The Petersburg Post
Top News Stories for Friday, April 17th 2026
Friday, Apr 17th, 2026 -
Democrats are knocking Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins on the Iran war and rising energy prices. Majority Forward, a nonprofit affiliated with Senate Majority PAC, is launching a new $600,000 campaign on Monday dinging Collins for what the narrator characterizes as a vote "to give [President Donald] Trump a blank check for his war in Iran," according to details first shared with Semafor. , which will run ...
Source: news.yahoo.com
Friday, Apr 17th, 2026 -
The Shift Most Leaders Are Missing Marketing is not evolving. It is being rebuilt. For the past decade, marketing leaders optimized channels, improved conversion rates, and scaled campaigns through better tools. That playbook is over. AI is no longer assisting marketing. It is becoming the system that runs it. The difference is structural. AI-enabled marketing improves execution. AI-native marketing replaces the ...
Source: securityboulevard.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
April 16 (UPI) -- Republican members of the House of Representatives on Thursday questioned the patriotism of Democrats in the chamber while voting down a war powers resolution for the second time. Although the margin of defeat was smaller, the resolution failed 213 to 214 as debate over the six-week old U.S.-Israeli war in Iran got heated, MSNOW and The Hill reported. Democrats said they thought enough Republicans ...
Source: upi.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
News , via Wikimedia Commons US federal jury finds Live Nation and Ticketmaster operated illegal monopoly A US federal jury Wednesday found Live Nation Entertainment and its subsidiary Ticketmaster violated multiple federal antitrust laws, determining the companies held an illegal monopoly over the live entertainment industry and overcharged consumers $1.72 per ticket. The verdict, reached in United States v. Live ...
Source: jurist.org
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
WASHINGTON — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday kicked off what will be a marathon of congressional hearings over the next week, facing lawmakers' questions for the first time since last fall. The first two of what will be seven hearings across Capitol Hill took place Thursday. Kennedy's first stop was the House Ways & Means Committee where he was appearing for the first time. He then ...
Source: bostonglobe.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
At least two US-sanctioned, Iran-linked vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf on Thursday, signalling a possible shift in transit routes even as the US naval blockade entered its third day. Shipowners and traders are closely tracking movements through the strategic waterway, with only a limited number of vessels attempting crossings amid heightened checks by both US and Iranian forces. ...
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife inside their Annandale home before killing himself, according to police. Their 2 teenage children were inside the house when it happened. The shootings happened just after midnight on Thursday in the 8100 block of Guinevere Drive in Annandale, a suburb west of Washington, D.C. Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said Davis said Fairfax shot his ...
Source: bnonews.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Maine could impose the nation's first statewide moratorium on energy-hungry data centers in a sign of growing political opposition to tech giants' massive structures that have stoked fears about blackouts, rising electricity bills and voracious water needs. The legislation arose in a state that isn't necessarily a destination for the computer-stocked warehouses that power artificial intelligence , but a couple of ...
Source: wbur.org
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia unleashed a barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles against Ukraine overnight, killing at least 18 people in its most intense attack of the year. The hourslong bombardment follows a short Easter ceasefire, with peace talks to end the war at a standstill as the United States focuses on the Iran war . Kyiv fears that conflict is leaving it short of the air defense munitions it needs to ...
Source: nbcnews.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Company will rebrand itself as NewBird AI Allbirds on Wednesday announced that the company will pivot from making sneakers to providing computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence (AI) . The San Francisco-based company said it will execute a $50 million convertible financing agreement with an institutional investor to begin acquiring graphics processing units (GPUs), which can be used to train AI models . ...
Source: foxbusiness.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
There doesn't seem to be new safety or efficacy data, but Kennedy touts them anyway. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday announced meeting dates for advisors to discuss lifting restrictions on 12 unproven peptides that the agency deemed to pose significant safety risks in 2023. The meetings are scheduled for two days in July, with another in February 2027. The scheduled meetings do not appear to be ...
Source: arstechnica.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled a plan this week for a pied-à-terre tax in NYC, which would tax property owners who primarily live outside the city but have a local home worth over $5 million. Often, these individuals don't pay city or state taxes because their official address isn't in NYC. The proposal, which is backed by , could mark his first step toward taxing the city's financial elite in conjunction with ...
Source: insider.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
April 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. military killed three people Wednesday in its fifth strike in five days targeting suspected drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific, marking U.S. Southern Command's most concentrated stretch of publicly announced strikes in its monthslong anti-drug smuggling operation since the war in Iran began. Fourteen people were confirmed killed during that five-day span, which included strikes ...
Source: upi.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
California supreme court upholds lower court decision as Eastman says he will appeal to US supreme court John Eastman, a lawyer who played a key role in Donald Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 election, officially lost his law license in California on Wednesday. The California supreme court upheld a 2024 ruling from a state judge, who recommended Eastman be disbarred. Eastman "exhibited gross negligence by ...
