From the desk of Rich Stephens
News for the week ending 3-1-26
Below find the expanded text from tonight’s broadcast. For corrections or additions, contact Rich directly.
World
Joint US/Israeli Strikes In Iran
During the daylight hours of Saturday, February 28, US and Israeli forces conducted joint strikes against Iran. They targeted air and missile defense systems and destroyed the IRGC headquarters in Tehran. Ayatollah Khameini was among the list of high ranking Iranian officials killed in the strikes. Iran’s response was to send rockets and drones to attack sites in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Bahrain, Syria and the UAE. Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia have all pledged their assistance to the US and Israel. Donald Trump released an 8 minute video announcing the operations. Democrats condemned the action, asserting that while Iran is a problem, Trump is breaking the law and requires congressional authorization. Others, including Senator John Fetterman released statements in support of removing the Ayatollah. After weeks of tense relations with Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney released a statement saying “Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security”. There is a lot more to this story and we may do a feature in a week or two.
Donald Trump Announcement Video
Netanyahu Statement (video in Hebrew)
Netanyahu Statement (text translated)
Australia Statement of Support
Saudi Arabia Statement of Support
John Fetterman Statement of Support
Mike Pence Statement of Support
Kier Starmer ‘The UK Had Nothing To do with this’
IDF Announcement of casualties
White House Announces Death of Khameini
UN Security Council Full Remarks
Mike Waltz Torches Iran at UN 1
Mike Waltz Torches Iran at UN 2
Cuban Boat Shooting
Staying in world news Wednesday, February 25, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about an incident involving a shooting between Cuban authorities and some individuals on a boat registered in Florida. The Cuban Embassy asserted on Twitter that the vessel was violating Cuban territorial waters. They state that when Border Guard Troops approached to identify the vessel, the crew opened fire on the Cubans who then returned fire. According to Cuba, 4 were shot fatally and the remaining 6 were injured. Marco Rubio vowed to conduct an investigation, asking for access to the vessel and the surviving members of the crew. Cuba is framing the incident as an attempted terrorist attack and signaled their willingness to work with US officials to investigate and clarify facts.
Cuban Foreign Ministry Official Statement
Secretary Rubio Full Statement (Video and Text)
Air Force Pilot Helps China
The FBI and US Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the arrest of Gerald Brown Jr. on Thursday, February 26. The 65 year old former F-35 instructor pilot had decades of experience with US Military aircraft in the Air Force. He is accused of providing training to the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in China in 2023.
State of the Union Address
Moving to US Politics, Tuesday night, February 24, President Trump gave the 2026 State of the Union Address. 130 Democratic legislators declined to attend and those who did were largely stoic. Sarah Beckstrom, the 20 year old national guardsman killed in a DC terror attack in November was posthumously awarded a purple heart. Staff Sargant Andrew Wolfe survived the attack and was also awarded a purple heart. Both sides of the aisle stood to honor them. The medal of honor was awarded to Eric Slover, the helicopter pilot wounded during the capture of Maduro. Another was awarded to 100 year old Royce Williams for a 1952 dog fight in which he shot down 4 soviet fighters. Even Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin stood and clapped for this award. Democrats largely criticized the speech as being political theater and full of lies, while republicans were critical of democrats lack of support. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger issued the Democratic Party rebuttal.
Full State of the Union Address
Trump Honors Iryna Zarutska’s Mother
Sen. Fetterman Shakes Trump’s Hand
Michigan State of the State Address
Wednesday, February 25, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer gave her 2026 State of the State address. In it, she acknowledged the politically divided legislature and urged bipartisanship, noting issues like affordable housing, literacy and affordable health care. She spoke about new factories opening across the state, producing cars, computer chips, and batteries and she went so far as to thank President Trump for his work to bring manufacturing back to the United States.
Minnesota Fraud
Wednesday, February 25 JD Vance and Dr. Oz spoke at the white house. They talked about fraud in systems meant to benefit autistic children and their families. Oz asserted they are beginning the largest fraud investigation in CMS history. He said the average health care cost per family per year is $27,000. He also asserted that CMS believes we are spending $300B / year on fraud in the health care system. He said one case CMS is investigating in Minnesota involves criminals paying mothers around $1000 to falsely claim their children are Autistic. The companies then bill Medicaid millions of dollars for services that are never rendered. One behavioral health care organization in Minnesota received $11.5M, submitting 450 days claiming they were working more than 24 hours per day. As a result he announced $259M in Medicaid payments to be deferred based on audits of the last quarter of 2025. He said the federal government will hold the money until Minnesota presents a comprehensive corrective action plan. He emphasized that Minnesota has a rainy day fund, so the impact should only be to the state and not individuals. Minnesota HHS says they shut down off payment to 540 medicaid providers last year and made over 300 referrals to law enforcement. Tim Walz says Minnesota has already tried and convicted nearly 100 people related to fraud. He framed the White House action as “taking health care from poor people” and a “medicaid money grab and retribution”.
