WASHINGTON – The Bush administration intends to seek about $70 billion in emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan early next year, pushing total war costs close to $225 billion since the invasion of Iraq early last year, Pentagon and congressional officials said Monday.

White House budget office spokesman Chad Kolton emphasized that final decisions on the supplemental spending request will not be made until shortly before the request is sent to Congress. That may not happen until early February, when President Bush would submit his budget for fiscal 2006, assuming he wins re-election.

The Army is expected to request at least an additional $30 billion for combat activity in Iraq, with $6 billion more needed to begin refurbishing equipment. The Marines will come in with a separate request, as will the Defense Logistics Agency and other components of the Department of Defense. The State Department will need considerably more funds to finance construction and operations at the sprawling embassy complex in Baghdad. The Central Intelligence Agency’s request would come on top of those.

Bush has said for months that he would make an additional request for the war next year, but the new estimates are the first glimpse of its magnitude.

Waiver would ensure border fence

House Republicans have inserted language into legislation revamping the U.S. intelligence system that would allow the Homeland Security secretary to waive any federal law interfering with construction of a 14-mile anti-immigration fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats, environmentalists and Native American groups have protested the provision. Despite a flurry of last-minute offers between the House and Senate, chances of Congress enacting the Sept. 11 commission’s terror-fighting recommendations before Election Day are all but gone.

No violations in Ashcroft’s tour

Attorney General John Ashcroft did not violate anti-lobbying laws when he gave a series of speeches last year in 16 cities promoting the anti-terror Patriot Act, Justice Department internal investigators have concluded. Laws bar executive branch officials from engaging in grass-roots lobbying and also prohibit the spending of government money on unauthorized “publicity or propaganda.”

California: Scott Peterson defense

Scott Peterson’s mother took the witness stand in Redwood City on Monday to defend her son and help explain why Peterson was carrying nearly $15,000 in cash when he was arrested in San Diego – a detail prosecutors have suggested meant he was preparing to flee after allegedly killing his pregnant wife, Laci. Jackie Peterson explained that she had inadvertently withdrawn $10,000 in cash from a bank account that bore both her name and Scott Peterson’s, in order to loan another son some money to buy Scott Peterson’s truck. Jackie Peterson said on April 17, a day before Scott Peterson’s arrest, she gave him back the $10,000 she accidentally withdrew from his account.

Maryland: Bear hunt opens, closes

Maryland’s first bear hunt in 51 years began at dawn Monday, and ended unexpectedly Monday night as the nearly 400 hunters threatened to exceed a state-imposed limit of 30 bears. By late in the day, 20 bears had been registered at state checking stations, according to the Department of Natural Resources, and more bear kills may be registered today.

Georgia: Hate crimes law tossed

The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state’s hate crimes law Monday, saying the measure is so broadly worded that it could even be used to prosecute a rabid sports fan for picking on somebody wearing a rival team’s cap. The 7-0 ruling came in the case of a white man and woman convicted of beating two black men in Atlanta.