The Petersburg Post
Top News Stories for Friday, December 19th 2025
Friday, Dec 19th, 2025 -
By David Morgan WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Republican worries about losing their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives next year erupted this week, when four moderates joined Democrats in a last-ditch effort to prevent a spike in healthcare costs for 24 million Americans beginning in less than two weeks. The four - Representatives Rob Bresnahan, Brian Fitzpatrick and Ryan Mackenzie of Pennsylvania and ...
Source: aol.com
Friday, Dec 19th, 2025 -
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to downgrade cannabis from the most restrictive category of drugs, easing some limitations and allowing for more research. The move, which does not decriminalize marijuana, also authorizes a pilot program to reimburse Medicare patients for products made with CBD, a popular compound of cannabis that is not psychoactive. Trump's order would move ...
Source: bostonglobe.com
Friday, Dec 19th, 2025 -
, a convicted sex offender and wealthy financier known for his connections to some of the world's most influential people, including Donald Trump, who as president had tried to keep the files sealed. Their release has long been demanded by a public hungry to learn whether any of Epstein's rich and powerful associates knew about — or participated in — the abuse. have also long sought answers about why ...
Source: news.yahoo.com
Friday, Dec 19th, 2025 -
US military declares five alleged drug traffickers killed in Pacific Ocean The US military said it killed on Thursday five more alleged drug traffickers aboard two vessels in the Pacific Ocean, bringing the divisive campaign's death toll to over 100. The Trump administration has carried out such strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September but has provided no evidence that the boats are ...
Source: theguardian.com
Friday, Dec 19th, 2025 -
STATESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Federal investigators on Friday will begin sifting through the wreckage of a business jet that crashed in North Carolina and killed all seven people aboard, including retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family. The Cessna C550 erupted into a large fire when it hit the ground Thursday. It had departed Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of ...
Source: apnews.com
Friday, Dec 19th, 2025 -
Ukraine deal: EU leaders agree €90bn loan, but without use of frozen Russian assets Two-year deal will cover most of Ukraine's needs, but will be secured against EU borrowing rather than Russian assets EU leaders have pledged a €90bn loan for Ukraine to meet urgent financial needs, but failed to agree on the preferred option for many of securing that loan against Russia's frozen assets in the bloc. After ...
Source: theguardian.com
Friday, Dec 19th, 2025 -
SEATTLE — Sam Darnold connected with Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a touchdown in overtime, then hit a wide-open Eric Saubert for the winning 2-point conversion, and the Seahawks rallied from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Rams, 38-37, on Thursday night and take a one-game lead in the NFC West. The Seahawks went 3 for 3 on 2-point conversions, none more improbable than the one that tied the game at ...
Source: bostonglobe.com
Friday, Dec 19th, 2025 -
Countries around the world are investing millions of dollars in building data centers to meet the growing demand for generative artificial intelligence, while also storing data within their own borders. But many of these countries have climates that are too hot for optimal data center operations, cranking up the cost of electricity. In Rest of World 's recent visual investigation , we set out to document how many ...
Source: restofworld.org
Friday, Dec 19th, 2025 -
Washington — The Senate confirmed Admiral Kevin Lunday as Coast Guard commandant Thursday night after agency guidance on the display of hate symbols such as swastikas and nooses was clarified. Democrats objecting to the guidance had been holding up the confirmation. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, of South Dakota, called for and got senators to approve Lunday unanimously in remarks before the chamber ...
Source: cbsnews.com
Friday, Dec 19th, 2025 -
Astronomers have witnessed a violent collision between two massive objects and a huge debris cloud, unlike anything in our own solar system. The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a rare collision in a nearby planetary system. The image was obtained after astronomers directly imaged two separate collisions between rocky objects in the Fomalhaut star system. The reason this has attracted interest in the ...
Source: digitaljournal.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's handpicked board voted Thursday to rename Washington's leading performing arts center as the Trump-Kennedy Center, the White House said, in a move that was quickly denounced as a "disgrace" by the Democratic leader of the House, who is on the board. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the vote on social media, attributing it to the "unbelievable work President ...
Source: bostonglobe.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Freddie Mac reports that mortgage rates in mid-December 2025 remain near their lowest levels of the year, offering modest relief to the housing market. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked up slightly to 6.22%, but it is still well below the 2025 year-to-date average, helping restore some balance for buyers and sellers navigating affordability challenges. Shorter-term borrowing costs also edged higher, ...
