The U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran are taking a toll on each American’s pockets as gas prices surge to the highest level in three years.

Iran responded to the decapitation strikes by confirming fears that it would shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a choking point for global oil tankers.

‘I would love to see the gas prices go down because everybody might not be financially able to meet the demands of these high prices.’

Oil prices have skyrocketed in the nearly three weeks since the strikes began, and Americans are paying nearly a dollar more per gallon at the pump.

That equates to about a 28.9% increase on average, from $2.98 at the beginning of the war to $3.84 on Wednesday.

The Associated Press spoke to drivers in Louisiana and Mississippi as they pumped gas into their vehicles.

“It’s pretty hard. I mean, times are tough for everybody right now,” Amanda Acosta said. “I’m getting way less gas and paying way more money.”

“I would love to see the war end,” said Thelma Williams, an Army Reserves veteran. “I would love to see the gas prices go down because everybody might not be financially able to meet the demands of these high prices.”

Meanwhile in Texas, Lubbock resident Clay Plant said the spikes in oil prices mean an immediate surge of jobs for workers in his region.

“It’s kind of a good sign for us in west Texas,” he said. “I look at it as my friends and family get to eat, and they get to go to work.”

Gas prices range from a high in California of over $5.56 per gallon to a low in Kansas of about $3.23.

RELATED: Gavin Newsom tries to hit Trump administration on energy prices — and gets humiliated online

Economists warn that the rise in oil prices increases the cost of all products that need to be transported and also leads to lower consumer spending as Americans readjust their budgets.

To provide some gas price relief, President Donald Trump temporarily suspended the Jones Act, a 1920 law restricting foreign-flagged ships, on Wednesday. The act has been excoriated by free market economists who argue that it leads to detrimentally higher costs on products shipped to the U.S.

About one-fifth of the world’s global oil supply flowed through the Strait of Hormuz.

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As the Maine Senate race heats up, BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler is calling out Senator Susan Collins not as a stabilizing moderate, but as a “subversive” within the Republican Party.

“What Collins is facing in the state of Maine is not a pretty picture. Susan Collins has portrayed herself to be a moderate Republican all her life, a sort of centrist Republican. You could call her a liberal Republican,” Wheeler explains.

“She’s not a social conservative. She’s not based. She’s not fully woke either. But what’s happening in the state of Maine is embarrassing for her because the state of Maine is about to elect a senator instead of Collins who’s not a moderate,” she continues.

And this politician who’s not moderate “has a Nazi tattoo on his arm.”

“A Democrat with a Nazi tattoo. A Democrat who has trained the militia, the transgender militia groups that seek to be the Marxist vanguard for a revolution. A man who not only claims to be a socialist, but claims outright to be a communist. I’m talking about Graham Platner,” Wheeler explains.

“Graham Platner, currently in Maine, is polling higher than Susan Collins. Susan Collins risks losing her seat to this whack job. Unless she gets a boost from you, unless people want to support her and turn out, unless people want to expose who Graham Platner is. But what would be our motivation to do that if Collins isn’t on our side?” she asks.

“What would be our motivation to make sure that Graham Platner loses if Collins votes in the exact same way that Graham Platner has promised to do? If Collins is subverting your vote by subverting the president’s agenda, is she on our side really, or is she set to lose everything that she has spent her entire career building?” Wheeler continues.

And Collins does not have a great track record when it comes to supporting the president’s agenda.

“It was Senator Susan Collins and Senator Bill Cassidy who torpedoed President Trump’s original nominee for the CDC, Dave Weldon. Dave Weldon is a congressman from the early 1990s who had the audacity, what, 30 years ago, to question whether the increase in the childhood immunization schedule had any correlation to the increase in chronic disease,” Wheeler explains.

Wheeler also points out that over the course of her career, Collins has taken “nearly three-quarters of a million dollars from the pharmaceutical and health products industry.”

This is why Wheeler crowns Collins as the “most destructive to the MAHA agenda within our own party.”

“The subversive that pretends to be one of us is Susan Collins,” she adds.

Want more from Liz Wheeler?

To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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A NASCAR driver apologized after he was suspended indefinitely for mocking another driver in a tone that he called his “gay voice.”

