The Petersburg Post
Top News Stories for Thursday, February 19th 2026
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
US late-night host Stephen Colbert accused CBS on Tuesday of refusing to broadcast his interview with a Democratic Senate candidate over fears it would violate regulatory guidance from President Donald Trump's administration. Trump has publicly attacked talk show hosts as partisan, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued new directives last month that talk shows give equal time to rival political ...
Source: digitaljournal.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Rescue crews on skis and snowcats battled blizzard conditions in an effort to reach six backcountry skiers still alive but trapped Tuesday after an avalanche high in the rugged Northern California mountains that left 10 other skiers missing as the danger of more slides remained high. The search and rescue crews were dispatched to Frog Lake in the Castle Peak area, northwest of Lake Tahoe, ...
Source: bostonglobe.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. military has killed 11 people in recent strikes on three boats allegedly transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea. The boats were attacked late Monday, U.S. Southern Command said in a statement , which alleged that the three boats were operated by designated terrorist organizations. No proof was provided. A 39-second video published online by Southern Command ...
Source: upi.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Australia bans citizen trying to return from IS camp in Syria Australia has barred a citizen linked to the Islamic State (IS) group from the country for up to two years. The person is among the group of 34 Australian women and children who tried to head home after being released from a Syrian camp earlier this week, only to be turned back by Syrian authorities for "technical reasons". The ban was issued "on advice ...
Source: bbc.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The European Union is going after Shein for hooking customers with what it calls "addictive design." In a press release on Tuesday, the European Commission announced that it had launched a probe into Shein under its Digital Services Act. The Commission said it would investigate Shein for "addictive design, the lack of transparency of recommender systems, as well as the sale of illegal products, including child ...
Source: businessinsider.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
We might have assumed that gravity always remains steady and unchanging. But that might not be true after all. The strength of gravity actually changes from place to place across Earth. Scientists have found that one of the weakest spots is beneath Antarctica. In a new study published in Scientific Reports , researchers state that the "gravity hole" formed due to the rock's extremely slow movements deep inside the ...
Source: greenmatters.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Users reported seeing a blank black screen with only the sidebar visible, or a "Something went wrong" message accompanied by pixel art. YouTube experienced an outage affecting thousands of users in the United States and other countries on February 17, 2026. The issue began around 8 PM Eastern Time and was reported by users in Canada, India, the Philippines, Australia, and Russia. Downdetector recorded 338,000 ...
Source: techbriefly.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The Hollywood star is accused of hitting one man with closed fists and punching another in the nose in the city's French Quarter Reading Time: 2 minutes US actor Shia LaBeouf's Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans allegedly took a violent turn on Tuesday morning, landing him in hospital and facing charges of battery. The New Orleans Police Department confirmed that officers arrested the Megalopolis and Honey Boy ...
Source: scmp.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Scientists tested the antibiotic resistance of an ancient bacterium found within 5,000-year-old ice layers . According to the study published in Frontiers in Microbiology , the bacterium called Psychrobacter SC65A.3 was extracted from Scărișoara Ice Cave in Romania from about 82 feet below. After testing the strain against 28 antibiotics, the researchers found that it was resistant to 10 of them, across 8 ...
Source: greenmatters.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
A free press depends on people who believe in it. As more outlets cave to the administration's demands to quiet opposing voices, our members enable reporting that holds firm to its values and serves the public interest. Already a member? NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump family company has filed to trademark the use of the president's name on airports but says it doesn't plan on charging a fee — at least for a ...
Source: huffpost.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
News , via Wikimedia Commons US state trial begins for Georgia father of teenage school shooter The trial for the father of the teenager accused of the 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School began Monday, as prosecutors argue the father is culpable for giving his son the gun despite having notice of his son's previous threats. The father, Colin Gray, faces 29 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, ...
Source: jurist.org
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the U.S and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. CHICAGO (AP) — The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader's assassination, died ...
Source: boston.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. Discovery is briefly reopening takeover talks with Skydance-owned Paramount to hear the company's "best and final" offer, while the Hollywood giant continues to back the studio and streaming deal it struck with Netflix. In a Tuesday regulatory filing, Warner said it had received a waiver from Netflix to reopen talks with Paramount for the next seven days, or ...
Source: pbs.org
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
LOS ANGELES — Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor of matchless versatility and dedication whose classic roles included the intrepid consigliere of the first two "Godfather" movies and the over-the-hill country music singer in "Tender Mercies," has died at age 95. Duvall died "peacefully" at his home Sunday in Middleburg, Virginia, according to an announcement from his publicist and from a statement posted ...
Source: militarytimes.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Capitol Police in Washington, D.C., arrested an 18-year-old man Tuesday after he ran from his vehicle toward the west side of the Capitol Building armed with a shotgun. Capital Police Chief Michael Sullivan said the man, identified as Carter Camacho of Smyrna, Georgia, was arrested after he parked a Mercedes SUV near the Capitol, got out and ran "several hundred yards" toward the ...