Source: bdmag.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
United States President Donald Trump is getting into the fusion power business through a $6bn merger of his social media firm and Google-backed TAE Technologies, just days after industry representatives urged federal funding. The all-stock deal, announced on Thursday, is an ambitious bet on the power boom spurred by artificial intelligence (AI) data centres and adds to the Trump family's growing roster of diverse ...
Source: aljazeera.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Science The U.S. Is on the Verge of Meteorological Malpractice The Trump administration says it will dismantle a premier climate center, while somehow keeping weather forecasting intact. Jennifer Lobo / Alamy December 18, 2025, 4:25 PM ET Save Listen − 1.0x + 0:00 8:31 On Tuesday afternoon, the risk of wildfire in northeastern Colorado had risen high enough that Xcel Energy, the state's largest utility ...
Source: theatlantic.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
The administration of President Donald Trump has proposed a suite of new rules that seek to bar hospitals across the United States from performing gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth below 18 years of age. On Thursday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that one of the proposed rules would block hospitals and clinics from accessing its programmes if they chose to continue ...
Source: aljazeera.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A man who is suspected of killing two and wounding several others at Brown University has been found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility, officials said. Claudio Neves Valente, 48, a Brown student and Portuguese national, was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said at a news conference. From AP's ...
Source: apnews.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Dan Bongino has announced he will be stepping down as deputy director of the FBI, less than a year after assuming the position. The former Secret Service agent-turned-right-wing pundit and podcaster announced he would be resigning in January on X, thanking President Donald Trump , Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel "for the opportunity to serve with purpose." "God bless America, ...
Source: upi.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Bureau of Labor Statistics releases closely watched November inflation data Inflation remained elevated in November at a level well above the Federal Reserve's target rate as policymakers weigh potential interest rate cuts next year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Thursday that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost ...
Source: foxbusiness.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Swipe for next article 67 people were killed in January when an Army Black Hawk Helicopter collided with a passenger jet over the Potomac River The United States government has admitted fault in a Washington, DC plane crash in which 67 people were killed, and will now pay out compensation to families. ...
Source: independent.co.uk
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
High-fat cheeses and cream could help stave off dementia , a new study has found. The study, recently published in Neurology , the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, found that people who ate two servings of high-fat cheese a day as part of a healthy diet were less likely to develop dementia. "For decades, the debate over high-fat versus low-fat diets has shaped health advice, sometimes even ...
Source: sciencefocus.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) faces growing challenges in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption as systems become more powerful but less explainable, according to the service's innovation chief. Joe Chapa, USAF's director of innovation, spoke at SAP's Public Sector Summit in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 16, emphasizing the need to build trust through leadership, culture, and risk management rather than relying solely on ...
Source: meritalk.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Brian Walshe will die behind bars after a judge sentenced him to life in prison without parole on Thursday for murdering his wife Ana — who was remembered by her heartbroken sister as a remarkable woman taken away from her three children. Judge Diane Freniere called Walshe's decision to cut up his wife's body after killing her on Jan. 1, 2023, "barbaric" as she hit him with the maximum sentence. The ...
Source: nypost.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Swipe for next article Package will be the largest-ever U.S. arms sales to Taiwan when approved, dwarfing Biden-era deals The Trump administration has approved one of its largest ever packages of arms sales – worth about $11 billion (£8.2 billion) – to Taiwan , drawing an angry ...
Source: independent.co.uk
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Guess Who's Back? Pre-Deductible Telehealth Is Back! | Meet IRA Jr: Trump Accounts Offer Tax-Deferred Savings for Children In the December Monthly Minute , we unwrap new guidance that permanently permits pre-deductible telehealth coverage under HDHP/HSA plans as well as the latest IRS guidance addressing how the new Trump Accounts will work in the coming year. Guess Who's Back? Pre-Deductible Telehealth Is ...
Source: jdsupra.com
Florida serial killer Frank Athen Walls, 58, executed — becomes state's 19th death row inmate to die
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
A cold-blooded serial killer who slaughtered five people was executed by lethal injection Thursday night in Florida — becoming the Sunshine State's 19th death row inmate to die this year. Frank Athen Walls, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after being injected with a three-drug cocktail while strapped to a gurney as a Catholic priest prayed by his feet inside the death chamber at Florida State Prison in ...
