by Brittney Melton

March 17, 2026

Good morning. Team USA seized second place overall in the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games medal count. Celebrate the athletes' accomplishments by diving into some of their standout moments. Here’s the news we’re following today:

A second front in the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran is heating up in Lebanon, where Israel has intensified ground attacks on the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Israel’s defense minister says the military has killed two top Iranian commanders in a targeted strike. Iran did not immediately confirm the killings. Meanwhile, some of the U.S.’ European allies have refused to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil passage blocked by Iran amid the conflict. NATO countries are set to convene in Brussels today to discuss the escalating tensions in the Middle East.

A United Arab Emirates navy vessel patrols next to cargo ships and oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The sky appears dark and hazy blue.

Altaf Qadri/AP

🎧 The Lebanese government reports that 1 million people have now been displaced. Over the weekend, NPR’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi visited a couple of Lebanese towns in Bekaa Valley, where evacuation orders have left streets empty and businesses shuttered. Al-Shalchi says many buildings, including homes and schools, lie in ruins from Israeli airstrikes. Residents who remain in the area are hesitant to leave, fearing they may never be able to return. Mass evacuations are a tactic Israel has used in Gaza, where many Palestinians were barred from returning home.
🎧 President Trump has said that NATO allies should help the U.S. reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But European countries firmly believe this isn’t their war, reporter Teri Schultz tells Up First. The president didn’t consult them before taking action, and then demanded to use European military bases in the Middle East. European allies are currently focused on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who they see as their enemy, and on Ukraine as a territory to protect. Schultz says it remains to be seen if Trump will intensify pressure to shift European leaders’ priorities.

Another catastrophic collapse of Cuba's electricity grid yesterday left nearly 11 million people without power. This outage is not the first across the entire island, but it is the largest since the U.S. began blocking oil to Cuba in January. The interruption of service comes as Trump vowed yesterday that he would have the "honor of taking Cuba."

🎧 Cuba’s power grid has been failing for decades, and the government hasn’t been able to keep up with the maintenance, NPR’s Eyder Peralta says. The country relies on imported oil for its thermal power plants, and it hasn’t received any for months. Small demonstrations broke out after the blackouts. The Cuban government responded by opening parts of the economy and betting on solar energy. But Peralta says it's unclear how quickly that can ease residents’ pain. President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed last week that negotiations with the U.S. are underway. Over the weekend, Cuba announced it would release 51 prisoners arrested during protests in 2021 and allow Cubans living abroad to invest in and own businesses in Cuba. Peralta says it’s unclear if these concessions will satisfy Washington.

The Supreme Court yesterday temporarily halted the Trump administration’s plan to deport some 6,000 Syrians and 350,000 Haitians who had received Temporary Protected Status from Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Trump himself in his first term. The court has also expedited arguments for these cases to April, with a decision likely by the end of June. Federal law allows presidents to grant TPS for people in the U.S. whose home country is experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters and other extraordinary, temporary conditions. Trump wants to end TPS for individuals from 13 countries, including Myanmar, Nepal, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Venezuela.

A federal judge yesterday blocked the Trump administration's efforts to overhaul national vaccine policies, including the controversial decision to cut the number of federally recommended vaccinations for children. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy in Boston ruled that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. improperly replaced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s entire vaccine advisory committee. Murphy said Kennedy and this committee disregarded long-used, well-regarded scientific processes for developing vaccine policy and wrote in his ruling that the government "thereby undermined the integrity of its actions." The American Academy of Pediatrics and the health experts who initiated the lawsuit celebrated the decision. The administration plans to appeal it.

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A man is looking at his laptop, trying to do his taxes, and the light from the laptop is creating shadowy figures behind him.

Chloe Sun/NP\R

You may be tempted to save some bucks and try a tax hack when you file your return. But, faulty tax advice can have real consequences. Certified public accountant Mark Gallegos advises people to take precautions before seeking any tax advice. Tax imposter scams are rising, according to the Better Business Bureau. Gallegos shares guidance with Life Kit on how to avoid falling victim to a scam.

💰 If someone claims everyone qualifies for a "little-known tax loophole," they're probably wrong. If you seem to qualify, consult a primary source like IRS.gov or ask an expert before acting.
💰 Get tax advice from qualified professionals like certified public accountants, tax attorneys and enrolled agents. Be skeptical of advice from nonexperts who don’t cite their sources.
💰 If a tip you’re considering relies on the IRS skipping or overlooking your return, it's not legitimate.

For more tips on how to avoid common tax scams, listen to this episode of NPR's Life Kit. Subscribe to the Life Kit newsletter for expert advice on love, money, relationships and more.

Behind the story

by Frank Langfitt, NPR’s roving national correspondent

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One of the things I love about my job is driving from town to town, asking questions and having no idea what answers I’ll get. After many years reporting overseas for NPR, it is a great way to rediscover America. Recently, I drove through two swing congressional districts in Pennsylvania. I asked people what they thought of President Trump’s claim that Democrats could only win the upcoming elections if they cheated. The answers from Republicans surprised me and showed how attitudes towards the president’s election fraud claims have changed over the past five years.

What does it mean to be an American? There’s no single answer. At NPR, we think of American identity as a story, one that’s constantly being rewritten by the people who live it.

The American Storytelling collection brings together stories from local stations across the NPR Network, from small-town struggles to natural wonders to the layered histories that shape our nation. These are some of our biggest little-known shows, all in one place.

Explore the American Storytelling channel on Apple Podcasts or find it in the NPR App.

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Patrick Robert/Corbis/Sygma/via Getty Images

A new drug, acoziborole, holds the promise of helping the World Health Organization eliminate sleeping sickness by 2030.

Three Tennessee teenagers filed a class action lawsuit against Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, alleging its large language model powered an app that created nonconsensual nude and sexually explicit images and videos of them when they were girls.

The letter X can be many things: a sound, a word and even a symbol. For the Word of the Week, NPR examines the letter’s origins and many uses.

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This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

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