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Peace Plan Rejected, Social Media Safety Verdict & March Madness Record - Thursday, March 26, 2026
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Today is Thursday, March 26th. We'll explain President Trump's new threat for Iran now that its government has rejected America's peace proposal. Also, the verdict in one of the country's most closely watched civil trials involving Meta and a woman who says she became addicted to social media. Plus, how the postal service is passing high gas prices on to customers. Why the first lady was escorted by a humanoid robot. And we'll catch you up on March Madness with a unique Sweet 16 kicking off tonight. Those stories and even more news next. Welcome to the Newsworthy. All the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica. Mandy, thanks so much for being here. Let's do this. The US Is putting more pressure on Iranian leaders to make a deal to end the war in their country. But at this point, Iran is still defiant. The Iranian government rejected President Trump's 15 point peace plan we told you about yesterday. It would have ended Iran's nuclear program and put strict limits on its missile arsenal, among other things. But Iran now has its own demands. For example, it wants the US to pay war reparations and recognize Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is shipped. Mediators are still pushing for in person talks between the Iranians and the Americans, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. But the Trump administration says if Iran won't agree to end the conflict that the US Will escalate its attacks. The White House spokesperson specifically said President Trump is, quote, prepared to unleash hell. And Israel already seems to be stepping up its strikes. Reports say the Israeli government is worried the US Might end the war before all goals are achieved. So Israel is working to destroy as much of Iran's military capabilities as possible over 48 hours. And Iran is still retaliating by launching attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab countries. Back in the U.S. several congressional Republicans walked out of a classified briefing on Capitol Hill yesterday. Reports say they were apparently frustrated over the lack of crucial details about next steps in the war. They're now demanding public hearings to be continued at the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hosted his first monthly Christian worship service since the Iran war began. And there he prayed for violence against those who deserve no mercy. Hegseth often invokes his evangelical faith as head of the armed forces. Earlier this week, he also announced new reforms for military chaplains. He told them to focus more on God and less on self help and self care as they've been increasingly used to address the growing number of troops in mental health distress. Another reform says chaplains will no longer wear their rank on their uniform. Instead, they'll be identified by religious insignia. Hexess says that will make them more accessible for service members seeking spiritual guidance. The defense secretary has faced criticism over his efforts to inject the military with more explicitly religious sentiments, especially since he supports and promotes a church with very controversial views. And he's promising more reforms to come. New details have come to light in the now dismissed classified documents case against President Trump. The Justice Department handed over some files as part of a Republican led panel's investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith, who led the prosecutions of Trump. But a Democrat on the committee raised concerns about what they include. For example, a 2023 memo says the classified documents Trump kept after leaving office in 2021 were relevant to his business interests. It also says some were so sensitive that only six people in the entire US Government had access to them, and Trump allegedly shared them with people on his private plane. One box of documents was even scanned, stored on a laptop for nearly two years and uploaded to a cloud, raising more security concerns. Now Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin says the evidence shows Trump may have, quote, sold our national security to enrich himself. Well, the Justice Department responded to say Raskin is blinded by his hatred of Trump and that the claims in the files he referenced were salacious and untrue. Trump has always denied wrongdoing in the documents case and all charges were officially dropped back in 2024. But Democrats are still calling for more investigative findings to be made public, and they're planning to invite Jack Smith to testify once again. Stay tuned. This week, a handful of ordinary Americans were honored for extraordinary acts of courage. Sacrif citizen honors awards went to people like 10 year old Victor Greenwald. During a school shooting, he shielded a classmate with his own body, saving their life. Another medal was given posthumously to Chase Childers, who gave his life rescuing five strangers caught in a dangerous rip. Current other honorees include a woman known as Ms. Dot, who has spent more than 26 years making sure no one in her community goes hungry through initiatives like her annual Thanksgiving meals and year round outreach. They were all honored last night at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. more news is still ahead. But first a break to tell you about our sponsor. I feel like we've all had that moment where you put on an outfit for a special event and something just feels not quite right. Honeylove Shapewear can help with that anytime you want to feel a bit more put together and confident and it not only helps your outfit look great but also it doesn't feel restrictive. Instead, it moves with you, yet still stays in place. No pulling or tugging required. Honeylove shapewear uses targeted compression, working with your body instead of against it, and the design details are really great. No wonder it was our producer's pick for her wedding day and it's the only shapewear I'll wear now. I also love Honeylove's loungewear and essentials, all thoughtfully designed with unique and comfortable features by women who actually wear these pieces themselves. So treat yourself to the most advanced bras and shapewear on the market. Use our exclusive link to save 20% off honeylove@honeylove.com newsworthy that's honeylove.com newsworthy after you check out, they'll ask you where you heard about them. So please support our show and tell them we sent you. Experience the new standard in comfort and support with honeylove. Now back to the news. It's a decision that could lower rising gas prices, but could also make air pollution worse the Trump administration is going to allow high ethanol gasoline to be sold in the hot summer months. In case you're not familiar, ethanol is a liquid fuel that's made from corn, making the US Less dependent on crude oil. Already, most gas sold in the US contains 10% ethanol, but under this change, gas with up to 15% ethanol will be allowed even from June 1 to September 15. The higher ethanol gas is normally not allowed then because it can create more air pollution. But the Trump administration says this change will only be temporary. It's just