The Petersburg Post
Top News Stories for Friday, April 3rd 2026
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Trump fires US Attorney General Pam Bondi US President Donald Trump has announced that he is removing Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post as head of the Justice Department. The president posted on Truth Social that Bondi would be "transitioning" to a new role in the private sector. It is less than a month since Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem . Here is what we know: What happened to Pam ...
Source: aljazeera.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Capsule's engine fires up for six minutes, putting crew on track to reach farthest distance travelled by humans in space Four astronauts on the Artemis II mission are approaching 100,000 miles from Earth as they head towards the moon, putting them on track to reach the farthest distance humans have ever travelled in space. The crew have now left Earth's orbit and fired their engines on Thursday for a "translunar ...
Source: theguardian.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted the Army's top uniformed officer and two other generals, the Pentagon said Thursday without giving a reason for the departures while the United States is waging a war against Iran . Gen. Randy George "will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately," said Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's top ...
Source: wfla.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
This story was first published by Digiday sibling ModernRetail Amazon will impose a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on merchants' fulfillment fees beginning April 17, as rising fuel costs tied to conflict in the Middle East pressure supply chains. "Elevated costs in fulfillment and logistics have increased the cost of operating across the industry. We have absorbed these increased costs so far," the company wrote ...
Source: digiday.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
WASHINGTON -- A majority of the Supreme Court appeared skeptical of President Donald Trump's efforts to limit birthright citizenship during arguments Wednesday. Key conservative justices raised doubts about the constitutionality of the president's executive order that would end automatic citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to immigrants in the country illegally and some temporary foreign visitors. When a ...
Source: bostonglobe.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
President Donald Trump displays an executive order he signed Tuesday cracking down on mail-in voting ahead of midterm elections in the Oval Office. ( President Donald Trump's effort to curtail mail voting through executive order will likely be ruled illegal in at least one of several lawsuits filed this week, experts said, the latest in the president's long-running effort to assert federal control of elections. ...
Source: rollcall.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
– The Senate is expected to try quickly passing a measure Thursday that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, though it's unclear how soon the House will follow to largely end the longest partial government shutdown in history. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced a plan Wednesday to fully fund the as part of a two-step process. The agreement puts the ...
Source: news4jax.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
Bodycam video shows hiccupping, lethargic and yawning after his — and he gave cops a very mundane excuse for why he rolled his Land Rover. The legendary golfer , wearing a blue polo shirt, was questioned in a squad car hours after when he clipped a Ford F-150 landscaping truck that was parked in the road last Friday. The footage, released on Thursday, starts by showing the 15-time major winner wearing ...
Source: nypost.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
The Trump administration is going after microplastics in drinking water . A new plan to study and regulate plastic pollution was announced on Thursday by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Environmental Protection Agency head Lee Zeldin. The policy is aimed at addressing the growing concern over microplastics in tap water and their effect on health more generally. "Today we mark a ...
Source: scientificamerican.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed for the fifth straight week, reaching its highest level in nearly seven months, another setback for home shoppers in the midst of the spring homebuying season. The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.46% from 6.38% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.64%. The last time the average rate was higher was ...
Source: apnews.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
WASHINGTON — The U.S. on Wednesday lifted sanctions on Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez, according to an Office of Foreign Assets Control entry on the Treasury Department website. The newly announced sanctions relief is the latest U.S. recognition of Rodríguez as a legitimate authority in Venezuela ever since the U.S. military captured her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, and his ...
Source: npr.org
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
A federal judge on Thursday dismissed most claims in Blake Lively's sexual harassment lawsuit against her "It Ends With Us" director and co-star, Justin Baldoni, according to a court ruling. In a 152-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman tossed out 10 of Lively's 13 claims against Baldoni, including harassment, defamation and conspiracy. But he allowed three other claims to proceed to a trial scheduled to ...
Source: nbcnews.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
April 2 (UPI) -- A Colorado appeals court on Thursday threw out the sentence of Tina Peters, a former elections clerk, who was convicted in an election data case. Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison in August 2024 on seven of the 10 counts for which she was charged. She allowed an unauthorized person to make copies of voting machine hard drives that included classified information. The data from those ...
