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Hegseth says Tuesday will be the ‘most intense day of strikes’ inside Iran

forces.“That is strong evidence of degradation,” Hegseth said of the numbers.Egypt raises fuel pricesEgyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly says his government had to raise fuel prices to make sure local production continues and the economy remains stable.Egypt hiked fuel prices by up to 17% as the war in the Middle East has sent prices of oil soaring.The prime minister said during a Cabinet meeting that the government faced a choice between maintaining current fuel prices — a move that he sai

Pinpoint Alert: Heavy mountain snow, blizzard conditions, expected Wednesday

It looks markedly warmer next week with the potential for rainfall again, not only in the lowlands but in the mountains too, which could continue river flood potential.With a Blizzard Warning in the mountains Wednesday, what is a “blizzard?” #wawxpic.twitter.com/UsTPhYxmt2— Morgan Palmer (@MorganKIRO7) March 9, 2026Follow this link to read additional stories from KIRO 7While this snowfall is extreme, we would need (given location) anywhere from 50-80+ inches of snow to get the snowpa

Pope accepts resignation of US bishop who was arrested for alleged financial crimes

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of the Chaldean Catholic bishop of San Diego, California, a decision announced Tuesday by the Vatican after the bishop was arrested on embezzlement charges.The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said last week it had arrested Bishop Emmanuel Shaleta on March 5 at San Diego International Airport as he tried to leave the country. The office said it acted after someone from Shaleta’s church provided a statement and documentation “showing potentia

One more weekend of pain in Bothell upcoming

It seemed like drivers were paying attention and keeping traffic moving as well.”RELATED STORIESI-405 to close in both directions near SR 522 this weekend, Bothell expecting some gridlockAll lanes of I‑405 reopen in Bothell after weekend ramp removalThree-day closure shuts down northbound 1st Avenue South bridgeWSDOT expects longer delays with full closure all day SaturdayThis weekend could be a different story. The closure of both directions of I-405 starts Friday night.“We do expec

Washington ranks 37th for tap water quality in new national study

While that might sound high, it is still far cleaner than states at the bottom of the list like Alaska, which recorded over 21,000 violations per 100,000 people.RELATED STORIESGovernor Ferguson signs domestic workers bill of rightsHarger: Top WA Senate Democrat's last-minute bill would strip corporations of legal existence for opposing income tax, unions exempt'I would call it a recession': Council president addresses Seattle's rising costsWhere the water comes fromWashington’s ranking is tied t

Brothers from Mexico sentenced for trafficking more than 30 pounds of fentanyl in western Washington

At Benito’s residence, law enforcement recovered roughly 76.5 grams of M-30 pills, 1,169 grams of fentanyl powder, along with scales, baggies, and $20,285 in cash.At Antonio’s residence, officers seized 1,992.3 grams of M-30 pills, 11,320 grams of fentanyl powder, 1,271.8 grams of heroin, and $12,396 in cash, according to records filed in the case.“This investigation shut down a significant fentanyl and heroin distribution operation that was putting lives at risk across western

Iranians fleeing cities under attack seek refuge in the countryside

The brightest spot, the lawyer said, was when one of the two farm dogs, Maya, gave birth to a litter of puppies.Still, uncertainty hangs over everything.“From morning to night, we talk about what is happening, our worries, how everything gets more expensive every day, about how far our money will stretch,” she said.“If this situation continues, we will have problems meeting basic needs.”Between bombardment and the Revolutionary Guard The U.S.-Israeli campaign has struck heavy blows to Iran

Young kids missed the pandemic’s school disruptions. Their reading scores are still behind

