You're reading The Morning Dispatch, our flagship daily newsletter explaining all the news you need to know today in fewer than 15 minutes. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today. | | Happy Monday! It's baaaaack: For the sixth year in a row, we're happy to share that The Morning Dispatch March Madness bracket pool is live! To enter, click here (you will need a free ESPN account) and select "Join Group." The password is "TMD2K26!" and your bracket must be submitted by Thursday, March 19 at 12:15 p.m. ET. Anyone is invited to participate, but if you want to be eligible for prizes for finishing in the top three—including a yearlong Dispatch Premium membership or a gift card to our merch store—you must a) be an active paying member on or before March 19, and b) fill out this form so we can connect you with your ESPN entry. We'll keep you updated on the leaderboard over the next few weeks! | Quick Hits: Today's Top Stories |  | Further U.S. Strikes Against Iran |
| President Donald Trump claimed in a Truth Social post on Friday that U.S. forces destroyed all Iranian military targets in a bombing raid on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. U.S. Central Command said Saturday that it struck more than 90 military targets, including missile facilities and naval mine storage, while preserving oil infrastructure on the island, through which about 90 percent of Iran's oil exports pass. The president said he would "immediately reconsider this decision" should Iran attack or interfere with commercial ships seeking to cross the Strait of Hormuz. On Sunday, Trump told reporters that he had requested that seven countries, which he did not specify, send naval ships to assist in securing the Strait of Hormuz. "I'm demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory," Trump said, adding, "and we'll help." The Pentagon on Friday ordered about 2,500 Marines and the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli to the Middle East to bolster forces near the strait. | - All six U.S. military service members aboard a KC-135 refueling plane that crashed in western Iraq on Thursday were killed, U.S. Central Command confirmed Friday. The crash followed a midair accident involving a second KC-135.
- News outlets reported on Saturday that the U.S. Embassy in the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad was hit by a missile attack. The State Department urged all U.S. citizens to immediately leave Iraq.
- Iran launched drone and missile strikes on Gulf targets this morning, with a drone hitting a fuel tank near Dubai International Airport—sparking a fire, suspending all Emirates flights for hours, and forcing diverted aircraft to Al Maktoum International Airport.
|  | Carr Threatens Broadcast Licences |
| Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr warned Saturday that broadcasters airing "hoaxes and news distortions" should "correct course before their license renewals come up" or risk losing their licenses, the latest in a series of administration threats against media outlets over their coverage of the war in Iran. Carr's tweet came in reply to a Truth Social post from Trump that accused the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and other publications of running "intentionally misleading" headlines about Iranian missile strikes on five U.S. refueling tankers at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia—coverage Trump called inaccurate, claiming four of the five planes had "virtually no damage." Trump said Sunday that he was "thrilled" that the chairman was "looking at the licenses." The FCC does not directly license national networks—only individual local stations, including network-owned and independently owned affiliates—and has not denied a broadcast license renewal in decades. Current TV license renewals are not scheduled until late 2028. | - Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, told Fox News he does not "like the heavy hand of government, no matter who's wielding it," and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) described the warning as "outrageous."
| - After Carr made similar threats over comments by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel last September, Nexstar Media Group, the largest owner of local TV stations in the U.S., pulled the show from its 32 ABC affiliates.
- Anna Gomez, the FCC's sole Democratic commissioner, said Carr's threats "violate the First Amendment and will go nowhere," urging broadcasters to continue covering the news "fiercely and independently, without fear of government pressure."
|  | Judge Blocks DOJ Subpoenas of Powell |
| A federal district judge blocked the Justice Department's subpoenas to the Federal Reserve as part of a federal investigation into the central bank's chairman, Jerome Powell, according to a ruling unsealed on Friday. In his order, Judge James Boasberg wrote that the Trump administration "produced essentially zero evidence" to support its criminal claims against Powell, describing its justifications as "thin and unsubstantiated." Indeed, Boasberg added that a "mountain of evidence" indicates that the Trump administration pushed for the subpoenas in an attempt to pressure Powell "into voting for lower interest rates or resigning." Powell announced in January that the central bank was facing grand jury subpoenas related to a federal probe into his testimony before a Senate committee. To learn more about the situation, read the January 14 edition of TMD. | - In response to Boasberg's order, Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox host and current U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said that her office would appeal the ruling, which she described as "outrageous."
- Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina—who has vowed to oppose any central bank nomination while the federal government's investigation into Powell continues—tweeted that appealing Boasberg's decision would "only delay" the confirmation of Powell's nominated successor, Kevin Warsh.
|  | Trump Talks Pressure on Cuba |
| While aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump told reporters that his administration may strike a diplomatic deal with the Cuban government soon, and, if not, the U.S. would "do whatever we have to do." He also clarified that non-diplomatic alternatives were not imminent, stating, "we're going to do Iran before Cuba" and that U.S. officials were in talks with Cuban leaders. On Friday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly announced that Cuban and U.S. officials held direct discussions "aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences between the two nations." While Díaz-Canel said that Cuba is willing to work with the U.S. if it is received as an equal nation, he noted that the country was strengthening its military defense capabilities. | - Protests broke out late Friday in the central Cuban city of Morón, where Cuban officials arrested five demonstrators for protesting the regime's handling of energy and food policy.
- Demonstrators also partially damaged the building hosting the local ruling Communist Party headquarters, which Cuban authorities described as "vandalism."
- Díaz-Canel said later that day that "complaints and claims are legitimate, as long as they are made with civility and respect for public order."
|  | One Battle After Another Leads Oscar Wins |
| Comedian and late-night show host Conan O'Brien hosted the 98th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles last night, with One Battle After Another winning six awards—for best picture, director, adapted screenplay, supporting actor, editing, and the inaugural Oscar for best casting. Sinners, which was nominated in 16 categories—the most nominations in Oscar history—won the second most awards with four: Michael B. Jordan won best actor, Ryan Coogler won best original screenplay, Ludwig Göransson won his third Oscar for best original score, and Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to win best cinematography. Jessie Buckley won best actress for Hamnet; Amy Madigan won best supporting actress for Weapons; and KPop Demon Hunters won best animated feature and best original song for " Golden." Marty Supreme, and its star Timothée Chalamet, won no awards. | - Sean Penn didn't attend the ceremony, where he became only the fourth male performer to win three acting Oscars, joining Daniel Day-Lewis, Jack Nicholson, and Walter Brennan.
- Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein swept the craft categories, winning best costume design, makeup and hairstyling, and production design.
- The best live action short film category ended in a tie between The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva. This is the seventh tie in Oscar history.
| | | Two-story single family homes line the streets of Thousand Oaks, California, on January 13, 2026. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images) | In the United States, housing is built—or blocked—at the local level. Zoning boards, city councils, and state legislatures set the rules, and Washington has historically stayed out of it. But on Thursday, senators on both sides of the political aisle passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act by an 89-10 vote. Co-sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, it's the first significant federal housing legislation since the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, and is Congress' most ambitious attempt in decades to address a reality in which homeownership in many parts of the country has become unattainable for millions. But what will the ROAD to Housing Act do to address the situation? And will last-minute additions to the bill do more harm than good? | The Problem | Estimates of the country's "housing deficit" range from 2 million to 5.5 million units, but precise figures are difficult to calculate. According to Fannie Mae, the federal government's mortgage enterprise, the U.S. builds roughly 1.3 million new units a year, and closing the housing gap within a decade would require an additional 400,000 units per year. But talk about a "housing deficit" in a vacuum misses an important reality. According to the Census Bureau, there are roughly 15 million vacant housing units in the U.S.