Hannah Jewell and Jamie Ross">

By Hannah Jewell and Jamie Ross

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Good morning. It’s Wednesday, April 15, and this video of an Artemis II astronaut reuniting with her dog is the best thing we’ve seen all week. Now let’s get to the news.

The U.S. will send thousands more troops to the Middle East in the coming days.

• Why? President Donald Trump is trying to pressure Iran into a deal to end the war. The U.S. is considering further strikes or a possible ground operation if a ceasefire doesn’t hold.
• Today: The Senate is set to vote on a measure to block Trump from ordering more strikes.
• Yesterday: Vice President JD Vance faced awkward questions about the war at an event for conservative students in Georgia. He tried to subtly differentiate himself from Trump.

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Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, resigned from Congress yesterday after dropping out of the California governor’s race. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

• What to know: Lonna Drewes said she will file a report to the authorities. Swalwell denied her allegation and allegations of sexual assault and misconduct from other women.
• Political fallout: Swalwell has resigned from Congress and dropped out of the California governor’s race. That leaves four leading candidates vying to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.
• Swalwell rose to the top of Democratic politics: But he was dogged by rumors.

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The construction site at the Federal Reserve building in D.C. on Jan. 12. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)

• What happened? Prosecutors appeared without warning yesterday seeking a tour of the construction site. It was an escalation of an ongoing investigation into the central bank.
• In other DOJ news: Prosecutors moved to undo the seditious conspiracy convictions of 12 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who helped plan the Jan. 6, 2021, riots.

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Today is the deadline to file your taxes or request an extension.

• Some encouragement: Americans are getting more money in their tax refunds this year, new data shows, following a major tax cut passed by Congress in 2025.
• Tax season is the perfect time for financial spring-cleaning: Post columnist Michelle Singletary recommends these four moves for four generations.

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Virginia voters previously embraced the facilities, but a poll finds they are now almost as undesirable as nuclear power plants. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

• In a new Post-Schar poll: The share of Virginian voters who would be comfortable with a new data center in their community plunged to 35% from 69% in 2023.
• Wider backlash: Lawmakers in Maine passed the nation’s first statewide ban on large data centers. In California, an attempted firebombing has worried tech titans.

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The timing of your workout can impact how it affects you, according to new research.

• Exercise at any time of day is better than no exercise: But researchers found that working out at certain times of day can, in some cases, meaningfully influence the impacts.
• A key finding: The effects were especially striking for people with Type 2 diabetes. For them, exercise later in the day tended to result in improvements to blood sugar control.

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Baby elephant Lihn Mai plays in the elephant enclosure at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in D.C. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post)

• Meet Linh Mai: The 2-month-old calf is being raised by a stand-in mom after her own, aggressive mother spurned her. The arrangement is working and Linh Mai is thriving.
• Today: Zoo members will get the first chance to see her for a five-day viewing period. From April 22, the general public can visit her — or watch her from anywhere on an elephant cam.

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