July 19, 2026

06 Market

FCC Poised to End Local TV Station Monopoly Rule

pgnewser July 17, 2026 0

The FCC is signaling it is about to get rid of a rule that prevented one company from having more than a 39% presence in the local tv market. The rule is being nixed, in part, to make way for a deal between Tegna and Nexstar that will give Nextar 80% presence in the local tv market.

The FCC Chair, Brendan Carr, said the rule will not be completely removed, but exceptions, such as the Nextar deal, will be allowed, when it is in the “public interest” to do so. The decision is sure to be challenged in court, where opponents assert only congress can make such changes, including adding exemptions.

US agency to vote to end 39% local TV station ownership cap – Reuters
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The chair of the Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday the agency will vote to ​rescind the 85-year-old rule that bars broadcasters from reaching more than ‌39% of the total number of U.S. TV households.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr confirmed Wednesday the agency will vote to lift the cap in favor of a new case-by-case approach. “Our ​new proposal would allow the FCC to approve deals that exceed ​the 39 percent cap, but only if doing so would ⁠promote the public interest,” Carr said in a essay published Wednesday.
Under current ​rules, stations with weaker over-the-air signals can be partially counted against a company’s ​ownership cap.
Critics say only Congress can lift the cap and argue it will lead to excessive concentration among station owners.
In March, the FCC approved the $3.54 billion sale of local television station ​owner Tegna to Nexstar (NXST.O), opens new tab despite objections from Democratic-led states.
The acquisition, if ​not reversed by courts, will expand Nexstar’s presence to cover 80% of U.S. TV households. ‌The ⁠FCC said it was waiving the 39% rule in approving the deal.

Paying for Trump’s Truth?

pgnewser July 17, 2026 0

President Trump’s Truth Social announced plans to offer corporations the opportunity to see the most influential Truth Social posters’ posts a few seconds before everyone else does. The offer is for institutional clients, specifically banks, hedge funds, and high-frequency traders, only. You pay for a few seconds of insider trading.

The ethicality of the decision is being questioned across the political sphere, never mind the legality of it. The question is, is this not simply selling Presidential influence? The product is the Presidential power, not Trump’s wisdom. The interim CEO, Kevin McGurn, said, “Markets are already reacting to Truth Social posts. The Truth API will provide direct, licensed access to the platform’s most market-moving content, while allowing us to monetize our own assets.”

Trump Sells Early Access to Truth Social Posts — Banks and Hedge Funds Get a Few Seconds’ Advantage – Bitcoin Foundation
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Trump Media & Technology Group has announced the launch of a paid Truth API service. Starting August 1, 2026, institutional clients–banks, hedge funds, and high-frequency traders–will get access to posts from President Trump and nine other influential accounts a few seconds before regular users.

The service is designed for algorithmic traders who depend on speed. TMTG has already confirmed that some clients have subscribed before the official launch. Pricing and the exact delay haven’t been disclosed.

Trump’s Truth Social posts have repeatedly triggered sharp moves in financial markets. One standout example: on April 9, 2025, Trump announced a 90-day tariff pause, sending US stocks sharply higher within minutes. Other examples include tariff comments on China and remarks on the Iran conflict.

TMTG said the feed will cover 10 of the platform’s most influential accounts, including Donald Trump himself, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and allies such as Dan Bongino and Sean Hannity. An archive of posts dating back to 2022 is also available.

Interim TMTG CEO Kevin McGurn said:

“Markets are already reacting to Truth Social posts. The Truth API will provide direct, licensed access to the platform’s most market-moving content, while allowing us to monetize our own assets.”

Employees allege discrimination in AI-assisted layoffs– www.cnbc.com

pgnewser July 17, 2026 0

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A coalition of current and former Meta employees have sued the social media giant, alleging that the company used artificial intelligence in its latest round of layoffs in a way that was discriminatory.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, plaintiffs allege that Meta violated various protected-leave laws and discrimination acts related to pregnancies and disabilities, among others, and said they wish to pursue their claims individually in arbitration.

Attorneys representing the 26 unnamed workers said in a legal complaint filed in the United States Northern District Court of California that the plaintiffs were among the 10% of Meta’s workforce cut in the company’s May layoff round.