the latest step the Trump administration has taken in an effort to lower prices. It even decided to ease sanctions on Iranian oil. That could actually be a big boost to the Iranian government. So some critics say the US Is essentially funding the war against itself. But Treasury Secretary Scott Besant says the sanctions relief will be narrow and temporary, impacting only Iranian oil that's already stranded at sea. It comes after similar measures to ease sanctions on oil from Russia and Venezuela. The US has also tapped into the emergency stockpile, encouraged more domestic production and more. But prices are still rising so much that Americans are about to feel the strain from the pumps to the post office. This week, the U.S. postal Service announced its first fuel surcharge in history. It's increasing prices by 8% on some packages, all in an effort to offset rising transportation expenses. But letters won't be impacted. The surcharge will take effect next month and is expected to be phased out in January of 2027. For the first time, a robot not A person escorted the first lady of the United States at the White House. A walking, talking, humanoid system made a grand entrance with First Lady Melania Trump at her Fostering the Future summit. It was a robot designed to help with household tasks like laundry, cleaning and washing dishes. But Trump used the event to make the case for humanoid systems, teaching children and giving them a more well rounded lifestyle as they make time for other activities. She told people to imagine a robot teacher who can always be available and patient and can develop personalized education for American children in their homes. She said it would be able to adapt in real time to a student's pace, prior knowledge and even emotional state. And Trump told the summit the idea could become a reality very soon, though she also promised safety will always be the most important factor. This is just one of multiple events planned at the White House focused on AI. For the second time in two days, a jury reached a landmark verdict finding social media platforms liable for hurting its young users. This time it was both Meta owned Instagram and Google owned YouTube, who were found to be negligent. The case was brought by a woman, now 20 years old, who says features like Infinite scroll and the algorithmic recommendations hooked her as a child and led to her anxiety and depression. But lawyers for Meta and Google argued the woman's struggles stemmed from her difficult home life and the COVID 19 pandemic, not social media. They also pointed out how there was no formal diagnosis for social media addiction, that the woman had never been treated for it. In the end, the social media giants were ordered to collectively pay roughly $6 million in damages. But that could be just the tip of the iceberg, since legal analysts believe this could set a precedent for thousands of other pending lawsuits, and it could potentially pave the way for online safety legislation. The tech giants have already promised to appeal, though, so experts say they expect this issue to ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. The U.S. supreme Court did actually decide another landmark case, making it harder for music and movie makers to sue for online privacy. The justices ruled unanimously that Internet providers are usually not liable for copyright infringement, even if they know their users are downloading copyrighted works. They specifically considered a lawsuit Sony filed against Cox Communications. Sony's lawyers had pointed to hundreds of thousands of instances of Cox customers sharing copyrighted music by famous artists like Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears, and said even when Cox was notified, it did little to stop it. But the high court decided that wasn't enough to establish liability, and that unlike the case against Napster and Grokster two decades ago, Cox did not mean for its service to be used for copyright infringement. So in the end the suit was thrown out along with a billion dollar jury verdict against Cox. Now, the head of the Recording Industry association of America is calling for lawmakers to establish more effective copyright law. March Madness is off to its best start on record. The first games of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament averaged 9.8 million viewers across networks. That makes it the most watched opening round ever and there was plenty of exciting action for fans to watch. For example, St. John's beating Kansas on a buzzer beater, nine seed Iowa beating top seed and reigning champion Florida and more. And now the winners are preparing for the Sweet 16. There aren't a lot of Cinderella stories to watch for this year, which is actually unusual for the tournament that's typically defined by underdogs. Instead, the field is stacked with teams from the biggest conferences, including six from the Big Ten. Analysts have also noted how this year a lot of Sweet 16 teams are relying on older, experienced rosters and not necessarily a single freshman star bound for the NBA. And it's worth noting the top teams are considered pretty evenly matched, so expect some close games where anyone may be able to walk away a winner. By the way, the Sweet 16 kicks off for the women's teams tomorrow and there actually is a Cinderella story to watch there. Virginia, which was a number 10 seed, advanced from the play in round to the sweet 16, but of course it will face a steep road to victory with the highest seeds like UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina all still alive and expected to advance. ESPN is the exclusive broadcaster for the women's tournament, while you can watch the men on CBS and its partner stations like TBS, TNT and TruTV. That's it for the main news today. So now it's time for Thing to Know Thursday. But first, this episode is brought to you by Gainbridge. On this show, we try to help you make sense of a lot of complicated topics. But for a lot of people, money can feel super complicated with no clear answers. 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If you're looking for a more straightforward way to plan ahead, you can learn more@gainbridge.com gainbridge let your money work for you. Now back to Thing to Know Thursday. First it was Grandma's hobbies and now it's Grandma's things. The latest trend that's taken off with Gen Z is shopping estate sales. In the past six months, the online estate sale marketplace, everything but the house saw a 28% increase in business, and much of that was driven by young adults. So what exactly are they buying? Well, estatesales.net is an online marketplace and directory for in person sales and it says some of the most popular searches are for furniture, tools, school supplies and baby gear. It's easy to understand the appeal since estate sales can be places to find low cost, well made products in a more sustainable way than traditional shopping, but it also gives people the opportunity to own something unique. One woman who runs an estate sale franchise told USA TODAY she sees estate sales like modern day treasure hunts where you actually get to bring home your treasure and give it new life. Thank you so much for listening today. We'll catch you up on more news to know tomorrow. Until then, have a great day.