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March 3, 2026 
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Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.
- Trump addresses Iran questions
- Voters head to the polls in Texas
- Plus, the health benefits of owning a dog
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| Smoke rising today after a strike west of Tehran, Iran’s capital. Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times |
Trump suggests he’s uncertain about Iran’s future
President Trump declared today that nearly every part of Iran’s military had been “knocked out,” but many indications suggest the war in the Middle East is still widening: The U.S. bombardment of Iran continued today, and Israeli forces pushed farther into Lebanon to halt Hezbollah rocket fire.
More than 800 people have been killed, mostly in Iran, as nations scrambled to evacuate their citizens out of the region. Iran has increased its drone and missile attacks across the region in an attempt to heighten the political and economic costs for the U.S. and Israel. Video verified by The Times showed a large fire at the U.S. Consulate in Dubai after the area was hit by what appeared to be an Iranian drone.
During a White House meeting today, the president acknowledged that he was uncertain about what’s next. He said the bombing campaign had killed Iranian officials that the U.S. had viewed as potential new leaders, and conceded that whoever takes over Iran could be “as bad” as the previous regime.
“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said. “Now we have another group, they may be dead also.” The president added, “Pretty soon we’re not going to know anybody.” Iranian clerics were expected to announce a successor to the supreme leader, who was killed.
In other news from the conflict:
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| Poll workers in Fort Worth today. Desiree Rios for The New York Times |
The midterms begin with high-stakes showdowns in Texas
Over the next six months, dozens of primary elections will offer a window into the priorities of the American electorate and help determine which party controls Congress. It all began today.
The marquee race to watch this evening is the Senate contest in Texas. (We will update this page as soon as we get results.) On the Republican side, John Cornyn, a four-term senator, is very likely to go to a runoff against Ken Paxton, the hard-right, scandal-tarnished state attorney general. See the latest polls here.
The Democratic Senate race pits Jasmine Crockett, a liberal firebrand in the House, against James Talarico, a seminarian and state representative courting moderates. Our chief political analyst, Nate Cohn, explained why their race is more about persona than policy.
In North Carolina: The state’s most powerful politician is in a tight State Senate race against a small-town sheriff.
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| Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times |
Noem defends labeling Minn. protesters as domestic terrorists
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, appeared on Capitol Hill today and faced withering criticism from senators in both parties over her handling of Trump’s immigration crackdown. She repeatedly declined to retract her suggestion that the two American citizens killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis were domestic terrorists.
In other immigration news:
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| Abbey Cutrer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via Associated Press |
Father found guilty of ignoring warnings before school shooting
A jury concluded today that Colin Gray was guilty of more than two dozen charges, including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, in a school shooting his son is accused of committing. Prosecutors said that Gray allowed the teenage boy unfettered access to an assault-style rifle that was used in the 2024 shooting despite volatile behavior.
The closely watched trial was the first prosecution in Georgia against a parent whose child was accused of a mass shooting. The approach has gained traction across the country in recent years.
More top news
Christina Applegate turned her old journals into a memoir
When Christina Applegate was a teenager, rising to fame on “Married … With Children,” she kept notes in journals. Years later, she instructed her assistant to burn them when she dies. But after letting her daughter read them, she decided to use the journals as the source material for a memoir.
The result, out today, is “You With the Sad Eyes.” It is a dark, profane and sometimes funny look at her early life, with multiple accounts of abuse beginning when she was 5. We talked to Applegate, who is now retired from acting, about her process of writing the book and revisiting old memories.
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| Dr. Dhruv Kazi and his dog Rumi. Tony Luong for The New York Times |
Get a dog, live longer?
Decades of research has found that people with pets, especially dogs, tend to be healthier than people without them. They have lower blood pressure, a reduced risk of heart disease and, according to one analysis, a 24 percent lower risk of dying from all causes over the course of 10 years.
My colleague Dana Smith, who has an 8-year-old mixed breed named Layla, asked experts why. One theory is that dog owners are more physically active because they walk more often. Another suggests that dogs improve mental health.
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| Illustration By Melissa Santamaría |
Dinner table topics
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| Christopher Testani for The New York Times |
Cook: These
