Senate Democrats’ calls for public Iran hearings grow louder

Senate Democrats stepped up pressure on Republicans to conduct public hearings on the conduct of the Iran war, but senior GOP senators were noncommittal on whether they would do so.

The partisan tension comes as the Pentagon announced Tuesday that approximately 140 troops have been injured since the U.S. and Israeli strikes began on Feb. 28, in addition to seven U.S. military combat deaths due to Iranian strikes.

Iranian deaths exceed 1,000 by most estimates, including perhaps 175 killed in what all signs suggest was an errant U.S. missile strike on an elementary school in the Iranian town of Minab. If American culpability in the strike is confirmed, the accident would be among the deadliest civilian casualty events in U.S. military history.

Meanwhile, Iran has all but cut off the flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s oil shipments normally transit, driving up energy prices and sending shock waves through the global economy.

—CQ-Roll Call

AG Pam Bondi moved to military housing amid threats over Epstein case

Attorney General Pam Bondi was quietly and quickly moved to secure military housing amid threats from drug cartels and critics over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, according to a report.

Bondi was relocated from her apartment in Washington, D.C., to one of several heavily guarded military bases in the city, after federal law enforcement alerted her staff about the potential for danger.

Sources told The New York Times that Bondi’s move happened within the month, and that it was prompted by an uptick in threats, particularly after the U.S.’ January operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. He led for more than 10 years before he was captured in Caracas alongside his wife, Cillian Flores, and brought to New York to face narco-terrorism charges.

Bondi joins a long list of officials camping out in D.C. military facilities for fear of threats from criminals, enemies overseas and even protesters. Others include domestic policy adviser Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and departing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

—New York Daily News

Nearly 40% of California produce contains PFAS pesticides, report finds

LOS ANGELES – A new report shows that nearly 40% of conventionally grown fruits and vegetables tested by California regulators have residues of "forever" or PFAS chemicals, a family of compounds that can be lasting and harmful.

The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., reviewed California's own test data and found PFAS pesticide residues on peaches, grapes and strawberries, and about three dozen other types of fruits and vegetables. The chemicals have have increasingly been used in agricultural chemicals in recent years.

"Here's the thing: This is an emerging threat," said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director for the Center for Biological Diversity, who was not involved in the report. "PFAS pesticides went from being the exception to now they're the rule."

More than 90% of nectarine, peach and plum samples tested contained the PFAS fungicide fludioxonil. The fungicide is sprayed on the fruits after harvest to prevent mold. More than 80% of the cherries, strawberries and grapes sampled carried PFAS residue.

—Los Angeles Times

Widow of Haiti’s slain president testifies against 4 Florida men accused of plotting murder

HAITI — The widow of Haiti’s slain president testified on Wednesday that her husband’s assailants were speaking Spanish when they fatally shot Jovenel Moïse — bolstering the government’s case that a Colombian hit team was recruited by four South Florida men charged with plotting the attack at the couple’s hilltop home outside Port-au-Prince.

Martine Moïse, testifying at their murder-conspiracy trial in Miami federal court, identified two of the gunmen as “Pipe” and “Jefe” and said “they were speaking in Spanish” after they wounded her and killed her husband as they ransacked the couple’s bedroom looking for a mysterious document.

“I had never heard (of) them before,” the wife, 51, testified through a Creole interpreter before the 12-member jury.

In a key court filing, federal prosecutors said that the gunman called “Pipe” was a former Colombian special-forces soldier named Victor Albeiro Pineda Cardona. They say he was hired as part of the Colombian crew by the four South Florida defendants on trial: Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio “Tony” Intriago, James Solages and Walter Veintemilla.

—Miami Herald