Seattle City Council approves plan requiring local police to monitor ICE

(The Center Square) – The Seattle City Council unanimously approved a plan Tuesday requiring the police department to document evidence of potentially unlawful acts by Immigrations and Custom Enforcement agents during immigration actions.

The plan was first announced in anexecutive orderby Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson on Jan. 29. Tuesday's city council vote codifies it into city law.

Kent Loux, the new president of the Seattle Police Officer's Guild, did respond to an email seeking comment.

But former president Mike Solanhad attackedthe mayor's executive order on X, a day after Wilson's order.

"The concept of pitting two armed law enforcement agencies against each other is ludicrous, and will not happen," Solan said. "I will not allow SPOG members to be used as political pawns."

City Council Public Safety Committee Chairman Robert Kettle said Tuesday that the measure was necessary given the unprofessional behavior of federal immigration agents during enforcement actions. He cited the death of two protesters in Minneapolis at the hands ofICEin January.

"Federal law enforcement actions with ICE and Customs and Border Patrol, have not been to the standards that we expect from law enforcement, " he told the Center Square after Tuesday's vote.

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Under the resolution, Seattle police officers are required to to investigate, verify, and document any reports of immigration enforcement activity.

Officers who are dispatched to the scene are then directed to monitor the immigration enforcement action with in-car and body-worn video, validate the status of federal law enforcement agents by asking for official identification, and secure scenes of potentially unlawful acts to gather evidence for transmittal to prosecutors.

Kettle, a retired naval officer who has served overseas in conflict zones in the Middle East, said he accepts the premise that federal immigration agents have the authority to operate in the U.S.

"But what we were seeing from federal agents in Minneapolis was substandard," he said. "The resolution is about leadership and the expectations we have from federal immigration agents."

ICE officials and the U.S. Border Patrol did not respond to requests for comment.

Tuesday's resolution also condemns ICE for the actions in Minneapolis involving the deaths of two civilians.

Another part of the resolution requires the city of Seattle to install more than 600 signs prohibiting ICE enforcement action on city property including parks, city garages and The Seattle Center.

The signs have already started to be installed at the cost of $45,000 as part of Mayor Wilson's executive order.

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March 03, 2026

Seattle City Council approves plan requiring local police to monitor ICE

(The Center Square) – The Seattle City Council unanimously approved a plan Tuesday requiring the police department to doc...

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Severe Weather, Including Tornado Threat, Increases In Plains From Texas To Midwest Wednesday Into The Weekend

Severe thunderstorms, including tornadoes, are increasingly likely in parts of the Plains and Midwest starting Wednesday and could last into the weekend, if not early next week from Texas to parts of the upper Midwest.

Almost on cue as March arrived, we're setting up a rather stuck weather pattern that will bring multiple days in a row of at least some severe thunderstorms in the nation's mid-section.

(MORE:Beware Of March For Tornadoes, Especially Recently)

Severe Threat Timing

Severe thunderstorms are most possible in the afternoon and evening from parts of northern Texas into the Ozarks. Large hail, damaging thunderstorm winds and a few tornadoes are possible.

More isolated strong to severe storms are possible as far north as the mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

Cities:Dallas; Ft. Smith and Little Rock, Arkansas; and Springfield, Missouri

Severe thunderstorms are most possible in the afternoon and evening along a feature known as adrylinein parts of western Texas into western Oklahoma and perhaps southwestern Kansas. Hail larger than golf balls, damaging thunderstorm winds and a few tornadoes are possible.

More isolated strong to severe storms are possible as far north as the Missouri Valley of Nebraska and Iowa.

Cities:Lubbock, Amarillo, Wichita Falls, Oklahoma City, Omaha

Friday's severe weather threat may be more widespread, with more numeroussupercellthunderstorms capable of tornadoes, hail and destructive winds possible from parts of Texas to Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri in the afternoon and evening.

At least some severe thunderstorms with hail are possible as far north as southern Minnesota, southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

Cities:Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City, Chicago

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This Weekend And Beyond

The story doesn't end, there.

We can't rule out some lingering strong to severe storms Saturday from the Ohio Valley and Appalachians to southeast Texas.

And a few isolated strong to severe storms are possible in parts of the South Sunday along and near a sagging and stalling frontal boundary.

