February 6, 2023 2:03 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball jackpot grew to an estimated $747 million after no one beat the odds and won the top prize in Saturday night’s drawing. The numbers drawn were: 2, 8, 15, 19, 58 and Powerball 10. The $747 million Powerball jackpot up for grabs Monday night is the ninth largest in U.S. lottery history and the latest in a string of huge lottery prizes. Someone in Maine won a $1.35 billion Mega Millions prize less than three weeks ago and a California player won a record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot last November.
February 5, 2023 8:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Going into Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden sees a nation with a glowing economic future. But Republicans take a far gloomier view. They say the nation is saddled with a crushing debt and that Biden is largely responsible for inflation. The reality is that the United States is on an economic tight rope. It’s trying to balance efforts to reduce inflation while trying to avoid falling into a recession. And that’s with the apparent contradiction of Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases and the unemployment rate at a near 54-year low. Neither side is really capturing the complete picture about the actual state of the economy.
February 5, 2023 8:06 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Democratic Party has approved the reordering of its 2024 presidential primary. Members of the Democratic National Committee voted Saturday to replace Iowa with South Carolina in the leadoff spot. It’s part of a major shake-up meant to empower Black and other minority voters critical to the party’s base of support. Changes to the lineup are still possible throughout the summer and beyond. But it’s clear the start of the 2024 primary will look very different from the one in 2020. States with early contests have a major influence in determining the nominee. South Carolina is set to go first, followed three days later by New Hampshire and Nevada. Then Georgia and after that, Michigan.
February 5, 2023 8:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — China is threatening what it calls “further actions” after an American fighter jet shot down a suspected spy balloon off the East Coast of the United States on Saturday. The U.S. says the massive balloon was a surveillance craft that spent days crossing over sensitive military sites in North America. The White House says President Joe Biden approved the downing, and followed the advice of military officials by waiting to bring down the craft over water rather than risk debris falling on populated areas. But China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs insists again that the craft was civilian and its flight an accident. It is criticizing the U.S. for what it terms “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”
February 5, 2023 8:00 am
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. (WPXI) — An 18-year-old is facing charges after police said he was driving DUI and crashed, killing one of his passengers on Christmas Eve. Emergency responders were notified at 10:14 p.m. Dec. 24 of a single-vehicle rollover crash in the 500 block of Fern Hollow Road. According to Allegheny County police, responding officers found an Audi Q5 that had left the road and stopped on a hillside around 30 feet from the edge of the road. The driver, identified as Luke Flower, wasn’t hurt but his two female passengers, another 18-year-old in the passenger seat and a 20-year-old in the back seat, were taken to area hospitals for their injuries. The backseat passenger, identified as Camden Kiggins, died from her injuries at the hospital. Homicide detectives determined that Flowers was responsible for the crash after an investigation, police said. An arrest warrant was issued for Flowers, charging him with homicide by vehicle while DUI, aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, involuntary manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances and traffic violations. Saturday morning, Flowers turned himself into Allegheny County police. Flowers will be held in the Allegheny County Jail.
February 5, 2023 1:20 am
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) – A train derailment and resulting large fire have prompted an evacuation order in an Ohio village near the Pennsylvania state line. The Friday night derailment covered the area in billows of smoke lit orange by the flames below. Rail operator Norfolk Southern says about 50 cars derailed in East Palestine as a train was carrying a variety of freight from Illinois to Pennsylvania. No injuries were reported. An evacuation order remained in place early Saturday for people within a mile of the scene, and other residents were urged to stay inside. There was no immediate word on what caused the derailment. (Photo Credit WPXI)
February 4, 2023 8:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The massive white orb drifting across U.S. airspace has triggered a diplomatic maelstrom and is blowing up on social media. The Pentagon says it’s a Chinese spy balloon and that its presence led Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to China that was aimed at easing tensions between the countries. China says the balloon is just an errant civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research and that it went off course due to winds. China also says the balloon has only limited “self-steering” capabilities. But there are a lot of unanswered questions at this point, including whether to let it continue flying. For now, the Pentagon is just monitoring the balloon’s path.
February 4, 2023 3:44 am
MIAMI (AP) – Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro spoke to hundreds of supporters at a property owned by former U.S. President Donald Trump Friday and did not discourage them from claiming he lost his election due to fraud. Bolsonaro has never explicitly made that claim. But he sowed doubt about the reliability of Brazil’s voting machines before his November loss. He is now under federal investigation there for inciting an attack on the country’s congressional and supreme court buildings on Jan. 8. After rattling off his accomplishments Friday, Bolsonaro said he did not understand why he didn’t win the election. He smiled as the crowd cried, “Fraud!”
February 4, 2023 3:39 am
SAN FRANCISO (AP) – A jury has decided Elon Musk didn’t defraud investors with tweets in 2018. The verdict by the nine jurors was reached after less that two hours of deliberation following a three-week trial. The trial pitted Tesla investors represented in a class-action lawsuit against Musk, who is CEO of both the electric automaker and the Twitter service he bought for for $44 billion a few months ago. In 2018, Musk tweeted that he had the financing to take Tesla private even though it turned out he hadn’t gotten an iron-clad commitment for an aborted deal that would have cost $20 billion to $70 billion to pull off. The verdict is a major vindication for Musk.
February 4, 2023 3:38 am
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Officials say a sixth Memphis officer was fired Friday after an internal police investigation showed he violated multiple department policies in the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols, including rules surrounding the deployment of a stun gun. Preston Hemphill had previously been suspended as he was investigated for his role in the Jan. 7 of Nichols, who died three days later. Five Memphis officers have already been fired and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death. Hemphill was the third officer at a traffic stop that preceded the violent arrest but was not where Nichols was beaten. Body camera footage from the initial stop has Hemphill saying that he stunned Nichols and “I hope they stomp his ass.”
