The Petersburg Post
Top News Stories for Friday, April 17th 2026
Friday, Apr 17th, 2026 -
April 17 (UPI) -- All above-ground construction of the White House ballroom must be stopped amid litigation, a federal judge ordered Thursday, reprimanding the Trump administration for trying to justify continued work on the building as necessary for national and presidential security concerns. "National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity," U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ...
Source: upi.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 -
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House rejected a resolution Thursday requiring President Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the war with Iran unless Congress authorizes military action. It was the latest such vote that fell short of passage as Republicans largely continue to support Trump's operation. Democrats voiced concern that the United States is becoming further entrenched in another ...
Source: pbs.org
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Music lovers who have complained for years about Ticketmaster fees for concert tickets are surely reveling in a jury verdict Wednesday that found its parent company Live Nation has been running a harmful monopoly over large venues across the U.S. But they will have to wait to see if the verdict leads to changes that make concerts more affordable. Here ...
Source: orlandosentinel.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Vaccines and public health dominated a frequently contentious hearing with Robert F Kennedy Jr on Thursday before the US House ways and means committee. Kennedy, the health secretary and a longtime vaccine opponent, has overseen sweeping changes to routine vaccination recommendations and has promoted misinformation even amid the biggest measles outbreak in decades. "We stand at a generational turning point. Our ...
Source: news.yahoo.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 10,000 American troops are helping enforce the blockade on Iranian ports, and while no ships have yet been boarded, the U.S. military said Thursday that it is warning Iran-linked ships that it could fire warning shots or escalate to other force if they try to outrun the Navy. In the first three days of the military action, 14 ships have turned around rather than confront the naval ...
Source: military.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
While Washington spins the latest economic data and billionaires hedge their bets, working Americans are feeling the very real squeeze of rising costs, and sudden instability. HuffPost reports on the real economy – the one that impacts you. Already a member? Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax shot and killed his wife and then killed himself, authorities announced Thursday. Fairfax County police chief ...
Source: huffpost.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
You are not logged into your account. You have a registered email address and password on pressherald.com, but we are unable to locate a paid subscription attached to these credentials. Please Thank you for your support of local journalism! A mobile billboard truck, with changing screens encouraging Maine Gov. Janet Mills to sign a data center moratorium bill, is seen pulled over by Hallowell Police cruiser ...
Source: pressherald.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia hammered civilian areas of Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in an attack that stretched for hours from daytime into the night, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 100 others as terrified residents cowered in their homes, officials said Thursday. Russia launched nearly 700 drones and dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles, primarily targeting ...
Source: apnews.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 -
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military forces struck a vessel Wednesday in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men the Pentagon says were trafficking drugs. No U.S. personnel were harmed, the U.S. Southern Command said in a social media post. Several such strikes have been announced in recent days as the Trump administration continues its aggressive anti-cartel actions in international waters. At least 178 ...
Source: apnews.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
April 16 (UPI) -- The California Supreme Court has disbarred John Eastman , President Donald Trump 's former lawyer, over his involvement in the so-called fake electors scheme to overturn the 2020 election. The state's high court ruled Wednesday that Eastman, 65, is disbarred from practicing law in California and must pay a $5,000 sanction to the State Bar of California Client Security Fund, a discretionary fund ...
Source: upi.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Influential analysis has concluded that "breakthrough" Alzheimer's drugs are unlikely to benefit patients. Researchers said the impact was "well below" what was needed to make a difference to dementia patients' lives. However, their report has also provoked a vicious backlash from equally esteemed scientists who label it as fundamentally flawed. The drugs have been licensed around the world. But the NHS in the UK ...
Source: bbc.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
South African opposition politician Julius Malema has been sentenced to prison time for firing a rifle in the air at a party rally. Malema, the leader of the far-left opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), was handed a five-year sentence on Thursday by Magistrate Twanet Olivier. Malema, who is one of South Africa's most prominent politicians, was convicted last year of charges, including unlawful possession of ...
Source: aljazeera.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 -
Analytics Application Security Artificial Intelligence Business Continuity Business Operations Careers Cloud Security Compliance Critical Infrastructure Cybercrime Enterprise Buyer's Guides Generative AI Identity and Access Management Industry IT Leadership IT Management Network Security Physical Security Privacy Risk Management Security Security Infrastructure Software Development The agency will only add ...
Source: csoonline.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 has rolled out a slew of updates and features to Chrome in the last few weeks, such as immersive reading and vertical tabs . And the changes are still coming. On Thursday, Google launched a new Search experience in Chrome that upgrades its AI Mode to make it easier to research and switch tabs. Here are the three new features rolling out now in the US, with plans to expand coming soon. ...
Source: cnet.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 6.3%, Freddie Mac says Mortgage rates fell this week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage declined to 6.3% from last week's reading of 6.37%. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.83% a year ago. "Compared ...
Source: foxbusiness.com
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
Google is making it easier to feed your photos into Nano Banana for more personal image generation. Google began rolling out "personal intelligence" in Gemini early this year , giving AI subscribers the option of a more customized experience when using the company's chatbot. Today, it's using personal intelligence to tie its image-generation model to Google Photos . If you opt in, generated images will have access ...
Source: arstechnica.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 -
Jet fuel prices have roughly doubled since the start of the war in Iran, a price increase even sharper than the spikes seen in gasoline and diesel. In response, airlines around the world are cutting routes , raising fares , adding fuel surcharges and boosting baggage fees . In Asia, some countries have been rationing fuel and restricting exports to cope with the profound shock to fuel supplies and to jet fuel in ...
Source: npr.org
Thursday, Apr 16th, 2026 -
No compatible source was found for this media. PARIS (AP) — Europe has "maybe six weeks or so" of remaining jet fuel supplies, the head of the International Energy Agency said Thursday in a wide-ranging interview, warning of possible flight cancellations "soon" if oil supplies remain IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called "the largest energy ...
Source: news.yahoo.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