Additional strong to severe storms are expected early next week as a strong cold front slices into the central U.S. as a strong upper-level low pressure system over northern Mexico finally gets kicked into the Plains.

Check back with us at weather.com for updates to this forecast.

(MAPS:7-Day US Forecast)

How Much Rain?

Rainfall is expected to be heavy at times with these storms.

NOAA's Weather Prediction Center has issued level 1 out of 4 risks for heavy rainfall for Wednesday, Friday and Saturday across parts of the Southern Plains and the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.

Some areas in this zone may pick up over 3 inches of rain, where multiple rounds of thunderstorms occur. That could lead to flash flooding, particularly in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains of eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas and southwest Missouri.

Soaking A Drought

These parts of the country are very much in need of rainfall. Drought persists across much of the South, and the reason is actually fairly straightforward.

We have been under a La Niña this winter, which causes some significant impacts to our weather.

(MORE:La Niña Is Fading)

A La Niña occurs when trade winds moving from east to west across the Equator over the Pacific Ocean ramp up, pushing warm water to the Western Pacific. This forces cooler water to rise to the surface across the eastern region of the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

This simple change has a drastic impact on the weather around the world and is amplified in the winter.

In a typical La Niña winter, the jet stream is typically forced further north, leaving the South warmer and drier. That pattern sends most of the precipitation and cooler temperatures to the north.

Rob Shackelfordis a meteorologist and climate scientist at weather.com. He received his undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Georgia studying meteorology and experimenting with alternative hurricane forecasting tools.

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March 03, 2026

Severe Weather, Including Tornado Threat, Increases In Plains From Texas To Midwest Wednesday Into The Weekend

Severe thunderstorms, including tornadoes, are increasingly likely in parts of the Plains and Midwest starting Wednesday ...

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What we know about the strike on a school in Iran as death toll rises

The elementary school called with an urgent message about her son. "The war has started," she was told. Come pick him up.

The mother, who asked not to be identified, said she had only just dropped the boy off and couldn't leave immediately since she had patients to see in her job as a midwife. Then the earth shook. And she ran.

It was too late. Three airstrikes had hit Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, killing 168 people, according to the town's mayor. Many of them were children. One of them was her son.

"By the time we arrived, the entire school had collapsed on top of the children," the mother told NBC News. "People were pulling out children's arms and legs. People were pulling out severed heads."

Four days later, grief and outrage grew over the school deaths, which has become a flashpoint for opposition to the U.S. and Israeli strikes. There is also anger and uncertainty over the fact that no one has admitted responsibility for the most-publicized civilian casualties since the start of the war.

A large crowd gathered to bury the children Tuesday, video and images published by state media show. There is a mass burial with rows and rows of what appeared to be individual graves dug side by side.

The U.S. and Israel have since hit thousands of targets inside the country, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei among nearly 800 others,according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

Tehran is striking back, hitting Israel and several other countries in the region allied with the U.S., including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. Six U.S. service members were among those killed in its counterassault, as well as 11 people in Israel, while dozens have been killed in Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

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When asked about the deaths on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that U.S. forces "would not deliberately target a school," adding that the Defense Department "would be investigating ​that if that was our strike."

Over the weekend, U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, said it was looking into reports of civilian deaths. The Israeli military has so far declined to comment.

The school appeared to have been located near an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) site, according to satellite footage, which British broadcaster BBC News reported has previously been targeted.

Both the Minab official and the mother who spoke to NBC News said the school facility was built on an IRGC base. The base closed around 15 years ago and all military personnel were moved, although the school stayed open, they said.

Satellite imagery from 2011 appears to show the building as part of the same compound, before being fenced off later.

Ali Farhadi, spokesperson for Iran's education ministry, said on Sunday that three attacks had struck the school, which he said had 264 students.

Iranian Foreign MinisterAbbas Araghchi said Saturday on Xthat the school had been "bombed in broad daylight, when packed with young pupils."

"These crimes against the Iranian People will not go unanswered," he warned.

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March 03, 2026

What we know about the strike on a school in Iran as death toll rises

The elementary school called with an urgent message about her son. "The war has started," she was told. Come pi...

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UConn remains atop women's college poll after finishing season undefeated

The UConn women's basketball team finished its latest undefeated regular season and remains the No. 1 team in theUSA TODAY Sports coaches' poll.

