Biden undergoes surgery to remove skin cancer

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden recently underwent surgery to remove skin cancer lesions, a spokesperson said Thursday, the latest health challenge for the former president.

His spokesperson Kelly Scully confirmed the surgery after Inside Edition published video of Biden leaving church in Delaware with a fresh scar on his forehead.

She said Biden received Mohs surgery, a procedure used to cut away skin until no evidence of cancer remains.

Two years ago, while Biden was in office, he had a lesion removed from his chest. The lesion was basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer.

In May, Biden’s office announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.

“Cancer touches us all,” Biden wrote on social media at the time. “Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places.”

The Biden family has faced cancer repeatedly over the years. Biden’s son Beau died of a brain tumor, and his wife, Jill, had two cancerous lesions removed.

Trump to seek ‘Department of War’ rebrand for Pentagon

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Friday to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War, his latest effort to project an image of toughness for America’s military.

The Republican president can’t formally change the name without legislation, which his administration would request from Congress. In the meantime, Trump will authorize the Pentagon to use “secondary titles” so the department can go by its original name.

The plans were disclosed by a White House official, who requested anonymity ahead of the public announcement, and detailed in a White House fact sheet.

The Department of War was created in 1789, the same year that the U.S. Constitution took effect. It was renamed by law in 1947, two years after the end of World War II.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted “DEPARTMENT OF WAR” on social media after the executive order was initially reported by Fox News.

Trump and Hegseth have long talked about changing the name, and Hegseth even created a social media poll on the topic in March.

Since then, he has hinted that his title as defense secretary may not be permanent at multiple public events, including a speech at Fort Benning, Georgia, on Thursday. He told an auditorium full of soldiers that it “may be a slightly different title tomorrow.”

In August, Trump told reporters that “everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense.”

When confronted with the possibility that making the name change would require an act of Congress, Trump told reporters that “we’re just going to do it.”

“I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that,” he added.

Trump administration targets Boston in latest sanctuary city lawsuit

The Trump administration sued the city of Boston and its leaders Thursday in its latest attempt to invalidate policies seen as interfering with immigration enforcement.

The suit alleges that Boston’s sanctuary city policies are illegal under federal law and the city’s refusal to cooperate with immigration authorities has resulted in the release of dangerous criminals who should be deported.

“The City of Boston and its Mayor have been among the worst sanctuary offenders in America — they explicitly enforce policies designed to undermine law enforcement and protect illegal aliens from justice,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “If Boston won’t protect its citizens from illegal alien crime, this Department of Justice will.”

The administration has filed a series of similar lawsuits against other cities, including Los Angeles, New York City, Denver and Rochester, New York. It sued four New Jersey cities in May.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who was named as a plaintiff in the latest lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a letter to Bondi last month, she called Boston the safest major city in America and defended its law prohibiting local police from engaging with immigration enforcement absent a criminal warrant as a valid exercise of local authority.

The Associated Press