Lawmakers introduced a $1.2 trillion spending package Thursday that sets the stage for avoiding a partial government shutdown for several key federal agencies this weekend and allows Congress, nearly six months into the budget year, to complete its work in funding the government through September.

Democrats were largely able to swat back hundreds of policy mandates and some of the steeper budget cuts that House Republicans were seeking to impose on nondefense programs, though House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., highlighted some policy wins, including a nearly 24% increase in detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country.

This year’s spending bills were divided into two packages. The first one cleared Congress two weeks ago, just hours before a shutdown deadline for the agencies funded through the bills.

Now Congress is focused on the second, larger package, which includes about $886 billion for the Defense Department, about a 3% increase from last year’s levels. The 1,012-page bill also funds the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Labor, and others.

Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter and close friend was fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers following allegations of illegal gambling and theft from the Japanese baseball star.

Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, 39, was let go from the team Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker. The team is in Seoul this week as Ohtani makes his Dodgers debut, and Mizuhara was in Los Angeles’ dugout during its season-opening win over San Diego.

“In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” law firm Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement Wednesday.

Sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.

Doctors in Boston announced Thursday they have transplanted a genetically modified pig kidney into a 62-year-old patient.

Massachusetts General Hospital said it’s the first time a pig kidney has been transplanted into a living person. Previously, pig kidneys have been temporarily transplanted into brain-dead donors. Also, two men received heart transplants from pigs, although both died within months.

The transplant was done earlier this month. The patient, Mr. Richard ‘Rick’ Slayman of Weymouth, Massachusetts, is recovering well and is expected to be discharged soon, doctors said Thursday.

Owen Larson can be reached at lars6521@stthomas.edu.