The plaintiffs allege that Meta’s “constellation of internal artificial-intelligence systems” failed to take approved absences into account when determining which employees to cut.

“Those tools draw on inputs—performance ratings, calibration scores, productivity and output metrics, ‘AI-native’ ratings, and AI-token consumption—that, by design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability,” the lawyers wrote in the filing.

Publishers sue Google over alleged use of books to train AI models– www.france24.com

pgnewser July 15, 2026 0

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Multiple book publishers sued Google on Tuesday for allegedly stealing copyrighted content, using it to train artificial intelligence (AI) models and then generating content that “directly” competes with the original authors’ work.

“The scale and speed at which Gemini can create books and compete with human writers is unprecedented,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit, which requests class action status, was filed in New York by Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, Elsevier, author Scott Turow and his publishing company S.C.R.I.B.E.

They allege that “Google secretly copied millions of works” that were provided to Google Books and other services for “limited purposes” and then used that content to train Gemini, its AI model.

Furthermore, they claim the content generated by Gemini directly competes with the authors who wrote the original work.

Trump reduces size of two national monuments by 90% in efforts to expand land development– fortune.com

pgnewser July 15, 2026 0

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President Donald Trump on Monday sharply reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah, undoing protections established by his Democratic predecessors on public lands that are sacred among many Native Americans.

Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in southern Utah have ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs and scenic canyons, as well as coal and uranium deposits that state officials want made available for development.

Trump, a Republican, issued proclamations under the Antiquities Act to reduce their size by about 90% each. He took similar actions during his first term, but those were reversed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The latest move comes as Trump and other Republicans have drastically reshaped the management of vast taxpayer-owned lands concentrated in Western states. Trump administration officials and congressional Republicans have sought to expand drilling, mining and logging on public lands, while removing protections for imperiled species and rolling back rules for conservation.

Korea’s robot umpires reduce favorable calls for star players– www.popsci.com

pgnewser July 15, 2026 0

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When it comes to making fair calls, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) deploys robots. The nation’s professional league added a fleet of so-called robot umpires to the field during its 2024 season, hoping to even out the playing field. Called the Automatic Ball-Strike system (ABS), it utilizes pitch-tracking sensors and camera arrays to quickly analyze when a pitch crosses the strike zone—not uncanny machines wearing catcher’s gear. The ABS data is then presented to the human home plate umpire, who announces their call based on the additional analysis.

ABS is designed to offer more accurate decisions while reducing overall bias in games, but did it deliver? Two years later, researchers at the University of Michigan (UM) say effects are already clear—although not necessarily what some baseball fans (or players) anticipated.

According to a study published in the journal European Sport Management Quarterly, famous top-ranking hitters performed worse during the 2024 KBO season compared to previous year for statistics involving strike-zone judgment. Meanwhile, the high status players walked less, struck out more, and reached bases less often when ABS entered the equation.

“This suggests that there may have been an existing bias in favor of prominent batters before ABS,” Jimin Song, a UM kinesiologist and study co-author, said in a statement. “Before ABS, when a big-name batter was at bat, umpires may have given more favorable calls on borderline pitches.”

Trump No-Signs Digital Dollar Ban

pgnewser July 15, 2026 0

Thanks to President Donald Trump’s non-signature, America is under a state digital dollar ban at least until 2030. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was allowed to become law simply through the President’s non-signing. Within that law is a provision that prohibits the U.S. from developing a U.S. digital dollar at least until 2030.

Donald Trump’s unsigned housing bill just banned the U.S. digital dollar – thestreet.com
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The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law at midnight, and President Donald Trump’s signature was never on it.

Buried inside the bipartisan housing-affordability bill, and having nothing to do with housing, is a provision barring the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency, a government-run digital dollar.

The ban runs until December 31, 2030, and it stops the Fed from issuing a digital dollar either directly to the public or indirectly through banks and other intermediaries. Any future attempt would require Congress to authorize it first.

Trump had announced he would not sign the bill. He did it anyway, in a sense, by doing nothing at all.