<block>WASHINGTON (AP) — When COVID-19 wrought havoc on society in early 2020, today’s youngest schoolchildren were infants or yet to be born. Now in their early school years, researchers are beginning to see how the pandemic years have shaped their education, even though many had yet to set foot in a classroom when it began. First and second graders continue to perform worse than their pre-pandemic counterparts on math and reading tests, according to a report published Tuesday by the education assessment and research group NWEA. But while math scores have inched up every year, <a href="https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/trend-snapshots-covid-19-recovery-in-k2-positive-recovery-trends/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reading scores</a> remain stagnant, the report shows. The data suggests the slump in academic performance is not rooted only in instructional disruption. Broader societal shifts might be at play. In the youngest students’ failure to recover, “there’s something kind of systemic here happening … within schools and outside of schools,” said Megan Kuhfeld, a researcher at NWEA. “We can’t pinpoint one specific cause.”The pandemic’s effects on older children’s academic achievement are well-documented. COVID-19 forced kids out of classrooms and into online learning. Students lost out on face time with instructors, their mental health suffered in the isolation, and their well-being deteriorated as some families endured hardship. Some schoolchildren stopped showing up to school altogether. The federal government gave billions of dollars to school districts to help students catch up — with mixed results. In 2024, reading scores for fourth- and eighth-graders continued a downward slide, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Math scores, however, trended upward.Testing for younger kids is less common, so the NWEA report offers insights into the depth of the academic disruption. It’s based on assessments given to students in the 2024-25 school year. Kindergarten scores for math and science remained roughly the same throughout the pandemic. First and second graders are trending in the same way as their older peers. Math and reading scores are still falling short of pre-pandemic levels, although math scores are slowly rising. Reading scores have remained roughly the same since the spring of 2021, when the first full school year in the pandemic was wrapping up. It’s unclear what is depressing the scores. Kuhfeld pointed to emerging data showing that fewer parents are reading to their children, an activity that has been shown to boost literacy. A 2024 survey of parents in the United Kingdom found that less than half of children under 5 <a href="https://corporate.harpercollins.co.uk/press-releases/new-research-reveals-that-parents-are-losing-the-love-of-reading-aloud/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were regularly read to</a>, a 20-point drop from a dozen years prior. In Minnetonka Public Schools outside Minneapolis, school leaders say that while reading scores dipped during the pandemic, they have since recovered. Teachers now focus more on phonics and also regularly assess students on literacy. Students who are behind receive extra help on the parts of reading where they struggle. A student who has difficulty reading aloud might be asked to read to one of their classmates, for example.But some things are out of the district’s control. During the pandemic, Associate Superintendent Amy LaDue said, many young children were homebound. They missed out on activities like going to museums and playing with other children, which are helpful for language and literacy development. She believes that’s one factor that continues to hamper kids, especially those from low-income families.“These kids weren’t in school when the pandemic happened, but (some) were … in early childhood and preschool,” LaDue said. “Their opportunities … to have those experiences outside of their home that build literacy skills and to apply them with peers probably were impacted because they were home.”Along with interventions at school, a growing number of states and cities are investing in pre-kindergarten to help children with early literacy. California has introduced universal pre-kindergarten, and New York City is expanding its pre-kindergarten program to 2-year-olds, giving toddlers an early start on learning. New Mexico has made child care free for nearly all families. ___The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s <a href="https://www.ap.org/about/news-values-and-principles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">standards</a> for working with philanthropies, a <a href="https://www.ap.org/about/supporting-ap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list</a> of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.</block>

FBI hunts for clues after 2 men charged with lighting bombs at NYC protest

Balat then dropped a second object near some police officers and tried to run, but was tackled and arrested, according to a court complaint.Balat and Kayumi were being held without bail after a court appearance Monday on charges that include attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction.Balat’s lawyer, Mehdi Essmidi, said outside court that his client, a high school senior, had “complicated stuff going on” in his personal life.“

After training in deep snow and bitter cold, ex-reality show star seeks to win the Iditarod again

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Riches and paid appearances haven’t followed Jessie Holmes since he won the world’s most famous sled dog race, the Iditarod, last year.He doesn’t mind.A carpenter and a former cast member of National Geographic’s reality show “Life Below Zero,” Holmes has instead been content to return to his austere, hand-built homestead in the wilderness near the continent’s tallest mountain. His life is solitary and frugal. His closest neighbors are 30 miles (50 kilo

Mississippi voters to decide whether to send longtime Rep. Thompson back to Washington