The Huskies (31-0, 20-0 Big East) are on a 47-game winning streak dating back to last season. They have won 67 consecutive games in theBig Eastand will be the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament, which begins Friday, March 6 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

UConn hasn't lost a game in conference play in three seasons.

"UConn it's much different than playing somewhere else," Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. "It's not easy when you're expected to win every single game, and if you do lose it's because there's something wrong with you, not because the other team played great."

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The top 10 in the women's college basketball poll stayed the same, minus Michigan and Oklahoma swapping spots at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively. UCLA, South Carolina, Texas and Vanderbilt are ranked No. 2 through 5 as conference tournaments in the Power 4 conferences get underway on Wednesday, March 4.

The SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 tournaments should help sort out the top 16 teams for March Madness, who will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament on their campuses.

North Carolina is the biggest riser in the poll, moving up three spots after defeating No. 14 Duke last week. Princeton returned to the poll at No. 24, the only mid-major in the top 25. Iowa State, which went 3-3 in its final six games of the season, dropped out.

The Rice Owls, who are on a 21-game win streak, received 28 votes as the highest vote-getter outside of the top 25.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Women's basketball college poll: UConn No. 1 after undefeated season

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March 03, 2026

UConn remains atop women's college poll after finishing season undefeated

The UConn women's basketball team finished its latest undefeated regular season and remains the No. 1 team in theUSA ...

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State Department Urges Americans to Leave Middle East Immediately

The State Department has urged Americans across the Middle East to leave the region immediately due to "serious safety risks" posed by the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran.

Theadvisory, posted on Monday afternoon, covers Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The State Department urges U.S. citizens in these areas to depart "using available commercial transportation."

"Our number one priority is the safety and security of American citizens everywhere in the world," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in avideoposted on social media in light of what he called "cowardly attacks" by Iran on Gulf states.

Rubio urged U.S. citizens to register with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program and monitor security updates from the State Department via its WhatsApp channel and social media. He added that the department has surged personnel and resources to provide Americans with safety and security information after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Saturday, which Iran has responded to with missile and drone strikes across the region.

The security update came before the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia was hit in a suspected Iranian drone attack early Tuesday. There have been no reported casualties or injuries from the attack so far, sources toldCNN. The Saudi Ministry of Defence said it caused "limited fire and minor material damages." The U.S. Embassy in Riyadhissueda "shelter in place" notice to Americans in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. When asked about how the U.S. will respond to the drone attack, President Donald Trumpsaid, "you'll find out soon."

Iran's retaliatory attacks have broadened since the U.S. and Israelbombed Iranandassassinatedits Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khameneiover the weekend. Hundreds of people, includingmore than 100 children, in Iran were killed in ongoing U.S.-Israeli attacks, according to humanitarian organization Red Crescent. Iran initially retaliated with attacks on U.S. military bases in the Middle East, which has so far resulted in thedeaths of six American soldiers. Suspected Iranian strikes, including intercepted projectiles, alsoappeared to hit civilian areasof several Gulf states, includingSaudi Arabia's largest oil refineryand aluxury hotel in Dubai, killingmore than a dozenpeople across the region.

Read More:After Khamenei, Who Could Lead Iran Next?

On Tuesday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Telegram that it was beginning to target "American political centers" in the Middle East, and that "the explosion at the Washington embassy in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, was a move in this direction." The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait was alsohitin suspected Iranian attacks on Sunday and Monday.

The conflict has also widened as Israel and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed paramilitary in Lebanon, exchanged attacks on Monday and Tuesday. IsraelbombedBeirut again on Tuesday afterkilling at least 31 peopleinstrikeson Monday, while the Israeli Air Force said itinterceptedtwo drones from the direction of Lebanon early Tuesday after an initial attack by Hezbollah on an Israeli military base in retaliation for the assassination of Khamenei. Lebanese President Joseph Aouncondemnedboth Hezbollah and Israel's attacks for "persisting in using Lebanon once again as a platform for proxy wars."

