his first trip since being confirmed, Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen toured areas of North Carolina that were devastated by Hurricane helene back in 2024. Mullen told a local roundtable FEMA is now focused on catching up on past disaster work and clearing a backlog of needs that stacked up during former Secretary Kristi Noem's tenure. But of course, that depends on a spending deal from Congress, since the disaster relief fund is running low. The next Atlantic Hurricane season starts June 1. We have much more news for you still coming up, but first, let's take a quick break to tell you about our sponsor. I've been in that mindset lately where I just want everything to feel a bit more streamlined, especially in my closet. 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Quince.comnewsworthy now back to the news. Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to be replaced by another Republican. The race for her successor was quickly called last night after the latest special election in Georgia because another conservative claimed victory. That means the GOP will get another vote for their narrow majority in the US House. But the results were still seen as encouraging for Democrats. This district is considered the reddest in Georgia. In fact, President Trump won it by 37 percentage points in the last presidential election. But Trump backed Clay Fuller's lead over Democrat Sean Harris is expected to be just about 12 percentage points once all the votes are in. That would amount to a 25 point shift from 2024, meaning Democrats pulled off their biggest shift yet in a special House election. Some analysts view this as a sign of strength for Dems leading into the midterms this fall, but others say don't read too much into it since special elections have much lower turnouts that don't necessarily represent the broader population. Also, at this point, the midterm election is more than 200 days away. It's now going to cost more for air travelers to check their bags on flights with four different carriers. Delta and Southwest Airlines are the latest to raise baggage fees in response to higher jet fuel prices that have spiked since the war in Iran started. This comes after both JetBlue and United raised their baggage fees last week. The exact fees are different, but for most people flying on any of the four airlines, it will cost $10 more for each bag than it used to on flights within the U.S. as CNBC reports, jet fuel prices have now risen nearly 88% in major U.S. cities since the start of the Iran war, and the prices are expected to go up even more from here. So airfare is expected to get more expensive, too, and some flights might not happen at all. Certain airlines have already started canceling flights that are considered to be far less profitable. Now in the wake of higher fuel prices, United says it's canceling off peak flights and red eyes. Many more cancellations have come from airlines in Europe, Asia and New Zealand. The Trump administration is reportedly holding on to the controversial luxury plane Kristi Noem was flying around the country, and that decision has sparked even more controversy. To catch you up, the Homeland Security Department under former Secretary Noem paid for the jet with money earmarked for immigration enforcement and border security. At the time, it said the plane would be used for high profile deportations, among other things. But as the Wall Street Journal reports, Noem mostly used it for personal travel. The plane ultimately cost about $70 million. It wasn't as expensive or decked out as Air Force One, but has far more amenities than most other government jets, including Air Force Two that's used by the vice president. Well, now the Journal says the plane's use has been approved for other Cabinet members and first lady Melania Trump and not officials at dhs. So that's raised more questions, since money that was meant for immigration enforcement is now being spent on a plane that's not in any way connected to it. Remember, President Trump has also faced questioning over a luxury jet he accepted from the Qatari government. That jet is being overhauled now, and he's expected to start using it this summer. You know how yesterday we told you about backlash over Ye being scheduled to headline a music festival in London. Well, since then Ye has been blocked from traveling to the UK at all and the festival that was expected to be attended by 150,000 people has been canceled. The British government refused permission for the rapper formerly known as Kanye west to visit the UK because of a string of anti Semitic and specifically pro Nazi comments he made in recent years. Yesterday, Ye tried to talk about his effort to change and said he would be grateful to meet with members of the British Jewish community. In the past, he's also linked his behavior to bipolar disorder and an undiagnosed brain injury. Presale tickets to Wireless Festival had actually just gone on sale yesterday and it's believed they sold out. Now everyone who bought a ticket will be refunded. It was another first for the astronauts on the first human moon mission in half a century. The Artemis 2 crew called the International Space Station hundreds of thousands of miles away for a cosmic chitchat. It was the first moonship to spaceship radio linkup ever. For NASA's Christina Koch on Artemis 2, it was somewhat of a reunion since she got to talk with Jessica Mir aboard the iss, who she calls her Astro sister. They teamed up for the world's first all female spacewalk outside the iss back in 2019. Seven years later, Cook told her fellow astronauts that even though the views on the space station are incredible, what she's seen on the moon mission has been even more special. She spoke about the beauty of Earth and emphasized how much blackness there was around it when she saw it from further away. Cook says it reinforced for her how alike all humans are and how the same thing keeps everyone on the planet alive. Also, yesterday, the Artemis 2 astronauts beamed back more than 50 gigabytes worth of pictures and other data from the previous day's lunar flyby that set a new distance record for humanity. We have a link to some of those photos in today's episode notes and that's it for the main news today. So now it's time for Work Wednesday when we break down one interesting career or work related news story every Wednesday. But first, this episode is sponsored by Home Chef. There are certain parts of the day that just seem to sneak up on me and dinner is one of them. That's why having Home Chef is such a relief. Home Chef makes cooking simple, fresh food delivered, easy recipes to follow and meals that actually taste great. Some nights I want something quick and hands off like their oven ready meals and other nights I actually want to cook, especially when the recipes are so approachable and having all the ingredients I need is this easy. We've had some really great meals from Home Chef. I'm talking a crispy peanut chicken sandwich with pickled cucumber ribbons and sriracha mayo and pecan crusted salmon with bacon mashed potatoes. The list goes on. My entire family has loved everything we've tried so far from Home Chef I. And it's not just me. Home Chef is rated number one by users of other meal kits for quality, convenience, value, taste and recipe ease. And for a limited time, Home Chef is offering listeners of the newsworthy 50% off and free shipping for your first box, plus free dessert for life. Go to homechef.com newsworthy that's homechef.com newsworthy for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. Homechef.com newsworthy. You must be an active subscriber to receive the free dessert. Now back to work. Wednesday the government's latest jobs report was surprisingly mostly positive. It showed healthy job growth and a decline in unemployment last month. But there was another trend that stood out, too, and that's gotten less attention. It showed a big drop in the share of the working age population that's either working or looking for work. Now. It's known as the labor force participation rate, and it edged down below 62% last month, its lowest level since the 1970s. Outside of the pandemic, the rate has actually been falling since the early 2000s, mostly because of baby boomers aging out of the workforce. But economists say in recent months the trend has also been accelerated by President Trump's immigration crackdown, since it cut off a pipeline of often young adults who come to the US Specifically for work. Plus, even more boomers are now retiring. So what does this mean for the economy as a whole? Experts say there's a risk of labor shortages and overall lower productivity, but that hasn't happened yet. And it's likely contributing to a historically low unemployment rate, which of course is good news for American workers. Thank you so much for listening today. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest news. Until then, have a great day.