Daniel Dye, 22, was captured on a livestream video using the voice to ridicule IndyCar driver David Malukas after another person said Malukas “plays for the other team.”

In 2022, he was suspended for allegedly punching a high school classmate in the groin.

Dye, who was trading cards at the time, used the gay tone and bobbed his head in a mocking fashion, as described by NBC News.

“It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, yes! We race Indianapolis too! Love Indianapolis and Roger Penske. I love Roger. Love you, Roger,'” Dye said.

“As soon as I do a David Malukas gay voice I get a gold, so let’s keep it going,” he added, implying that the gay voice led to his finding premium cards. “I’m on fire!”

Nascar said the incident violated its policy against drivers making a statement that “criticizes, ridicules, or otherwise disparages another person based upon that person’s race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, or handicapping condition.”

Dye issued a lengthy statement apologizing for the behavior and promising to be better in the future.

“I want to first apologize to David Malukas. I recently went on a live stream with some friends and made some careless comments. I chose my words poorly, and I understand why it upset people. I’m sorry to anyone who was offended,” Dye wrote.

He added that he spoke to his friends in the LGBTQ+ community about the incident.

“I’m taking this seriously and working on being more aware and respectful moving forward. I’m sorry to everyone I let down,” he added. “I am committed to learning from this and better understanding … the impact that my decisions can have on others.”

RELATED: NASCAR tried to hide its Pride Month promotion, but fans found it anyway

Dye’s racing team Kaulig Racing also announced an indefinite suspension of the driver.

This is the second time Dye had been suspended over off-track antics. In 2022, he was suspended for allegedly punching a high school classmate in the groin. He was charged with a felony that was reduced to a misdemeanor and eventually dropped altogether.

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A Utah woman self-published a book in 2023 titled “Are You With Me?” — the story of a child who loses his father but is comforted by the knowledge that he remains with him in spirit. The description for the book claims it was “written by a loving mother” who personally faced the challenge of guiding “children through the difficult experience of losing a loved one.”

The problem? The 35-year-old author, Kouri Richins, was just convicted of murdering her husband and the father of her three sons.

‘Eric had to die.’

A Utah jury of eight unanimously found Richins guilty Monday of aggravated murder for lethally dosing her husband for pecuniary gain on March 4, 2022; attempted aggravated murder for trying to kill her husband on Valentine’s Day 2022; two counts of insurance fraud; and one count of forgery.

Kouri Richins faces 25 years to life in prison without parole for the aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder convictions.

Prosecutors called scores of witnesses who helped paint a portrait of an adulterous and conniving woman who racked up millions of dollars in debt; whose real estate business was on the rocks; who lacked rights to several of Eric Richins’ assets in the event of a divorce per the terms of a prenuptial agreement; and who fantasized about her husband’s death.

“She did not have the money to leave Eric or the money to salvage her business,” prosecutor Brad Bloodworth said in his closing argument, CNN reported. “Kouri Richins is an intensely ambitious person. She is a risk-taker. There was a way forward — Eric had to die.”

The victim’s life reportedly was insured for over $2 million through numerous policies, including a policy that prosecutors said Kouri Richins applied for fraudulently.

RELATED: Mother publishes book about grief for her sons — after she allegedly murdered their father

“Kouri Richins wanted to murder Eric Richins, thus took out an insurance policy on his life to get money for murdering Eric Richins,” Bloodworth said. “Then she murdered Eric Richins, and then she submitted a claim to get the money.”

Wendy Lewis — Kouri Richins’ defense attorney — challenged the monetary motive, suggesting that Eric Richins was of more use to Kouri Richins alive as evidenced by the fact that “Kouri spent that life insurance within a matter of weeks and was still in debt.”

Prosecutors said Richins added fentanyl to a Moscow mule drink that she gave her 39-year-old husband, and a toxicologist testified that the victim’s blood contained five times the minimum level of a fatal dose of fentanyl, CourtTV reported.

Bloodworth provided a reminder in court that Carmen Lauber, a house cleaner who worked for Kouri Richins, testified that Richins asked her repeatedly in 2022 for illicit pills — pills she procured for Richins both prior to the Valentine’s Day murder attempt and days before Eric Richins’ death.

