Senate passes $901 billion defense bill that pushes Hegseth for boat strike video

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has given final passage to an annual military policy bill that will authorize $901 billion in defense programs. The legislation is attempting to overhaul how the Pentagon purchases weapons and pressures Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide lawmakers with video of strikes on alleged drug boats in international water near Venezuela. The annual National Defense Authorization Act also raises troop pay by 3.8%. However, the legislation includes some pushback on recent moves by the Pentagon. Several Republican senators back Hegseth and his decision not to release the video publicly. Democrats call for part of the video to be released publicly and for every member of Congress to have access to the full footage.

Shooting of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro has police searching for a suspect

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — Police intensified their search Wednesday for a suspect in the killing of professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, two days after he was shot to death at his home outside Boston. Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, was killed Monday night at his apartment in Brookline, Massachusetts. He died at a local hospital on Tuesday, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. The prosecutor’s office said the homicide investigation was “active and ongoing” as of early afternoon Wednesday and had no update — earlier they had said no suspects were in custody.

FCC leader says agency is no longer independent as he’s grilled by Democrats

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic senators are criticizing the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission for pressuring broadcasters to take ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air. At a hearing Wednesday, Democrats on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee suggested that Brendan Carr was politicizing an independent agency and trampling the First Amendment. Carr says he’s simply enforcing laws that hold broadcasters to stricter scrutiny. But a commissioner appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden told senators that the FCC has “undermined its reputation as a stable, independent and expert-driven regulatory body.”

Trump pays respects to 2 Iowa National Guardsmen and interpreter killed in Syria

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AP) — President Donald Trump has paid his respects to two Iowa National Guard members and a U.S. civilian who were killed in an attack in Syria last weekend. Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday to watch the dignified transfer of their remains to their families. The Army says Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard of Iowa died in Saturday’s attack. They were among hundreds of U.S. troops sent to eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the Islamic State group. Also killed was Ayad Mansoor Sakat, a U.S. civilian interpreter from Macomb, Michigan.