Source: theguardian.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Cochrane's research looked at 17 clinical trials of anti-amyloid drugs in Alzheimer's disease. Eli Lilly and Eisai have backed their Alzheimer's disease drugs despite research finding the mechanism of action may be less clinically meaningful than suggested. A review by Cochrane found that the absolute effects of anti-amyloid drugs on cognitive decline and dementia severity were "absent or trivial," falling "well ...
Source: pharmaceutical-technology.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
South African opposition figure Malema sentenced to five years in prison for firing a gun Leading South African opposition politician Julius Malema, 45, has been sentenced to five years after being found guilty of the illegal possession of a gun and firing it in public. But Magistrate Twanet Olivier allowed the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters and MP to appeal against the sentencing, meaning that he was not ...
Source: bbc.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
At the moment, the Supreme Court is preparing to decide the case of Louisiana v . Callais, a case about the legality of the creation of minority-majority voting districts. Not coincidentally, this case would allow Chief Justice John Roberts to complete his life's work of destroying the Voting Rights Act. Slate' s Mark Joseph Stern and Dahlia Lithwick shrewdly with some salty recent comments from the court's liberal ...
Source: esquire.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
NIST is overhauling how it manages the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) and switching to a risk-based model that prioritizes "enrichment" of only the most critical security vulnerabilities. "This change is driven by a surge in CVE submissions, which increased 263% between 2020 and 2025," the National Institute of Standards and Technology . "We don't expect this trend to let up anytime soon." A two-year ...
Source: helpnetsecurity.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Erica Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general, to be the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a social media post, Trump described Schwartz as "incredibly talented" and said, "She is a STAR!" The Atlanta-based CDC, which is charged with protecting Americans from ...
Source: orlandosentinel.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Days after Anthropic unveiled Claude Mythos , OpenAI launched GPT-5.4-Cyber, a model optimized for defensive cybersecurity usage. Unlike Anthropic, which chose to limit the Mythos model to a select few partners, OpenAI is scaling access to its Trusted Access for Cyber (TAC) program to thousands of verified, individual defenders as well as hundreds of groups protecting critical infrastructure. OpenAI states , ...
Source: securitymagazine.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Google latest update to AI Mode in its Chrome browser is designed to keep the chatbot-style search tool always around once you start an online search journey. You'll never have to worry about the dozens of tabs open on your desktop again. In fact, you'll never even have to leave AI Mode , Google's chatbot-style search tool, at all. That's the idea behind Google Chrome 's latest update. Starting today in the US, if ...
Source: wired.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Mortgage rates fell 7 basis points this week to their lowest point in four weeks, as investors reacted to news the conflict with Iran might soon be resolved. Processing Content The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.3% as of April 16, down from last week's 6.37% , the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey found. A year ago at this time, it was at 6.83%. The last time the 30-year was lower was for the week ...
Source: americanbanker.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Google gives Gemini image generation that knows your life In short: Google has added Nano Banana-powered image generation to Gemini's Personal Intelligence feature, letting the AI create images informed by a user's Gmail, Photos, Calendar, Drive, and other Google app data. The feature rolls out to Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers in the US first, with Europe excluded from the initial global launch. Nano Banana is ...
Source: thenextweb.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
In the age of generative AI, it seems like every tech company has become an AI company overnight. Creative companies aren't immune, as Canva proved this week with the launch of what it calls Canva AI 2.0 at its annual Canva Create conference. Canva is no stranger to AI. It's been investing in proprietary AI design models for years and acquiring AI companies such as Leonardo to incorporate into its graphic ...
Source: cnet.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
By The United States Government will begin accepting tariff refund applications by April 20, 2026. The U.S. Supreme Court declared Donald Trump's tariffs illegal in February , effectively negating price hikes on imported goods. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency announced that it will start processing the first phase of the refund program. President Donald Trump's use of the International Emergency ...
Source: miamiherald.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Prosecutors say this is first criminal case against a federal agent involved in Trump's immigration crackdown An ICE agent has been charged with assault for allegedly pointing his gun at people in a car while driving on a Minneapolis highway, prosecutors in Minnesota said on Thursday. Hennepin county attorney Mary Moriarty said she believed it was the first criminal case brought against a federal immigration ...
Source: theguardian.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Could planes soon be stuck on the ground due to a lack of fuel? The risk of jet fuel shortages is growing each day the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, although it isn't certain when exactly supplies will run out. The risk of shortages is greatest in Asia, and to a lesser extent Europe, as they both rely on oil from the Gulf and its refineries for their supplies. "The situation can, within the next three, four ...
Source: digitaljournal.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Europe has "maybe 6 weeks or so (of) jet fuel left," the head of the International Energy Agency said Thursday in a wide-ranging Associated Press interview, warning of possible flight cancellations "soon" if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war . IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called "the largest energy crisis we have ever faced," stemming ...
Source: nbcnews.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
The defense secretary said his prayer drew on Ezekiel, but wording closely matches Quentin Tarantino dialogue It was perhaps inevitable that a braggadocious Christian nationalist defense secretary elevated from his role as a weekend Fox News television host would pluck a fake Bible verse from a violent Hollywood blockbuster and present it at a Pentagon prayer session to rally the troops for the " holy war " in ...
Source: theguardian.com