Trump and his Administration have indicated that the U.S. plans to continue its attacks on Iran. The President toldCNNon Monday morning that the "big wave" of U.S. attacks on Iran is yet to come. Rubio alsotoldreporters on Monday that "the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military" and that the "next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now," signaling a more expansive campaign than the initial Operation Epic Fury. Trump on Mondaysaidhe would deploy U.S. troops "if necessary" although he said he "probably" would not have to. He alsocautionedthat there would "likely be more" American soldiers killed in the U.S. military mission, which hesuggestedcould last four weeks.

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Read More:'It's As If I'm Dreaming': Iranians Recount the First Day of the War, and the Death of Khamenei

Limited commercial travel reopens

Severe travel disruptions in the Middle East may complicate efforts by Americans to leave the region, even as some commercial air travel reopened on Monday evening.

At least 11,000 flights departing from and arriving in the Middle East have been canceled since Saturday, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Several airlines also suspended services through the middle of this week. U.A.E. national carrier Etihad Airwayssuspendedregular scheduled services till 2 p.m. local time (5 a.m. E.T.) on Wednesday, while Dubai-based airline Emiratessuspendedregular scheduled services till further notice.

Some airlines, including Emirates and Etihad, resumed some ad-hoc departures on Monday evening, mainly for repatriations. At least 16 Etihad flights departed from Abu Dhabi on Monday evening, according to flight tracker Flightradar24. Emirates also said it would resume limited flights beginning Monday evening, prioritizing customers with earlier bookings and directly contacting those who are rebooked to travel on these flights. Budget carrier flydubai alsoresumeda limited number of flights on Monday evening.

"Some repositioning, cargo and repatriation flights may operate in coordination with UAE authorities and subject to strict operational and safety approvals," Etihad said.

Dubai Airportssaidthat limited flights have been allowed to operate from Dubai International—the Middle East's biggest travel hub—and Dubai World Central, but it urged passengers not to go to the airport unless directly contacted by an airline.

Qatar's airspace remains closed, suspending all flights to and from Doha. Qatar's national carrier Qatar Airwayssaidin an update on Monday that all flight operations remain temporarily suspended until Qatari airspace is safely reopened. It said it will provide another update on Tuesday morning.

The airspaces ofIran,Iraq,Bahrain, andKuwaitremained closed as of Monday night, suspending all flights to and from those countries. Israel said it ispreparing to gradually reopenits airspace next week.JordanandSyriaalso partially closed their airspaces. Egypt said itsairspace is fully operational, while Egyptian airlines temporarily suspended services to certain cities. Dozens of flights havereroutedthrough Egypt, Turkey, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, which kept most of their airspaces open, although flights bound for Riyadh have held or turned back after reports of explosions, according toFlightradar24.

How many Americans are affected?

Exact numbers are unclear, but there are roughly hundreds of thousands of Americans living across the Middle East, which could put further strain on the limited available commercial travel. Most live in Israel, with 600,000 Americans there prior to Oct. 7, 2023, according to theWashington Post. Around15,000 Americans lived in Qataras of 2015,30,000 in Kuwaitas of 2020,50,000 in the U.A.E.as of 2015,80,000 in Saudi Arabiaas of 2022, and43,000 in Lebanonas of 2023. At least1,000 Americans and family members of Americansresided in and wished to depart Gaza in October 2023, according to a State Department briefing at the time, while around45,000 to 60,000 Palestinian Americanslived in the West Bank, Reuters reported in July 2023. Another60,000 live in Egypt, which has not been hit in attacks but is covered by the State Department's security update.

These figures do not include the number of tourists, for which there is limited available data; there are also limited reliable figures for the number of Americans residing in other countries in the region. "U.S. citizens are not required to register their travel to a foreign country with us, so we cannot track how many U.S. citizens have gone to a specific country," a State Department spokesperson toldAxiosin 2023.

Other countries have also issued travel warnings for the region. The British government said it was sending rapid deployment teams to the Middle East to support British nationals in the region and "ensure that they can return home as swiftly and safely as possible," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday. The U.K.urgedBritish nationals in Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Palestine, Qatar, and the U.A.E. to register their presence and monitor travel guidance. More than 100,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the Middle East so far, according to theBBC.

Contact usatletters@time.com.

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March 03, 2026

State Department Urges Americans to Leave Middle East Immediately

The State Department has urged Americans across the Middle East to leave the region immediately due to "serious safe...

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