Source: nypost.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
TikTok CEO Shou Chew told employees of the social media app Thursday that its owner, China's ByteDance, has signed binding agreements to create a joint venture for the app in the United States, as agreed to in a deal with the Trump administration. That deal means the U.S. version of TikTok will become majority-owned by American investors, according to a memo obtained by NBC News. The investors include American tech ...
Source: nbcnews.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Instacart will pay $60 million in refunds to consumers as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The agency alleged that Instacart used a number of deceptive tactics in its subscription sign-up and "satisfaction guarantee" advertising that caused consumers to pay more in fees, and prevented them from securing refunds. The FTC has sought to crack down on deceptive billing and sign-up tactics across ...
Source: cnbc.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
F*CK YEAH! Dragging a couch up the stairs. Holding a plank until your arms shake. Gritting your teeth as the last seconds of an exercise stretch on forever. In moments like these, many people blurt out a swear word without thinking. It feels instinctive, almost primitive. Now psychologists argue that this reflex does more than vent frustration; it may flip a mental switch that lets the body use strength it usually ...
Source: zmescience.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Following a bombshell report from Groundwork Collaborative , Consumer Reports, and More Perfect Union revealing that Instacart uses AI to run pricing experiments on consumers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday launched an investigation into the company's pricing schemes. The report found that Instacart showed different shoppers different prices for the exact same groceries, a scheme that could cost ...
Source: commondreams.org
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, signed binding agreements with three major investors to sell just over 80% of the company's US assets to American and global investors to avoid a US government ban , TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees on Thursday. The deal is a major step toward resolving years of uncertainty about the short video app's future in the US since August 2020, when then President Trump ...
Source: nypost.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Jeffrey Epstein's brother, Mark, has blown a hole in the White House's defense of President Donald Trump. Trump, 79, says he was once friends with the disgraced financier but that he banished him from his life after he learned of the sex offender's crimes. Asked for an update on Thursday by the Daily Beast, the White House said: "Steven's statement still stands." However, Epstein's own brother, Mark, told The New ...
Source: thedailybeast.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
A federal judge has temporarily blocked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from enforcing rules that restrict congressional visits to immigration detention facilities. This deals a setback to the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) effort to regulate oversight visits during a period of intensified immigration enforcement. Newsweek contacted the DOJ for comment via email outside of normal office ...
Source: bradenton.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
Powerball jackpot increases to $1.5 billion CLEVELAND, Ohio — The billion-dollar-plus lottery dream continues. There were no tickets matching the Powerball numbers for the Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, drawing , so the jackpot has increased to an estimated $1.5 billion for the Saturday, Dec. 20 drawing. Wednesday's numbers are 25-33-53-62-66 Powerball 17 Power Play 4x. Saturday's jackpot would be the ...
Source: cleveland.com
Thursday, Dec 18th, 2025 -
WNBA players have authorized their union's executive council to call a strike if necessary, the union announced Thursday as it continues to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the league. The WNBPA and league have been negotiating a new agreement for the past few months, extending the deadline a couple of times with the latest one set to expire on 9 January. The move gives union negotiators another ...
Source: theguardian.com
Wednesday, Dec 17th, 2025 -
The new multi-year deal means Hollywood's most prestigious awards ceremony will be viewable only on streaming for the first time. The Oscars will be available to watch exclusively on YouTube from 2029, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday. The new multi-year deal means Hollywood's most prestigious awards ceremony will be viewable only on streaming for the first time, ending ...
Source: digitaljournal.com
Wednesday, Dec 17th, 2025 -
Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Chairman Brendan Carr said the Federal Communications Commission isn't independent from the Trump administration in testimony Wednesday before Congress, during which the word "independent" was removed from the agency's mission statement online. Carr's comment came as members on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee questioned him on who the FCC answers to in the wake of a ...
Source: upi.com
Wednesday, Dec 17th, 2025 -
Black plastic planting materials discovered in granulated onion ingredients used in salad dressings Thousands of cases of salad dressings sold at retailers nationwide, including Costco Food Court and reportedly Publix, have been recalled due to potential contamination of "foreign objects." The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that California-based Ventura Foods is recalling 3,556 cases of its products ...
Source: foxbusiness.com