Trump admin refunds $81B in tariffs after his key trade policy was struck down by Supreme Court– www.independent.co.uk

pgnewser July 15, 2026 0

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Donald Trump's unsigned housing bill just banned the U.S. digital dollar – thestreet.com

pgnewser July 15, 2026 0

Donald Trump’s unsigned housing bill just banned the U.S. digital dollar – thestreet.com
News Source

EXCERPT:

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law at midnight, and President Donald Trump’s signature was never on it.

Buried inside the bipartisan housing-affordability bill, and having nothing to do with housing, is a provision barring the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency, a government-run digital dollar.

The ban runs until December 31, 2030, and it stops the Fed from issuing a digital dollar either directly to the public or indirectly through banks and other intermediaries. Any future attempt would require Congress to authorize it first.

Big Inflation Drop Fuels Economic Optimism

pgnewser July 15, 2026 1

An unexpected drop in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 0.4% is leading some economists to revise their expectations of a flat economic outlook for this quarter. The price drop is the biggest since April 2020, just before Biden took office.

The new annual inflation rate is down to 3.5% with signs of further price easing continuing. While economists expected some drop, this drop was more than twice what was expected.

Inflation Numbers Beat Predictions, Deliver Great News for Americans – RedState– redstate.com
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The June inflation numbers just dropped, and they’re delivering some great news.

As our sister site Townhall reported, the numbers crushed it, coming in much better than expected.

The consumer price index, a broad measure of costs for goods and services across the U.S. economy, was lower than expected across the board. The CPI fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4% for the month, bringing the annual inflation rate down to 3.5%.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a drop of 0.2% and an inflation rate of 3.8%, following the 4.2% reading in May. The monthly decline in headline inflation was the biggest since April 2020.

California Loses National Car Part Control

pgnewser July 15, 2026 1

A new rule change from the EPA effectively ends California’s stranglehold on the car parts industry. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced “Americans should not be forced to solely rely on California to certify aftermarket products. Starting today, Americans can trust that products certified by SEMA meet federal requirements and can be used to repair vehicles.

“The Tampering Policy explains how a person may demonstrate that an aftermarket product does not adversely affect automotive emissions by documenting that an appropriate vehicle equipped with the product will pass the same emissions tests used by the original equipment manufacturer to certify the vehicle under the Clean Air Act.”

California Eco-Tyranny Destroyed By New EPA Rule– www.westernjournal.com
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The Environmental Protection Agency recently announced that manufacturers could sell car parts that defy California’s “green” regulations in the other 49 U.S. states.Under the EPA’s advisory opinion, manufacturers can demonstrate compliance with the federal Clean Air Act through Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) emissions certificate program rather first obtaining approval from California regulators.

Iran shipped $6 billion worth of oil products before new blockade– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser July 14, 2026 0

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In the 26 days between the signing of the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and the reinstatement of the U.S. blockade, Tehran shipped over $6 billion worth of oil products to foreign buyers.

Iran shipped out over 80 million barrels of crude oil and refined products between June 18, when the first blockade was lifted, and when it was reimposed on July 13, according to TankerTrackers.com, a tanker-tracking research firm. The blockade, however, closed around Iran before Tehran was able to ship out all of its storage capacity, so around 30 million barrels of Iranian crude oil were unable to embark.

TankerTrackers said over 60 million barrels of floating storage capacity remain available within the blockade perimeter, with the shipments and returned ships taken into account.

Meta reaches $50 billion investment in 5-gigawatt Louisiana data center– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser July 14, 2026 0

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Meta announced Monday that its Louisiana data center investment has grown from $10 billion to $50 billion and that it expects to generate substantial local tax revenues as it pursues artificial superintelligence.

The Richland Parish Data Center, nicknamed “Hyperion,” will be a nearly 10 million-square-foot, five-gigawatt facility, equivalent to a power plant capable of supplying enough electricity to power roughly 4 million average U.S. homes simultaneously. Altogether, that is about as much energy as New York City uses on a winter day.

“We’re delivering real economic impact alongside the AI infrastructure that will power the future,” Meta Vice President of Data Centers Rachel Peterson said in a statement.