Questions About "Sea Mines," Truth About Gas Prices, Family Sues CA City Over Crime: AM Update 3/11

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Hey, good morning, everyone.

Mark Calprin here, host of Next Up and filling in for Megan Kelly.

It's Wednesday, March 11th, 2026, and this is your AM update.

U.S. casualties rising in Iran as concerns grow over possible Iranian mines in a critical

oil shipping room.

Gasoline will hit the $4 average per gallon, even if the conflict ends tonight.

With gas prices surging at home, former oil trader Eric Bowling weighs in on what comes

next and a possible solution to the conflict.

We've had a long history of crime in this area, in fact, in the last four years, they

had 675 calls for service at this particular area.

A California family is suing its city after a man is stabbed to death, charging his Tesla

outside of public library, and California Governor Gavin Newsom's wife is under scrutiny,

since IRS filings reveal her charity paid millions to her company.

All that and more coming up in just a moment here on your AM update.

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Approximately 140 U.S. service members wounded since the beginning of operation, epic fury,

targeting Iran, according to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.

The injured Parnell saying 108 already returning to duty while eight remain seriously injured.

The update coming as the White House continues describing the operation as a major success

in degrading Iran's military capabilities.

Press Secretary Caroline Levin at the White House yesterday telling reporters that Iranian

military retaliation dropping sharply saying ballistic missile attacks are down more than

90% and drone attacks are down roughly 85% since the beginning of the campaign.

Attention now shifting to threats from the sea floor U.S. intelligence assets now seeing

signs that Iran is prepping to deploy mines within the Strait of Hormuz's shipping lanes.

Report CBS news, the Iranians reportedly using smaller vessels carrying two to three mines

each with estimates indicating the country possesses anywhere from 2000 to 6,000 of the devices.

The development raising concerns Iran could endanger oil tanker traffic through the narrow

Strait responsible for moving roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply.

President Trump is showing a warning to Iran yesterday afternoon on true social quote,

if Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait and we have no reports of them doing so,

we want them removed immediately.

If for any reason Trump continued mines were placed and they are not removed

forth with the military consequences to Iran, we'll be at a level never seen before.

Mr. Trump falling up in another post shortly after quote,

I am pleased to report that within the last few hours we have hit and completely destroyed 10

inactive mine laying boats and or ships with more to follow.

With concerns growing about the potential impact on oil markets and gas prices here at home,

Levit describing what victory will look like to President Trump.

President still wants Iran's unconditional survey.

Well, when President Trump says that Iran is in a place of unconditional surrender,

he's not claiming the Iranian regime is going to come out and say that themselves.

What the President means is that Iran's threats will no longer be backed by a ballistic

missile arsenal that protects them from building a nuclear bomb in their country.

I could make an empty threat, but if I have no actions to back it up, then it's an empty threat.

And so President Trump will determine when Iran is in a place of unconditional surrender,

when they no longer pose a credible and direct threat to the United States of America and our allies.

As Operation Epic Fury rages on Americans beginning to fill the costs here at home,

gasoline prices on the rise this week, the national average sitting at $3.54 per gallon for regular,

a 43 cent increase compared to last week and a 62 cent increase from last month,

according to AAA. Though higher than recent months, the national average

still much lower, the pandemic error peak of just over five bucks per gallon,

crude oil prices at $86 per dollar as of yesterday afternoon, California reporting the highest

prices and an average of $5.29 per gallon, Kansas with the cheapest average at $2.96.

The price increases adding new pressure on the President's affordability messaging ahead of

November's midterms, though of course much could depend on how long the spike lasts.

Pro long high cost risk fueling voter frustrations ahead of those crucial elections.

CBS News speaking to Americans about the pain at the pump.

The gas prices going up are very frustrating.

I'm paying 40 bucks, but that doesn't get me a full tank anymore.

Just watching the gas prices go from like 320 all the way up to 380 has been really scary.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, President Trump casting higher prices as short-term pain

for long-term gain. We're putting an end to all of this threat once and for all, and the result

will be lower oil prices, oil and gas prices for American families. We've done that. We've

done it. We brought it very low. This was just an excursion into something that had to be done.