JD Vance Dr. Oz Full Press Conference
Tim Walz Full Press Conference
Church Protesters Arrested
You may recall that Don Lemon was arrested for his involvement in a protest in St. Paul Minnesota. The group entered a church and disrupted the service, filling the aisles and chanting about ICE. Friday, February 27, FBI director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that 30 more people have been indicted by a grand jury, bringing the total number of indictments in this case to 39. Pam Bondi indicated that 20 had been arrested by federal agents.
Current Events
Vegas Terror Attack
Las Vegas Metro Police, Boulder City Police and the FBI held a joint press conference regarding an attempted terrorist attack on February 19. Around 10 am a vehicle crashed through a secure gate at a power substation. Boulder City police officers responded, finding a 23 year old man deceased from a self inflicted gunshot wound. He had been recently reported missing from Albany New York. Officers observed multiple firearms inside the vehicle. They obtained a search warrant for his hotel room where they found extremist propaganda, explosives, firearms and other weapons. Law enforcement is treating this as a terrorist event, and the investigation is active.
Fairfax Stabbing
Monday morning, February 23 in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia, a man was cleaning snow off his car and came inside to see his wife’s father with a long curved blade. The father had killed his daughter, and stabbed his own wife and also attacked his son in law. Responding officers shot and killed the man with the knife. A 1 year old baby was unharmed. There were no prior calls for service for domestic disturbance, mental health or any other reason. Fairfax police indicated that the body camera footage will be released within 30 days.
Nick Reiner Trial
Nick Reiner appeared in court Monday, February 23. He pled not guilty to the charges related to the murder of his parents Rob and Michelle Reiner in December. He is being held without bail. He waived his right to a speedy trial and his next court date is April 29, 2026. After the hearing, the LA County DA spoke, saying that the case is eligible for the death penalty but that his office has not made that determination yet.
Full Hearing (go to 2:25 for the start)
Charlie Kirk Assassin Murder Trial
On Tuesday, February 24, the Utah judge overseeing the case against the accused killer of Charlie Kirk held a hearing. The defense had moved to have the entire prosecution team disqualified because the daughter of the attorney in the office was present when Kirk was assassinated. The defense argued that this constituted a conflict of interest and because he was involved in the charging decision, the entire prosecutor’s office should be disqualified. The judge evaluated the cases cited as legal precedent for disqualification and determined that the circumstances of this case are fundamentally different. He noted that the defense has the right to call the daughter if they feel her testimony would materially help their case.
New Mexico Deputy Killed
In New Mexico, Sgt. Michael Schlattman of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department was killed in the line of duty on Tuesday February 26. While conducting a traffic stop, his vehicle was struck by a semi truck and he was pinned beneath the vehicle. The truck driver was transported to the hospital and released.
Robert Carradine Death
Actor Robert Carradine passed away Monday, February 23. First appearing in Bonanza in 1971, Carradine also appeared in one episode of Kung Fu in 1972. He was the half brother of David Carradine, the star of Kung Fu. His most iconic role was Lewis in 1984’s Revenge of the Nerds. After a prolonged struggle with bipolar disorder, he took his own life. Robert Carradine was 71 years old.
Minneapolis Drug Ring
Wednesday, February 25, federal and local law enforcement announced the arrests of 12 people tied to the “family mob” gang. The FBI, DEA, Minneapolis police department and Hennepin county sheriff’s office worked together, including the deployment of 8 swat teams on Wednesday morning. The gang had operated in the area since the 1990’s, and Wednesday’s searches recovered 14 firearms, 6.5kg of fentanyl, 2kg cocaine, 5 vehicles and nearly $100k in cash.
Lunar Eclipse
In the early hours Tuesday March 3, the moon will experience a total lunar eclipse. At 6:04 AM EST, the earth will pass between the sun and the moon, turning the moon a coppery red color. Because the atmosphere bends light, if you live on the east coast of the United States, you’ll briefly be able to see both sunrise and moonset, all while the moon is in eclipse. Enjoy.
Finance
Markets
Markets slumped this week. The Dow fell 648 points or about 1.3% and closed at 48,977. The NASDAQ dropped 218 points, almost 1%, and finished the week at 22,668. The S&P 500 lost 31 points, ending at 6878. Gold futures rose $216, ending at a record $5,296 and outpacing the metal price by $18.
Sports
NCAAM
In College Basketball, Tuesday, February 24, UCF went 14 of 24 from 3 point range to beat 19th ranked BYU. Duke beat Notre Dame 100-56. Wednesday the Florida Gators traveled to Austin Texas where they beat the longhorns 84-71. Friday night, Miami of Ohio got the ball with 12.7 seconds in a tie game at western Michigan. Trey Perry was able to roll a buzzer beating layup in for a 69-67 win. The Redhawks are now 29-0 with two games remaining in the regular season. Saturday saw 16th ranked Texas Tech beat 4th ranked Iowa State 82-73. Number 17 Alabama went to Knoxville and edged the 22nd ranked Volunteers 71-69. Top ranked Duke handled UVA 77-51 and unranked St. Mary’s beat 9th ranked Gonzaga 70-59. Finally, the defending national champion Florida Gators put on an absolute clinic in a 111-77 win over 20th ranked Arkansas. The Gators have won 9 in a row and can lock up a regular season SEC title Tuesday at home against Mississippi state. They’ll finish the regular season Saturday at Kentucky.