—more than 10 percent of the total stock. Not all of those homes are available—the Census Bureau's definition of "vacant" includes seasonal or vacation homes—but many of these available vacancies are located in cities that have been bleeding population for decades. As Kevin D. Williamson wrote for The Dispatch a few years ago, New York state alone had nearly 1 million vacant properties in 2023, including abandoned homes and units held off the market by landlords affected by rent-control laws. The problem is not necessarily that America lacks housing; it's that it lacks housing where people want to live. | | You are receiving the free, truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. To read the full newsletter—and unlock all of our stories, podcasts, community benefits, and our newest feature, Dispatch Voiced, which allows you to listen to our written stories in your own podcast feed—join The Dispatch as a paying member. | | | | | | Amelia Christmas Gramling | Amelia Christmas Gramling, a writer and teacher living in New York, has been going to 26 Federal Plaza once a week since July with a group of other volunteer "legal observers." There, she offers to accompany individuals waiting for their date with federal immigration court. "I do not intervene," she writes. "When a detention is underway, I do not obstruct, record, or even speak. I'm just an observer." What does she see? A lot of little girls in red velvet with white buckles on their shoes and little boys in three-piece suits and … masked ICE officers. "I am not the first person to observe how masking degrades the public's faith in ICE," she writes. "The mask offers immunity and anonymity. It gives the wearer the freedom to disappear from public view. … But I wonder whether the mask obscures their vision as well as ours—whether the freedom of being unseen also frees the agent from seeing, really, what they do and to whom." | | | | | | | | | | Today in America | - The State Department reduced the fee for renouncing U.S. citizenship from $2,350 to $450.
- Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell is reportedly planning to step down.
- A federal district judge issued an administrative stay, temporarily barring the Trump administration from allowing Temporary Protected Status to expire for Somalis legally residing in the U.S.
- The Trump administration withdrew a draft regulation that would have barred U.S. AI chipmakers from selling to foreign buyers without U.S. government approval.
- The U.S. finished in second place in the Paralympic medal count with 24: American athletes have won 13 gold medals in biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, and snowboarding; five silver in alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and snowboarding; and six bronze in alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and snowboarding.
| Around the World | - Dutch officials said that an explosive device detonated at a Jewish school's outer wall in Amsterdam, in what the city's mayor described as a "targeted attack against the Jewish community." The blast came a night after a similar attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam.
- Pakistani forces launched aerial attacks on an Afghan drone storage facility after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said Taliban-led Afghan forces launched drone attacks on civilian targets.
- Taiwan's Defense Ministry said that it detected a large-scale Chinese military presence near the island, reporting 26 Chinese military planes and seven naval vessels.
- China's state-owned airline announced it will resume flights to North Korea at the end of the month, after suspending them since the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Exit polls indicate that voters in Kazakhstan overwhelmingly approved a nationwide referendum on a new constitution that would, among other changes, recreate the office of the vice president, merge parliament into a unicameral body, and expand presidential appointment powers.
- Trinidad and Tobago's House of Representatives voted to extend the country's crime-related state of emergency for an additional three months.
| On the Money | - U.S. airline CEOs urged Congress to end the partial government shutdown after more than 300 TSA employees quit since February.
- Investors in the U.S.-led venture owning TikTok's U.S. platform paid the Trump administration a $2.5 billion fee when the deal closed in January, a figure that will grow to $10 billion in total with additional payments.
- Paramount Skydance is reportedly discussing a deal to renew CBS's contract with the National Football League for more than $3 billion per year.
- ByteDance is reportedly delaying the release of its newest AI video-generator tool, Seedance 2.0.
- For the second consecutive weekend, the Pixar animated film Hoppers was the biggest movie at the box office, bringing in $28.5 million. The romantic drama Reminders of Him finished second, raking in $18.3 million.
| Worth Your Time | - "How Ro Khanna Turned a Sex Trafficking Scandal Into a Campaign Stunt," by Dispatch contributing writer Jamie Kirchick. (Washington Post)
- Simon Gardner, James Pearson, and Blake Morrison on their search to identify the pseudonymous street artist, Banksy. (Reuters)
- Jan Steyn on living with gout. (The Dial)
- Calder McHugh and Samuel Benson report on Utah's resistance to AI and big tech. (Politico)
- Serena Kutchinsky reflects on her father's infatuation with his priceless, giant, bejeweled egg. (The Guardian)
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