Wednesday morning news: April 22, 2026

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Iran ceasefire extended » President Trump is extending the U.S. ceasefire with Iran indefinitely. The move comes at the request of Pakistan, which is serving as mediator in negotiations between Iran and the United States.

Plus, he says the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, cutting off Iran’s ability to export oil, will also continue.

Originally, Trump said U.S. airstrikes on Iran would be back on if a deal ending Iran’s nuclear weapons program wasn’t reached Tuesday. But on social media, Trump changed his tune, saying the ceasefire extension is needed because Iranian leadership is “seriously fractured.”

Earlier Tuesday, during a call into CNBC’s Squawk Box, the president sounded optimistic a deal to end the fighting is coming.

TRUMP: We’re going to end up with a great deal… I think they have no choice. We’ve taken out their navy, we’ve taken out their air force. We’ve taken out their leaders, frankly, which does complicate things in one way. But these leaders are much more rational.

Vice President J.D. Vance was set to head to Pakistan for a new round of peace talks Tuesday, but that visit got scrapped. Pakistan says Iran never agreed to a new round of negotiations. Now it’s unclear if or when talks will resume.

Virginia redistricting vote results » Voters in Virginia have said ‘yes’ to a redrawn election map and, as WORLD’s Travis Kircher explains, Democrats say it boosts their chances of taking back the U.S. House in this year’s midterm elections.

TRAVIS KIRCHER: In a contest that was close all night, Virginia voters approved a Democrat-led referendum to redraw lines for congressional districts.

Based on voting patterns in last year’s Virginia elections, Democrats believe the new districts give them a good chance to flip four seats currently held by Republicans. That would significantly upend Virginia’s representation in Congress.

Right now, Democrats hold six of that state’s seats in the House and Republicans hold five. Come fall, Democrats think they could secure 10 seats to just one for the GOP.

But there’s one big caveat here: It’s still possible the Virginia Supreme Court could rule this redistricting plan illegal, which would render last night’s vote meaningless.

For WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher.

SPLC indicted » The controversial nonprofit known for putting conservative Christians in the same category with violent extremists in its annual list of hate groups is now indicted on federal charges.

The Justice Department says the Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, defrauded its donors by using their money to fund the very extremism the center claims to oppose.

FBI Director Kash Patel:

PATEL: They used the fraudulently raised money by lying to their donor network, thousands of Americans, to go ahead and actually pay the leadership of these supposed violent extremist groups.

The DOJ says the SPLC paid $3 million dollars between 2014 and 2023 to people affiliated with groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the National Socialist Party of America. The DOJ says the payments passed through multiple bank accounts before reaching members of the groups.

The SPLC says it will vigorously defend itself, acknowledging it does pay informants to infiltrate extremist groups and collect information on their activities, which is sometimes shared with law enforcement. The center only recently revealed the existence of this program.

The SPLC is facing charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Cherfilus-McCormick resigns from Congress » A Congresswoman has quit, rather than face possible expulsion from Congress.

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat from Florida, resigned her seat effective immediately Tuesday. It came right before a House Ethics Committee hearing to determine her punishment.

The committee found she violated several federal laws and House ethics rules. Cherfilus-McCormick disputes that. Her lawyer, William Barzee, says:

BARZEE: She was left with no choice. She could go along and allow them to just trample her Constitutional rights and her due process rights. And instead of allowing that to happen, she decided to step away.

The House Ethics Committee Chair countered by saying Cherfilus-McCormick had two years to respond to the allegations.

She’s also facing federal criminal charges for allegedly keeping FEMA overpayments to her family’s business during COVID.

Florida Attorney General launches criminal probe into Chat GPT » Florida’s attorney general has opened a criminal investigation into ChatGPT after last year’s fatal shooting at Florida State University.

UTHMEIER: Unfortunately what we’ve seen in our initial review is that Chat GPT offered significant advice to the shooter before he committed such heinous crimes.

That’s Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.

Last year’s shooting killed two and left six others hurt. Uthmeier says chat logs between the gunman and ChatGPT show the AI platform advised the shooter on things like what type of gun to use and which location would allow for the most potential victims.

UTHMEIER: AI is supposed to support mankind. It is supposed to help mankind. It is supposed to advance mankind, not end it.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, calls the shooting a tragedy but says it bears no responsibility and has proactively shared information with law enforcement.

DOT reports good progress on air traffic control upgrades » The U.S. government says billions of dollars in technology upgrades are well underway at air traffic control towers around the country.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy:

DUFFY: These upgrades are going to make travel more seamless. We;re going to make our skies safer.

This massive overhaul of the nation’s air traffic control system includes replacing radar from the 1980s that was still being used, and converting more than 25,000 radios to digital technology.

Plus, the Transportation Department is replacing paper flight strips used to track planes as they taxi, take off, and land with electronic versions.

The country’s air traffic control system has come under increased scrutiny after several accidents at airports the past couple years.

Congress has approved $12.5 billion dollars for the upgrades, but Duffy says it’ll take another $20 billion to finish the job. His goal is to finish the overhaul by the end of 2028.

I'm Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: President Trump’s nominee to chair the Federal Reserve faces lawmakers, as the shadow of an investigation into the current chair looms large. And later: Stepping thoughtfully and confidently into the good works God already has planned for us.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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