diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 9ba94a2a..634ef4b4 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 Package: ranger
 Type: Package
 Title: A Fast Implementation of Random Forests
-Version: 0.16.4
-Date: 2024-10-28
+Version: 0.17.0
+Date: 2024-11-06
 Author: Marvin N. Wright [aut, cre], Stefan Wager [ctb], Philipp Probst [ctb]
 Maintainer: Marvin N. Wright <cran@wrig.de>
 Description: A fast implementation of Random Forests, particularly suited for high
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index ed9481ca..db4e8b6c 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
 
+##### Version 0.17.0
+* Set num.threads=2 as default; respect environment variables and options
+* Add handling of missing values for classification and regression
+* Allow vector min.node.size and min.bucket for class-specific limits
+* Add Poisson splitting rule for regression trees
+* Add hierarchical shrinkage
+* Fix a bug for always.split.variables (for some settings)
+
 ##### Version 0.16.0
 * Add node.stats option to save node statistics of all nodes
 * Add time.interest option to restrict unique survival times (faster and saves memory)
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 32d0a57a..ffe77060 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 
+# ranger 0.17.0
+* New CRAN version
+
 # ranger 0.16.4
 * Add handling of missing values for classification and regression
 
diff --git a/cpp_version/src/version.h b/cpp_version/src/version.h
index 4aeaffdf..c417d41b 100644
--- a/cpp_version/src/version.h
+++ b/cpp_version/src/version.h
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #ifndef RANGER_VERSION
-#define RANGER_VERSION "0.16.3"
+#define RANGER_VERSION "0.17.0"
 #endif