We spoke to the host of the edge on YouTube, Eric Bowling, who spent 35 years as an oil trader.

He tells us he has never seen a situation this volatile.

I've never seen the volatility like it is right now. I've seen markets move up aggressively,

and I've seen them move down aggressively, but we're seeing markets go and oil markets

specifically going up and down violently. 20, 30% of their value in minutes. I've never,

ever seen it this nervous. I think it is a function of,

no one really knows what Trump is going to do. No one really trusts what the Middle Eastern

countries are going to do, and the media is just hyping everything that comes out every

news piece, and that's just adding to the volatility. Bowling predicts gas prices are likely to

keep going up. I will guarantee you, based on just the information, the media, the rhetoric,

the Biden rhetoric. Gasoline will hit a $4 average per gallon, even if the conflict ends

tonight, even if it's over. Just because, like I said, it takes 45 days to run a barrel of crude oil

through a refinery and get it to the gas stations. So whatever these prices are today, the $119

yesterday or the $98 the day after, those prices will eventually make it to the pump, even if things

calm down. Let me tell you, the Middle East between the Persians and the Arabs have

a vested interest in higher prices. So the longer the conflict draws out, the higher the gasoline

price will be. We won't top out at four. We could top out at $4.50. We could top out at even

$5 a gallon. We asked Bowling if he thinks gas price increases will be temporary.

I don't know if it's short term pain. I don't know that anyone knows if it's going to be short

term pain or not. For the first time ever, the Iranians are bombing Abu Dhabi,

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, other Arab countries, Persians, bombing Arab countries. These are all

producing nations. Like I said, it's going to be at least another 45 days of pain, minimum,

based on what's already happened before we can even start to think about calming down. And

don't forget, $100 barrel of oil is much better for not only the Iranians, but the Saudis,

and the Abu Dhabis, and the UAE's, and the Kuwaitis, and the Omani's. So there's a good chance

that they're going to keep this conflict going, even if they say they don't want it to,

because they didn't like a $55 barrel of oil. They're loving a $100 barrel of oil,

and they may get it for some extended period of time if this thing continues. And I don't see

anyone in the Middle East trying to calm it down or tone it down.

Bullying weighing in also on the domestic political ramifications for the President,

if gas prices do remain high. Yeah, unfortunately, this is the one

of killings that conservatives have and Trump has a higher oil price. I believe inflation is

going to go up based on this. And coming off, you know, four years of a Biden administration

where inflation was one of the main reasons why he had the step aside, the size is dementia,

but certainly the economy and inflation, it's going to be tough to kind of downplay inflation

politically, because we made such a right as made such a big deal over the last four years. So

I think this is very detrimental. And I think it's in the President's best interest and the

conservative movement's best interest to solve this as quick as possible. Bullying tells us he

has proposed a solution to the Trump administration, offering deals to both Venezuela and Iran

to create public private petroleum corporations like Saudi Aramco. Under this structure,

the government owns the oil, but private companies extracted. Bullying explains.

Venezuela produces a million barrels a day right now, but they've had the potential to produce

three million four million barrels a day. In Iran, they produce about three million a day, but they

can do up to seven or eight million barrels a day. So there's about a seven to nine million

barrels increase that could be extracted from these two countries' grounds if they were

able to get the oil out, but they haven't because they've been sanctioned and they've been,

you know, corruption and whatnot. If Trump came in and said, look, I will take our

boot off your neck right now, but you have to kind of deal with our oil companies that we're

going to produce additional barrels of oil from your two reserves. And at market price, we will be

the buyer of those oil of those barrels. So the most important thing it does is the gap between what

we use 20 million barrels a day in America and what we produce 13 million barrels a day is seven

million barrels that literally fills the gap between what we need and what we produce ourselves.

So we would never ever be dependent on one drop of foreign oil ever again.

