Today's Top Stories from NBC News

THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2026

In today's newsletter: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard deflects senators' questions about the threat posed by Iran. A conservative activist group and teachers unions become unlikely allies fighting big tech in schools. And street soccer is gaining popularity in Mexico, fueled by excitement surrounding this summer's World Cup.

Here's what to know today.

▼ The Lead

Tulsi Gabbard declines to say if Iran posed 'imminent threat' to the U.S.

(Francis Chung / Politico via AP)

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declined to say if Iran's nuclear program presented an "imminent threat," deflecting questions from lawmakers during a Senate hearing yesterday about whether U.S. intelligence backed up White House statements on the rationale for starting the war.

Gabbard has stayed mostly silent on the war since it began on Feb. 28. Her reluctance to offer a full-throated endorsement of President Donald Trump's decision to wage war on Iran, unlike other Cabinet officials, renewed questions about her standing in the administration.

During the hearing, Gabbard omitted language from her written remarks stating that Iran had not tried to rebuild its uranium enrichment capability after the U.S. air strikes in June — an assessment that appears to contradict Trump, who has said Iran was working to rebuild its nuclear program. When pressed about why she'd skipped portions of her remarks, Gabbard said "time was running long."

The Senate hearing came a day after Joe Kent resigned as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in protest of the war in Iran. Kent argued that Iran posed no imminent threat. Kent has been simultaneously under investigation by the FBI for allegedly leaking classified information, a source familiar with the matter said.

Separately, Trump said there would be no further attacks on South Pars, the world's biggest gas field, unless Iran attacks Qatar again. If Iran did so, the U.S. would "massively blow up the entirety" of the gas field, the president said. Oil prices continue to soar as anxiety grows over energy supplies. Brent crude oil soared past $116 a barrel this morning, rising almost 10% in just a day. The European TTF benchmark for natural gas prices traded 24% higher. Follow the latest on our liveblog.

More Iran war news:

With the Strait of Hormuz blocked, Iran has threatened another vital maritime trade choke point: the Red Sea.

Here's how Lebanon's only international airport stays open amid Israeli strikes.

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Brian Cheung breaks down the politics surrounding the Fed's decision to keep interest rates steady.

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More than a year ago, the GEO Group founder George Zoley asked for a meeting with Corey Lewandowski, a close ally of Trump who had just taken up a powerful position as a top adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. As a titan of the private prison industry, GEO Group stood to benefit from Trump's mass deportation agenda.

The company's federal contracts related to transporting, detaining, monitoring and deporting undocumented immigrants already totaled more than $1 billion per year. But sources say Zoley twice refused Lewandowski's request that he be paid in exchange for protecting and growing GEO Group's contracts with the Department of Homeland Security — including once after Lewandowski took a role as an unpaid "special government employee" and acted as Noem's "de facto chief of staff" under the new administration.

In the following months, the lengths of GEO Group's contracts shrank, and a senior DHS official said Lewandowski told him not to award more contracts to the company. And in December 2025, GEO Group did not receive a new contract for $121 million for services that help local immigrants DHS is trying to find.

Now, lawmakers and Trump are asking about Lewandowski's role in awarding contracts.

Read more about the allegations.

More politics news:

Trump's pick to succeed Noem at the DHS, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, was grilled on his "anger issues" and foreign travel during a heated confirmation hearing.

Primary results in Illinois solidified Gov. JB Pritzker's "powerhouse" role — and set him up for a White House run.

Voters in a key swing district are unhappy about rising gas prices but still plan to vote Republican in the midterms.

Conservative moms and teachers unions: unlikely allies in the war on screentime

Conservative activist group Moms for Liberty has been known since its inception in 2021 for blasting teachers unions as an "education mafia" composed of people who "don't care about kids." But this year, they're teaming up with some of their former adversaries over a common cause: fighting against education technology in public schools.

Across the country, Moms for Liberty chapters and other conservative groups are uniting with local unions and some liberal parents to push for limits on how much time children spend using screens in school. Parents and activists on both sides of the political spectrum told NBC News the budding partnership is an opportunity to best provide for their children.

Teachers unions are split on ed tech restrictions. But many Moms for Liberty chapter members are eager to work with the ones who align with their fight to remove the tech from schools.

Steve Kornacki's guide to the NCAA Tournament

The madness is back ... or is it? As college basketball weathers a moment of transition — and, some say, crisis — NBC News' chief data analyst Steve Kornacki discusses this year's NCAA Tournament, from key matchups to his pick to win the national championship:

🏀 Has Goliath slayed David? A few years ago, Cinderella stories were being written with more regularity than ever. But the parade of underdogs has come to a halt, Kornacki argues, and dramatic changes to the sport may have fundamentally changed the tournament itself. "If the top seeds and power conferences crush the mid-majors once more," he writes, "the pattern will be all the more apparent."

🏀 Potential first-round upsets: Kornacki has his eye on three games in the first round that have potential to shake up the tournament — No. 12 seed Akron vs. No. 5 seed Texas Tech, No. 13 seed Troy vs. No. 4 seed Nebraska, and No. 13 seed California Baptist vs. No. 5 seed Kansas.

🏀 Who will win it all? Given that Kornacki's picks for the last five years haven't fared so well, his choice this year isn't the team he thinks could make a real run. Rather, "I'll go with the depth and balance of long-overdue Arizona."

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▼ Read All About It

The late Cesar Chavez, one of the nation's most prominent labor rights leaders, has been accused of sexually abusing girls and women in the 1960s and 1970s while leading the United Farm Workers.

An AI-generated version of the late Val Kilmer is starring in a new movie.

NBC News' George Solis gets a rare look inside a Cuban hospital, where patients and doctors are hit hard by outages and fuel shortages.

Apple wants iPhone users to update their software after new research suggests Russian intelligence, Chinese cybercriminals and other hackers are taking over phones with older iOS systems.

A University of Alabama student is missing after a night out at a Barcelona club.

A new study predicts over 132,000 kids would need a cavity filled or a tooth pulled if five states stopped putting fluoride in drinking water.

Joseph Duggar, who starred in "19 Kids and Counting," was arrested after he was accused of molesting a minor.

▼ Staff Pick

Pickup soccer games in Mexico's streets are all the rage

On this pitch, there's no goalkeeper, no grass, no referees. But the players who gather informally in the middle of a Mexico City residential street to play "fútbol" are emblematic of the country's deep love of the game — and the intense excitement ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

A few months ago, a small group of soccer fans founded "Reta Mexa" on social media, inviting fellow fans to play impromptu matches every Friday on different streets.

"I have a son who loves soccer, and I see that he and his generation have become stuck at home," explained Roy Jiménez, one of the four founders as a game took place in the city's Roma neighborhood.

The games have caught on, and even delighted tourists have decided to join in, as our colleague Alejandra Arteaga showed us from Mexico City.

— Sandra Lilley, senior news editor

▼ NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

Today's round-up of articles include a new, must-try hobby that involves diamonds (sort of) and making sure you're properly prepared for a hike this season. The NBC Select team also rounded-up the best early deals ahead of Amazon's Big Spring Sale, including major discounts on tech, beauty products and more.

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Thanks for reading the Morning Rundown. Today's newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson and Marissa Martinez.

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