In addition to hearing about an apparent attempt on the part of Richins to pin the purchase of the illicit drugs on Lauber, jurors reportedly heard at trial that a forensic examination of Richins’ phone revealed internet searches about how to delete iPhone messages as well as about death benefit insurance payouts and fentanyl poisoning.

The jury reportedly also saw the romantic messages exchanged between Richins and her then-lover, Robert Grossmann, including messages from Richins about their future together.

A spokesman for the Richins family said the victim’s sons will remain in the custody of his family and that his family was “relieved” by the verdict.

RELATED: Ex-teacher and boyfriend indicted on 39 child sex charges; she confessed to abusing 5-year-old at his direction, cops say

The victim’s obituary stated in 2022, “Eric was a family man, who always strove to be the absolute best father and husband. He was an attentive and loving father to his three sons Carter (9), Ashton (7), and Weston (5), and a devoted husband to the love of his life, and wife of nine years, Kouri (Darden) Richins. Eric did absolutely everything in his power to provide his family with every possible opportunity to learn, grow, and have fun.”

Richins is scheduled for sentencing on May 13.

She also has been separately charged with multiple counts of mortgage fraud, money laundering, forgery, and issuing a bad check along with a single count of communication fraud, KSTU-TV reported.

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Journalist Nick Shirley uncovered more than $170 million in alleged day-care and hospice fraud in California, surpassing the scandal he previously exposed in Minnesota.

On Monday, Shirley shared a 40-minute video featuring him and his team confronting alleged fraudsters living in luxury at the expense of American taxpayers.

‘It’s like somebody took a motel building and turned it into a hundred fraudulent organizations.’

“Here is the full 40 minutes of my crew and I exposing California fraud, Minnesota was big but California is even bigger,” Shirley wrote.

“We ALL work way too hard and pay too much in taxes for this to be happening. These fraudsters have been able to defraud American taxpayers for years without any pushback from the public and politicians,” he continued. “It is time to EXPOSE IT ALL and end America’s fraud crisis.”

In the video, Shirley explained that California’s version of Medicare, Medi-Cal, has more than doubled from $108 billion in fiscal year 2022 to a proposed $222 billion in fiscal year 2026.

“One out of every 10 dollars of home health care in America is spent in Los Angeles,” Shirley stated. “It is estimated that the fraud in California could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Shirley and his crew stopped at several claimed day-care locations, including some homes in residential areas, that seemed to have no children present. In one instance, the team visited a supposed day care in an apartment complex, where they found two young children playing outside. The children informed them that no adults were present.

RELATED: Mike Lee reveals the real victims of Somali fraud: ‘It is not the rich people who suffer’

Simone Lueck/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“The crazy thing is California allocates $6 billion to child-care and day-care facilities just like these, and there are over 39,000 facilities in the state,” Shirley said.

Shirley and his team also visited alleged hospice centers receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer funds. He explained that two of the facilities charged roughly $6,000 per beneficiary.

“It looks like there’s about 15 more hospice centers inside this one plaza we’re going to right now,” Shirley said.

He noted that some facilities had not even registered with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, suggesting they may be shell companies.

“It’s rumored that these are Armenian-Russian gangs,” Shirley said.

RELATED: Death threats, doxxing, and empty Dem seats: The high cost of Nick Shirley’s fight against Minnesota welfare fraud

PASCAL POCHARD-CASABIANCA/AFP/Getty Images

One of the hospice locations Shirley visited reportedly received roughly $1.3 million. However, the location was empty, with no employees or furniture inside.

“Not only are these shell companies, these are shell buildings,” an individual on Shirley’s team stated. “It’s like somebody took a motel building and turned it into a hundred fraudulent organizations.”

Shirley highlighted the luxury vehicles in the parking lot, including Mercedes, Teslas, and BMWs.

Shirley explained that fraudulent hospices collect taxpayer funds by obtaining Medicare beneficiary numbers from individuals and enrolling them in care without their knowledge.

“Must be very lucrative, because a lot of these businesses, these doors right here have nothing on them; all the blinds are turned out,” he said. “This is what you call welfare maxxing.”

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