Coming up, a California man stabbed to death while using a public charging station,

then the ambulance has stolen his family now suing the city. And Governor Gavin Newsom's wife

also in California underscored me as IRS filings reveal millions flowing from her charity to her company.

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A California family now filing a $40 million claim against the city of Downey after a 68-year-old

lab technician was killed while charging his Tesla outside a public library. The family of

Ronaldo LaFonts alleging city officials felt protect residents in an area they say had a very

long history of crime and that series of failures during the emergency response contributed to his

death. LaFonts charging his vehicle at an EV station outside the Downey city library back on

September 13th when police say he was stabbed and killed by Giovanni Navarro, a homeless man with

28 prior convictions, including brandishing a weapon attempted burglary criminal threats and

resisting arrest. According to the family's claim, Navarra had been arrested for trespassing in

the same area less than 24 hours earlier in the critical moments after the attack. The situation

only growing more chaotic, paramedics arriving to treat LaFonts when another homeless man,

Nicholas DeMarco allegedly stole the ambulance from the scene, leaving police on a high-speed chase

before crashing the vehicle and being taken into custody. Court filing say the ambulance was not

equipped with an anti-theft locking system used on many emergency vehicles and argues that a lay

in medical care costs LaFonts his life. The family now seeking $35 million in general damages

and 5 million more in economic damages tied to loss financial support and funeral expenses.

Attorney for the family outscalindo speaking to Fox News yesterday about the dangerous

history of the city center where officials placed an electric vehicle charger.

The same to Downey, this was a colossal failure on their behalf. They had known for quite some time

back 10 years another officer was murdered in this same parking lot. One of its own police officers

had a long history of crime in this area. In fact, in the last four years they had 675

calls for service at this particular area and the city's liability is based on the fact that they

had helped create the danger in this area. They knew that this was a high crime area. They invited

people such as Mr. LaFonts to come to this area, charge their vehicle and charge for it,

but they failed to protect the individuals who would come and use their services.

And this happened right in front of the library which and at Civic Center where the residents

would come and seek the services of the city. So the base of the liability is they created

the danger by knowing that this was a dangerous area and invited people to come and use it as

for commercial purpose. Authorities charging Navarra with murder along with a special allegation

that he used a deadly weapon during the attack. He scheduled to appear for a pretrial hearing in

Los Angeles Superior Court on April 2nd. Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom's

wife is now facing scrutiny over finances tied to her nonprofit. According to IRS

filings reviewed by the Daily Mail, Jennifer Sebel Newsom paying herself in her company,

Girls Club LLC more than $3.7 million over the past decade through her gender advocacy nonprofit

called the Representation Project, the organization saying online its mission is to challenge

gender stereotypes through film, education and activism producing documentaries including

misrepresentation and the mask you live in a documentary following boys and young men quote

as they struggle to stay true to themselves on negotiating America's narrow definition of

masculinity. Financial filings reviewed by the mail show the nonprofit bringing in between

$1 million and $1.7 million a year in grants and donations with $300,000 going to Sebel Newsom

and her company that includes $150,000 in salary for her and another $150,000 paid to Girls Club

LLC for filings describe as writer, director and producer fees tied to the films. A Daily Mail

Analysis finding compensation at the nonprofit exceeds that of more than 95% of charities of

a similar size. Other executives also receiving six failure salaries including the executive director

and CFO for the fiscal year ending in March of 2024. The outlet noting not all of the 300,000

paid to the company necessarily goes directly to Sebel Newsom as the business may have production

costs and overhead. The Daily Mail also noting that several donors to the charity including utility

company PG&E and AT&T Comcast and Kaiser Permanente also receiving state contracts or funding

from the Newsom administration. Critics arguing this raises ethical questions although Newsom

and his wife maintain there is no impropriety in their dealings. The representation project

declining to comment on the Daily Mail's reporting and update reached out to Governor's Newsom's office

and the representation project for comment but did not hear back.

That's it for your AM update. I'm Mark Halpert host of Next Up Catch the Megan Kelly Show

Today live on Series XM's the Megan Kelly Channel 111 at New N East or on youtube.com slash

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