<block>JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Democrats on Tuesday will decide between longtime U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson and his 34-year-old primary challenger in a race that reflects generational struggle for control of the party. Thompson, a 78-year-old civil rights leader who chaired the House Jan. 6 Committee and serves as a ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, has held his seat for more than three decades. He is running against Evan Turnage, an antitrust lawyer who previously worked for top Democrats in Washington, and Pertis Herman Williams III, who has called for a new era of leadership.Turnage is part of a wave of young Democrats who are hoping to oust older incumbents and usher in a new era. He has staked his candidacy on a message of economic populism and cast himself as a leader capable of understanding and regulating Big Tech and artificial intelligence. Turnage faces an uphill battle against Thompson, who has more than $1.5 million in his bank account. Since mid-December, Turnage’s campaign has raised just over $200,000 and has a little under $40,000 left to spend. Posing an additional challenge is Thompson’s incumbency advantage.Marvin King, an associate professor of political science at the University of Mississippi, said Thompson’s 17 terms in Congress have made him an institution in a state where voters tend to reelect incumbents.“He’s basically been there like half of people’s lives on average,” King said. “No other challenger has effectively shown why Bennie Thompson should be dethroned.” Thompson has faced a few meaningful challengers from both the right and left, but none of his races have been considered close, King said. The two are vying for control of Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District. The district stretches from the central part of the state west to the Mississippi River and is a majority Black Democratic stronghold in a state led mainly by Republicans. Given the district’s demographic makeup, whoever wins the Democratic primary on Tuesday will likely succeed in November’s general election.On the Republican side, Ron Eller, a military veteran and physician assistant, is running against Kevin Wilson, an oilman and county supervisor. Thompson previously defeated Eller in 2024, winning with 62% of the vote.</block>

Wildflowers are blooming in the driest place in North America — but not for long

<block>DEATH VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Death Valley, known as the driest place in North America, is teeming with life with a once-in-a-decade blossoming of wildflowers known as a superbloom, transforming a normally brown desert landscape into carpets of gold. Wildflowers bloom across parts of southern California and Nevada at different degrees usually every year. In some years, superblooms are so vibrant they can be seen from space. But it’s rare for Death Valley National Park, the hottest place on Earth, to burst with color. “This landscape that sometimes people think of as desolate or devoid of life is coming alive right now with this really beautiful palette of colors,” said park ranger Matthew Lamar.This year’s bloom is the best the park has seen since 2016 thanks to steady rainfall and warm temperatures in the last six months, Lamar said.Death Valley received nearly a year’s worth of rain since October and experienced the wettest November on record, according to the National Park Service, with 1.76 inches of rain, allowing long-dormant seeds buried in the soil to burst through the surface. <hl2>Thriving in adversity</hl2>Known as the “desert sunflower,” the desert gold flower blankets areas of the valley, with purple phacelia, brown-eyed primrose and the pink desert five-spot sprinkled throughout.Just north of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, Las Vegas resident Jackie Gilbert appreciated the contrast between the field of gold flowers with the mountains behind it and the blue sky above. She said the flowers’ resilience is amazing. “It’s a good reminder that even in the face of all this adversity, that they can still thrive,” said Gilbert, who visited specifically to see the superbloom.Ecologists say the superbloom disproves a misconception about deserts: that there’s no life. Even in years without vibrant blooms, a lot of life happens in Death Valley, said Loralee Larios, plant ecologist at the University of California, Riverside. “The plants and the animals have developed really amazing strategies to be able to persist, and especially in a system like Death Valley that’s really sort of characterized by extremes,” Larios said. Tiffany Pereira, ecologist and associate research scientist at the Desert Research Institute, said desert plants have adapted to go decades without water, waiting for the perfect conditions for its seeds to germinate and spring to life. <hl2>Short-lived opportunity</hl2>Time is of the essence to see these ephemeral, or short-lived, wildflowers. The fields of flowers on the park’s lower elevations are expected to remain until mid-to-late March, depending on the weather. Higher elevations will blossom with color April through June, according to the National Park Service. Visitors can check a poster outside of the visitor center for the best spots to view the flowers. In early March, fields of wildflowers are blooming just north of the visitor center, as well as south along Badwater Road. Ashford Mill, an hour’s drive from the visitor center, is also bursting with color, according to Lamar.Ecologists and the park rangers caution visitors to stick to designated trails and avoid trampling on the flowers. Picking the flowers is prohibited, and touching the purple phacelia could cause skin irritation. Any flower plucked from the ground means fewer seeds planted for future generations to enjoy, Pereira said.Visitors should also watch their step for the sphinx moth caterpillars, which are scattered across the desert floor in search of the brown-eyed primrose to eat before it buries itself into the soil and transforms into a moth.“I think it’s a great time to come to Death Valley and have that unique experience because who knows when the next one will happen?” Lamar said.</block>