Source: wfla.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Ukrainian and Russian negotiators were to resume a second round of US-mediated peace talks in Geneva on Wednesday, though neither side signalled they were any closer to ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II. The talks are the latest diplomatic bid to halt the fighting which has killed hundreds of thousands, forced millions to flee and decimated much of eastern and southern Ukraine. The United States ...
Source: digitaljournal.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Billionaire says he exercised 'terrible judgment' in maintaining contact with sex offender and Ghislaine Maxwell The billionaire Thomas Pritzker has stepped down as executive chair of the hotel chain Hyatt, after revelations over his ties with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein . Pritzker said he had exercised "terrible judgment" in maintaining contact with the sex offender and Ghislaine Maxwell , who was ...
Source: theguardian.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig said the agency has filed an amicus brief in federal court to assert its authority over prediction market enforcement and regulation. The move comes just three weeks after Selig said he was prepared to draft new, clear rules to govern event contracts. Platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are currently facing legal cases in multiple states over allegations ...
Source: cnbc.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Bayer AG agreed to pay more than $7 billion as part of a major push to resolve current and future cancer lawsuits over its top-selling Roundup weedkiller in a settlement plan to turn the page on litigation that has ensnared the company for years. The German conglomerate proposed a $7.25 billion class-action settlement through cases filed in state court in Missouri designed to resolve Roundup suits that already have ...
Source: news.bloomberglaw.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Washington — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused the Trump administration of a "continuing cover-up" over its handling of the release of files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein . "There's something about this administration's attitude toward this, which I think really leads us to conclude they have something to hide," Hillary Clinton told the BBC in an interview ...
Source: cbsnews.com
Trump is recruiting thousands of local officers to aid immigration effort. Some states are saying no
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Over the past 18 years, officers at Maryland's Frederick County jail have asked thousands of inmates two standard questions: What country are you a citizen of? And where were you born? If the answer was anything other than the United States, local officers deputized with special federal authority launched an investigation into whether the person was in the country illegally. Since 2008, Frederick County has turned ...
Source: news.yahoo.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
The person who opened fire Monday during a youth hockey game at a Rhode Island ice rink was specifically targeting family members, killing an ex-wife and son as many fans dived for cover while a handful rushed the shooter to stop the attack, authorities said. Pawtucket Chief of Police Tina Goncalves said the shooter's ex-wife Rhonda Dorgan and adult son Aidan Dorgan were killed and three others were injured: Rhonda ...
Source: wbur.org
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Donald Trump has paid tribute to the Rev Jesse Jackson following the civil rights leader's death, describing him as a longtime associate and inspiration. But the relationship between the two men was complex, stretching from cooperation in New York business circles to sharp political disagreement on the national stage. Jackson died on on Tuesday at the age of 84. Announcing his passing, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition ...
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
As the talks began, local media announced that Iran had fired live missiles towards the Strait of Hormuz Reading Time: 3 minutes Iran fired live missiles towards the Strait of Hormuz while its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned that the US warship deployed in the Gulf could be sunk, as nuclear talks between the two countries started. "We constantly hear that they [the US] have sent a warship towards ...
Source: scmp.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
The Pride flag's removal from New York's Stonewall National Monument by the Trump administration without first notifying the public or considering the ramifications for the historic property violated federal law, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Manhattan on Tuesday. The federal government removed the flag on Feb. 9, saying it was necessary to comply with Department of Interior and National Park Service ...
Source: news.bloomberglaw.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Contrary to what password managers say, a server compromise can mean game over. Over the past 15 years, password managers have grown from a niche security tool used by the technology savvy into an indispensable security tool for the masses, with an estimated 94 million US adults—or roughly 36 percent of them—having adopted them. They store not only passwords for pension, financial, and email accounts, ...
Source: arstechnica.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has claimed the Epstein files showed in "graphic detail" how the paedophile financier was flying "in girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia" to Stansted. Essex Police are assessing information around private flights to and from Stansted Airport following the release of the Epstein files. Former prime minister Gordon Brown last week called for UK police to "urgently" re-examine ...
Source: news.sky.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Geek Life: Fun stories, memes, humor and other random items at the intersection of tech, science, business and culture. Seattle-based real estate company Zillow has partnered with the company behind the long-running online game World of Warcraft in order to showcase players' creativity by exhibiting their virtual homes. A new microsite, " Zillow for Warcraft ," allows users to explore an assortment of designs for ...
Source: geekwire.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
"Large-scale" investigation could result in massive fines. Europe's privacy watchdog has opened a "large-scale" inquiry into Elon Musk's X over AI-generated non-consensual sexual imagery, in the latest sign of how regulators are scrutinizing the social media site's Grok chatbot. Ireland's Data Protection Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, said late on Monday ...
Source: arstechnica.com