Source: upi.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
Help Net Security newsletters : Daily and weekly news, cybersecurity jobs, open source projects, breaking news – subscribe here! Apple has extended security updates to a wider range of devices still running iOS 18, aiming to protect users from the DarkSword exploit kit. This is not the first time Apple has backported fixes for older devices based on vulnerability severity. Allowing iOS 18 users to receive ...
Source: helpnetsecurity.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
One doctor breaks down what makes Foundayo so noteworthy. If it seems like new medications for weight loss are coming out at a rapid rate, it's because they are. For a long time, the only options came in injectable form until recently, when the first oral GLP-1 pill became available earlier this year. Now, an even newer oral GLP-1 from drug company Eli Lilly—called Foundayo (orforglipron)— , and it's ...
Source: womenshealthmag.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
The Trump administration will impose tariffs of as much as 100% on certain imported medicines, albeit with several major exemptions, a maneuver to pressure drugmakers to manufacture more in the US. The new levy, which President Donald Trump authorized on Thursday, applies to patented drugs made in countries that lack tariff deals with the US by companies that don't have most-favored-nation-pricing agreements with ...
Source: news.bloomberglaw.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
By The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a public health alert announcement on April 1, 2026, for certain packets of ready-to-eat, frozen, dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, sold at Walmart stores nationwide. During routine sample testing conducted by a state partner, officials found that the frozen, ready‑to‑eat chicken nuggets could be contaminated with ...
Source: miamiherald.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
Ted Bundy's rampage of violence spanned at least four years and left dozens of victims behind, including at least 30 women and girls who were killed — and several others who escaped or survived despite serious injuries. Though the serial killer has been dead for nearly 40 years, the tally of his confirmed victims continues to grow as DNA testing has advanced. A Utah sheriff confirmed Wednesday that Bundy was ...
Source: apnews.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
Google LLC is upping the stakes for open-weights artificial intelligence models with the release of Gemma 4, its most advanced "open" model family so far. Built on the same architectural foundation as Gemini 3, the models are designed to handle complex reasoning tasks and support autonomous AI agents running locally on low-power devices such as workstations and smartphones. With Gemma 4, Google DeepMind researchers ...
Source: siliconangle.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
Eight people were arrested and 15 were charged in an alleged scheme to bilk more than $50 million in healthcare funds by running sham hospice facilities across Southern California, federal officials announced Thursday. The defendants billed Medicare for reimbursement payments for hospice care for patients over several years, federal officials said, but many of those patients were not terminally ill. Federal ...
Source: latimes.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
Jonathan, the world's oldest tortoise , is not dead. The amphibian is very much alive despite what you may have heard. An internet hoax labeled the animal dead earlier this week. On April 1, a fake post claiming to be the tortoise's owner, Joe Hollins, said Jonathan had died. The tortoise is 193 years old. Following the hoax, many outlets (not us) reported that the animal had died, according to The Guardian . ...
Source: wideopenspaces.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
A planning commission has approved President Donald Trump's proposal to build an enormous ballroom at the White House, an effort to put his personal touch on a national landmark that has stoked backlash and legal challenges. The National Capital Planning Commission, tasked with overseeing proposed construction on federal sites in the Washington, DC area, voted in favour of the project on Thursday. "I believe that, ...
Source: aljazeera.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
By April 2 (UPI) -- United Airlines on Thursday said that checking baggage will soon cost more per bag because of rising fuel costs, making it the second airline to increase fees this week. United's price hikes for checking bags follows JetBlue increasing the price for checked bags earlier this week for the same reason. The cost of jet fuel has increased roughly 80% since the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran started, and ...
Source: miamiherald.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
A receptor that's used to find prey is also activated by progesterone. Octopuses are one of the most alien creatures on Earth. The lack of bones makes them amazing shapeshifters, most of them can change color like chameleons, and they pump blue copper-based blood through their bodies using three distinct hearts. They rely on a decentralized nervous system, where two-thirds of their neurons reside in their arms, ...
Source: arstechnica.com
Wednesday, Apr 1st, 2026 -
Luigi Mangione's federal and New York state trials over the killing of a UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive Brian Thompson were pushed back Wednesday, with the first case set to start on Sept. 8. New York State Supreme Court Judge Gregory Carro on Wednesday moved Mangione's murder trial to September from June 8. A few hours earlier, US District Judge Margaret Garnett had postponed jury selection in the federal ...
Source: news.bloomberglaw.com