Georgia voters choosing a successor to Marjorie Taylor Greene in US House

ATLANTA (AP) — Months after Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned from Congress after a falling out with President Donald Trump, voters in her Georgia district will vote for her successor in a special election Tuesday.With top candidates including Republicans Clay Fuller and Colton Moore and Democrat Shawn Harris, this round of voting could be only the first step in an elections marathon in northwest Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.Fuller, a district attorney endorsed by Trump, is hoping to avoi

In a time of war with Iran, Americans unite in aggravation over sticker shock at the gas pump

“He said he was going to bring gas down, but the war in Iran is now making everything worse.”It seems a country divided on so many fronts is finding common ground in pain at the pump, where the cost of the Iran war is hitting Americans squarely in the wallet and aggravating people across the political spectrum.For Castillo and many others filling their tanks on Monday at gas stations in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and Iowa, it was a reminder that politicians’ promises aren’t

Northern Arizona University student died of alcohol poisoning following rush event, autopsy says

<block>FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A Northern Arizona University student who drank an excessive amount of vodka at a fraternity house party died of alcohol poisoning, an autopsy released Monday shows.Colin Daniel Martinez, 18, was found unresponsive Jan. 31 and couldn’t be resuscitated, the report said. His blood-alcohol level was 0.425% — more than five times the state’s legal limit for driving and an amount generally considered to be fatal. Three leaders from the Delta Tau Delta fraternity face charges in Martinez’s death. The Coconino County Attorney’s Office said Monday that it is reviewing the case to determine whether formal charges are appropriate against the three leaders, who were 20 at the time. The three were arrested on suspicion of hazing.Martinez was among four people who were candidates for the fraternity and shared two bottles of vodka to ensure they vomited, according to court documents released last month. Some witnesses said the bottles might have been diluted with water.Witnesses reported readjusting his sleeping position, checking his pulse and breathing, and looking up symptoms of alcohol poisoning throughout the night, the documents said. After Martinez died, the university suspended the fraternity. The national organization later voted to shutter the NAU chapter. </block>

US allies and rivals in Asia gauge fallout from war in the Middle East

The Trump administration has shown a willingness to act militarily without broad coordination with allies.The United States for decades has pledged full military — including nuclear — protection for its allies and stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea to deter North Korea. While a major reduction in that commitment is unlikely, Seoul must now consider the risk of being drawn into potential conflicts triggered by unilateral U.S. action, including beyond the Korean Peninsula, Hong said.“Whet

Starbucks to close five Seattle locations next month

“After laying off thousands of corporate employees, opening a new office in Nashville, and closing its flagship stores, CEO Brian Niccol is yet again upending the lives of employees and disrupting customers with no notice or justification.”Starbucks plans to expand with hundreds of new storesAfter a tumultuous 2025, Starbucks plans to expand by opening hundreds of new stores, the company announced in January.Leaders within Starbucks expect to open as many as 650 locations worldwide this year, in

Footage released of suspect throwing bike at deputy during foot pursuit in Snohomish County

Footage was released of a suspect throwing his bicycle at a deputy during an attempt to flee on foot last week in Snohomish County.On March 3, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) Deputy Moses was contacting a suspect who had an outstanding warrant, SCSO announced.After standing by the front of Deputy Moses’s vehicle for a short time, he abruptly began sprinting toward a bike located nearby in an attempt to escape.RELATED STORIES'Extremely troubling': Seattle man sentenced for po

How the Iran war and surging oil prices are affecting consumers at the gas pump and beyond

Some of California’s refineries have shut down in recent years, so the massive state relies on imports of gasoline and other refined products from Asia.By contrast, the average price in Louisiana, which has oil production and refineries, was $3.04.The spike in oil prices is likely to further push up gasoline prices, and could be felt more significantly in Asia and Europe, which are more dependent on Middle Eastern oil and gas than the United States.The cost of shipping and goods increases alongs

World leaders eye oil reserves, but so far hold off on tapping them

But for other countries, tapping their reserves will result in them eventually needing to replenish what was taken.“Because of that, countries tend to keep reserves for a last-resort scenario, should the disruption be prolonged,” says Maksim Sonin, an energy executive who works with Stanford University’s Hydrogen Initiative.Discussions can cool marketsSo far, leaders have been reticent to tap reserves.Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed the idea of turning to the Strategic P