VidaliaWebInfo.com is Vidalia's web portal for information and news for the 21st Century. VidaliaWebInfo.com brings local and national information, commentary and news  to the world.

Email: info@hottalkradio.com or Call: 504-455-9956

NEWS - WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026 - NEWS
"The boulders that were coming down were so heavy they were like shaking the ground," resident Alice Birnbaum told CBS News. CBS
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled that the Trump administration's move to divert funding and cancel a plan to move the FBI to Maryland was "arbitrary and capricious and not in accordance with law." CBS
VOA VIEW: The judge does not the authority.
Thirteen former and current Penn State students, and one student's father, are facing charges related to an alleged cocaine ring. Prosecutors allege drugs were cut and packaged at two frat houses, sometimes by pledges. CBS

PLEASE DO BUSINESS WITH THOSE WHO DO BUSINESS WITH US -- OUR ADVERTISERS.

U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates have declined again, with exemptions reaching a record high for the 2025-2026 school year CBS
The car manufacturer is also recalling another 107,000 vehicles outside the U.S. over the same issue. CBS
VOA VIEW: Over priced junk.
Sunita Doddamani argues that she was terminated as an assistant U.S. attorney because she prosecuted activists accused of blocking an entrance to an abortion clinic. CBS
VOA VIEW: She was a fool.
Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz sank to a new low as a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is set to expire on Monday with no deal in sight. CNBC
VOA VIEW: There should be no deal.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced a new proposal on Monday to protect federal student loan borrowers from having their Social Security checks garnished. CNBC
VOA VIEW: They should pay.
Russia struck port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region, damaging a Togo-flagged civilian vessel near Izmail after Kyiv launched a major drone attack on Moscow. CNBC

THANK YOU FOR VISITING OUR WEB PORTAL. PLEASE TELL A FRIEND.

ICE arrested a Brazilian fugitive convicted of aggravated murder at a Massachusetts courthouse just days before Gov. Maura Healey signed the PROTECT Act. FOX News
Security footage and three suitcases led Orlando investigators to charge Jose Proano with the murder and dismemberment of his 71-year-old stepfather. FOX News
Miguel Diego Sandoval lurked outside until his ex-boyfriend's family went to bed before gunning down four people and torching their California home. FOX News
A group of Texas families are asking the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to a state law that requires schools to post the Ten Commandments. UPI
VOA VIEW: As they should.

YOU can speak out and be heard by having your own "Column" - Visit the "Public Opinion" Section above.

The percentage of U.S. adults who say they've taken part in any form of gambling over the past year has dropped from 64% in 2016 to 45% in 2026. UPI
The Trump administration has agreed to pay out about $4 billion to companies to encourage them not to build out offshore wind energy projects. UPI
VOA VIEW: Good!
Russia accused the intelligence services of a Western country of aiming to portray Moscow as an illegal weapons supplier in Latin America. UPI
VOA VIEW: They are.

WE ACKNOWLEDGE AND THANK ALL OUR SOURCES FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS IN MAKING US AMERICA'S NUMBER ONE NEWS INFORMATION PORTAL.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham communicated with a person posing at U.S. President Donald Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles. UPI

ATTENTION TALK SHOW HOSTS: We are honored that many radio talk show hosts use our Web Portal for their "show prep." We would appreciate your occasional mention of our site to your audience. Thanks!

ADVERTISEMENT: If you want to advertise your business or Web Site, send us an email by clicking on "Contact" above. It could be the best business decision you make.

VOA VIEW -- Is the opinion of "Voice of Americans", which is a private entity not affiliated in any way with the United States government or any of its agencies. The opinions expressed here, in whatever medium or format, are not necessarily the opinions of the ownership or advertisers of this web site - 0415.


P.O. Box 10307
New Orleans, LA 70181
(504) 888-8255
COMMENTARY OF THE DAY
By
Robert Namer
Voice Of America
©2018 All rights reserved
August 18, 2026

      When it comes to personal finance, artificial intelligence gives advice that can be inaccurate or demographically biased, and can range widely depending on the particular program that consumers use, according to a new academic research study.  Don't count on AI financial advice.

     The research — which studied seven “widely available” generative AI platforms — found “significant variation” in how GenAI answered prompts about emergency savings, asset allocation and withdrawals from a retirement portfolio.  Researchers examined free-access versions of ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, DeepSeek, Gemini, Meta AI and Perplexity.

     “GenAI-driven responses may sound confident but can still be incomplete, misleading, or incorrect,” according to the paper, published last month in the Journal of Financial Planning and authored by finance professors at the University of Georgia and University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy.  Its “suboptimal” or biased outputs raise questions “about the consistency and fairness of GenAI-driven recommendations,” according to authors Swarn Chatterjee, Brenda Cude and Gianni Nicolini.

     The findings come as a large share of Americans are turning to AI to help manage their money.  Two out of three Americans — 66% — who have used GenAI said they’ve leveraged it for financial advice, according to an Intuit Credit Karma survey published in September. The share is higher for Gen Z and millennials, at 82% for each cohort.

     Experts said that AI is generally good at providing high-level overviews of financial topics: For example, why it’s important to diversify investments, or why exchange-traded funds may be better than mutual funds in some cases but not others.  However, it has limitations that mean users shouldn’t trust its output blindly, they said.