WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has asked for an additional $200 billion from Congress to pay for the war against Iran, a person familiar with the matter said, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that the campaign was ahead of schedule and disputed that the U.S. was getting embroiled in a quagmire.

The person, who asked not to be identified ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Before Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi departed for Washington, she told her nation’s lawmakers that her Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump on Thursday would be “very difficult.”

Actually, it was awkward.

After a reporter questioned Trump about not warning Japan before launching his “surprise” ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A Senate committee advanced the nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin to be Homeland Security secretary Thursday, setting up a potential confirmation vote on the floor as early as next week.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-7 to report the nomination to the floor, the day after a contentious ...Read more

The country’s oldest and most influential farmworkers union, already embroiled in a legal dispute with the Trump administration, is now grappling with how to respond to the uproar over sex abuse allegations against famed labor leader Cesar Chavez.

Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers, said the union wants to be supportive of ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Maryland Republicans on Thursday unveiled plans to introduce emergency legislation suspending the state’s gas tax for 30 days, adding that the move would provide immediate relief as fuel prices spike amid the war in Iran.

Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey said he aims to bring the proposal to the Senate floor as soon as ...Read more

MIAMI — What do four of the world’s five richest people have in common?

They all have megamillion waterfront estates in Miami and Miami Beach — including a $170 million property for Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg that recently broke a record as the county’s most expensive home sale ever.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, ...Read more

Another member of the Duggar family, famous for the TLC series "19 Kids and Counting," faces allegations of child sex abuse.

Joseph Duggar, the 31-year-old son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and the younger brother of convicted sex offender Josh Duggar, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Arkansas by local law enforcement on suspicion of ...Read more

Iran stepped up its assault on key oil and gas infrastructure across the Middle East, defying U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls for restraint and triggering a fresh surge in energy prices that have highlighted the cost of the ever-widening conflict.

The Islamic Republic targeted sites in countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One day after a newspaper investigation showed that César E. Chávez, the late United Farm Workers union leader who became a national icon for workers and civil rights, allegedly engaged in decades-long acts of child sexual abuse and adult rape, Kansas City leaders are now struggling with the question of what to do with the...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A Morrison County woman has been fined $150,000 for failing to report a grass fire that began on her property and erupted into a 2,300-acre wildfire last spring.

The fine is one of the largest issued by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources over a wildfire violation, and far higher than any in recent years. The agency ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award is being given to the Twin Cities this year for resistance to immigration enforcement actions this winter, according to the JFK Library Foundation.

“The people of the Twin Cities responded with extraordinary courage and resolve,” according to the announcement. “Tens of ...Read more

DENVER — Denver city leaders said Thursday that they would rename a fast-approaching holiday that honors civil rights leader César Chávez, a day after The New York Times published an investigation alleging that Chávez had sexually abused women and girls for years.

Mayor Mike Johnston stood in front of a tearful group of Latino and Chicano ...Read more

DETROIT — Health officials have confirmed a measles outbreak in Washtenaw County, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday.

A measles outbreak is defined as three or more related cases of measles, and three linked cases have been reported since March 12 in Washtenaw County, MDHHS said in a press release. Measles is a...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — The man accused of providing the gun that Mohamed Jalloh used in last week’s deadly shooting at Old Dominion University was denied bond on Thursday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Leonard said he was concerned about Kenya Chapman — the Smithfield man charged with selling the handgun to Jalloh — committing the same kind of...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to announce a new Office of Community Safety on Thursday, a step toward fulfilling his campaign pledge to install a new city department to handle responses to mental health crises rather than leave that largely to the NYPD.

The mayor is slated to announce Renita Francois, a former city official under ...Read more

Four U.S. Navy vessels, long counted on to suss out mines planted in Middle East waters, were bound for Philadelphia last week following their recent decommissioning — even as the U.S. war with Iran shows no signs of abating.

A U.S. Navy official confirmed that the Avenger-class ships — the USS Devastator, USS Dextrous, USS Gladiator, and ...Read more

BOSTON — It could be time to update the Bay State’s hunting calen-deer.

Gov. Maura Healey is shooting for expanded hunting access in Massachusetts, as she announced on Thursday that she’s filing legislation to allow hunting on Sundays. The bill would also expand hunting with crossbows, and reduce setback distances for bowhunting and ...Read more