NPR News: 03-29-2026 12AM EDT

Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman.

US sailors and Marines are now in the Middle East.

NPR's Shandali Stuster reports.

US Central Command said Saturday in a social media post

that about 3,500 sailors and Marines arrived in a Middle East

aboard the USS Tripoli.

The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, based in Okonawa, Japan,

arrived in a Middle East on Friday, the post said.

The unit also has transport and strike fighter aircraft,

as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets.

US Central Command did not say would mission the unit will be carrying out.

At least 2,000 additional soldiers have been ordered to deploy to the Middle East,

where the US already has 40,000 to 50,000 troops.

Shandali Stuster and NPR News.

And Israeli Air Strike and Southern Lebanon Saturday

killed three journalists who were covering the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah's Al Minar TV said correspondent Ali Shoeib was one of those who died.

Israel's military said it had been targeting Shoeib.

They accused him of being a Hezbollah intelligence operative,

but offered no evidence to support that claim.

In New Orleans, thousands of people attended a No Kings protest on Saturday.

There were marches and speeches, including one by civil rights leader Leonate Tate.

Mel Bridges with Member Station, WWNO, has our reports.

On November 4, 1960, Leonate and three other six-year-old black girls

were escorted by federal marshals into New Orleans public schools

as the first black students to integrate public schools.

I am 71 years old, and I'm still fighting.

I'm still showing up. I'm still resisting.

So what are you going to do to join me?

65 years later, Tate joined protesters in New Orleans mid-city

as they marched against President Trump's policies,

including an immigration roundup in southeastern Louisiana.

Tate says, though, the state and the country

has made some social progress over the years,

it's also regressed a lot.

And now we're like, we're back in the 50s somewhere,

you know, and I hate to see that for the children today.

For NPR News, I'm Mel Bridges in New Orleans.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order banning

state officials from betting on prediction markets

with insider information.

NPR's Bobby Allen has more.

Services like Calci and Polymarket allow bets on future policies,

military strikes, and election outcomes.

And some lawmakers are growing increasingly worried

that the betting apps can be exploited by people

who have access to government and military secrets.

Newsom's order prevents appointees of the governor

from using non-public information to personally profit

on prediction markets.

In recent months, well-time bets on things like

the ouster of Iran's Supreme Leader

and the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro

led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits.

Both Calci and Polymarket say they already ban insider trading,

relying on their own surveillance tools to catch suspicious

bettors, Bobby Allen and NPR News.

And you're listening to NPR News.

Hundreds of striking employees at the bath iron works in May

are going back to work.

The shipyard says employees of one of the Navy's biggest

shipbuilding contractors ratified a new four-year deal Saturday

ending a week-long strike.

The shipyard had negotiated with the Union for weeks

before that strike began.

The Arctic has set a new record for sea ice this winter.

As NPR's Rebecca Hirscher reports,

there is less sea ice than ever.

A huge swath of the Arctic Ocean freezes

in the winter each year.

Last year, there was less ice than ever recorded

going back to 1979.

That's according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center

at the University of Colorado Boulder.

And this year has set a new record again,

with even less ice than last year by a slim margin,

according to newly released data.

Sea ice is disappearing in the Arctic

because humans are warming up the planet

by burning oil, gas, and coal.

Sea ice loss affects weather around the world.

It also leaves coastal communities in the Arctic

more vulnerable to storms,

which in recent years has caused catastrophic flooding

in parts of Alaska.

For Rebecca Hirscher and Pierre News.

Tanya Latson scored 28 points

and Raven Johnson added another 18

to help top-seated South Carolina beat number four

Oklahoma Saturday, 94 to 68.

The game cocks now move into the elite eight

of the women's NCAA basketball tournament.

In other games, number two, Michigan beat

Louisville, 71 to 52.

Texas beat Kentucky, 76 to 54.

And TCA, you beat Virginia, 79 to 69.

I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.