Senate votes

on immigration

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led Senate is moving forward with legislation to fund immigration enforcement agencies after forcing the White House to drop its settlement fund for political allies and stripping a separate proposal for White House security from the bill.

The Senate voted 53-46 on Wednesday to begin debate on the roughly $70 billion bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. The legislation was delayed for weeks as Republican senators navigated the various obstacles to passage created by President Donald Trump and the White House, but they are now moving quickly to pass it after paring it back to its original form.

Democrats

look to Iowa

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate race in Iowa is one of the most closely watched this year and the general election matchup is now set, with Democrats hoping for a gain.

Iowa is also where President Donald Trump’s endorsement streak ended when his pick for governor lost in the Republican primary on Tuesday. Democrats have settled on a nominee in a New Jersey congressional district that could decide which party controls the House after November’s elections.

Standoff

suspect dead

(AP) — Police say a man held 10 people hostage inside a California office building before the FBI shot and killed him, bringing a more than 15-hour standoff to an end.

The Bakersfield Police Department says the hostages were found unharmed early Wednesday inside the downtown Bakersfield building that houses a bank and a school district office. The standoff began Tuesday afternoon when officers responded to a call of a bomb threat.

Authorities say the suspect was an Army veteran who was dishonorably discharged, had a history of trouble with law enforcement and was a registered sex offender.

LaBeouf gets

probation

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Shia LaBeouf has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to punching people outside a New Orleans bar during Mardi Gras.

An attorney for LaBeouf says the actor will also be required to attend an alcohol treatment program under the sentence handed down Wednesday by an Orleans Parish judge.

Video of the Feb. 17 encounter shows a shirtless LaBeouf shoving one person to the ground and hitting another person in the face, “causing his nose to possibly dislocate,” according to a New Orleans police report.

Police also said LaBeouf repeatedly used homophobic slurs. He pleaded guilty to three counts of simple battery.