August 9, 2023 5:03 am
Someone in Florida won a $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot Tuesday night, ending a stretch of lottery futility that had stretched for nearly four months. A Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach sold the winning ticket, according to the Florida Lottery. The winning numbers drawn were: 13 19 20 32 33 and the yellow ball: 14. Before the big win Tuesday night, there had been 31 straight drawings since the last time someone won the game’s jackpot on April 18. That enabled the prize to steadily grow to be the third-largest ever in U.S. history. The $1.58 billion payout would go to the winner if they opt for an annuity, doled out over 30 years. But people usually prefer a lump sum option, which for Tuesday’s jackpot is an estimated $783.3 million.
August 9, 2023 4:56 am
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — Crews across the eastern U.S. are working to clear downed trees and power lines and restore electricity following severe storms that killed at least two people, cut power hundreds of thousands, and forced thousands of flight delays and cancellations. The storms that pounded a swath of the country stretching from Alabama and Tennessee to the Carolinas and New York on Monday continued to lash northern New England with wind and rain on Tuesday. The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down Tuesday in the Atlantic Coast town of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. The town’s Select Board says the twister damaged homes, downed trees and power lines, and may have damaged the water treatment plant, which remains operational.
August 9, 2023 4:54 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of two of three people killed in a bus crash on a Pennsylvania interstate near Harrisburg. The Dauphin County coroner’s office said Tuesday that 39-year-old Alioune Diop of the Bronx and 26-year-old Serigne Ndiaye died of multiple traumatic injuries in the crash late Sunday. The office is still working to confirm the identity of a third victim. State police say the bus was on Interstate 81 just north of Harrisburg heading from New York to Ohio in heavy rain when it left the road, struck an embankment, turned onto its right side and struck a sport utility vehicle that had stopped in traffic.
August 9, 2023 2:50 am
The Washington County Agricultural Fair is celebrating its 225th anniversary and is just about ready to kick off this weekend. On Tuesday the Board of Directors held a news conference to let people know just what to expect in this monumental year. Special attention will be given to Washington County’s agricultural history and economic impact today. With 1760 farms in Washington County, it is the fourth largest agricultural county in Pennsylvania according to the USDA. Todd Richards, President of the Fair’s Board of Directors says that emphasis on agriculture is important for everyone because “it feed us three times a day and keeps us in clothes and food”. Wayne Hunnell is the Secretary for the Board. He says that fair goers will see several improvements that include a brand new Memorial Plaza, and a totally rebuilt restroom building that has a mural depicting the history of the fair from its beginning until today. Artist Diane Adams said that it took her 166 hours over the course of 27 days to finish the mural. The fair begins on August 12 and runs through August 19. A full schedule of events can be found at washingtonfair.org.
August 9, 2023 2:28 am
Drug related deaths continue to plague the local area, especially with the fast rise of fentanyl laced drugs. Ashley Matthews, 37, of Washington County was sentenced to five-and-a-half to 11 years in jail by Judge Brandon Neuman for drug related offenses, including drug delivery resulting in a death. Matthews was found guilty earlier in June for her connection to the death of Brandon Howard, 37, in December of 2019 in Canton Township. She was a friend of Howard’s, and began communicating with him on a social media text messenger app to orchestrate a drug deal between him and her boyfriend, Robert Michael Hayes Jr. Both Matthews and Hayes went to Howard’s apartment to exchange fentanyl laced cocaine for marijuana. After leaving the apartment, Hayes sent a message to Howard on the messenger app, warning him of the potency of the fentanyl-laced cocaine. The warning was too late, as Howard was eventually found dead by his sister. A Victim impact statement was read aloud to the court during Tuesday’s sentencing, on behalf of his sister. Matthews will serve her sentence concurrently and she was ordered to pay over $9,000 dollars of restitution to Howard’s family.
August 8, 2023 5:48 pm
(AP) – COVID-19 hospital admissions are inching upward in the United States since early July. It’s a small-scale echo of the three previous summers. Just over 9,000 people were admitted to the hospital in the week ending July 29, which was up by about 12% from the previous week. But the number of new hospital patients is still far lower than during summer peaks in the previous three years. Deaths appear to be stable. U.S. health officials say they’ll keep a close eye on wastewater levels as students go back to school. The amount of the virus in wastewater across the nation has been rising since late June.
August 8, 2023 5:43 pm
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Police in Alabama’s capital city say three people are expected to be in custody Tuesday on charges including misdemeanor assault in connection with a riverfront brawl that drew nationwide attention. The Montgomery police chief says videos of the incident that circulated widely on social media are crucial in investigating what happened. One person has turned himself in and the other two have agreed to turn themselves in by the end of the day. The fight was largely split along racial lines and began when a moored pontoon boat blocked a touring riverboat with 227 passengers aboard from docking in its designated space along the city’s riverfront.
August 8, 2023 5:05 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Officials say the death toll from Russian missile strikes that hit apartment buildings in an eastern Ukrainian city has climbed to seven, with 67 injured. Two Russian missiles slammed into the downtown area of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region that is partially occupied by Russia, on Monday evening. Local officials said the missiles damaged apartment buildings, houses, a hotel where foreign journalists used to stay, dining establishments, shops and administrative buildings. The Kremlin says its forces target only military assets and claim other damage is caused by debris from Ukrainian air defense weapons.
August 8, 2023 5:04 am
Donald Trump’s legal team has told a judge overseeing the election conspiracy case against him that the prosecutors’ proposed protective order aimed at preventing the public disclosure of evidence is too broad and would restrict his First Amendment rights. Lawyers for the early 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner said Monday that the judge should impose a more limited protective order that would prevent the defense team from publicly disclosing only materials deemed “sensitive,” such as grand jury documents. Prosecutors quickly countered with their own filing accusing Trump of objecting to their proposal because he wants to use the government’s evidence to “try the case in the media rather than in the courtroom.”
August 8, 2023 5:02 am
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s voters will decide Tuesday whether to make their state constitution harder to amend, as a highly charged special election that has direct bearing on a November ballot question over abortion rights comes to a close. If Issue 1 passes, the threshold for voters being able to change the state constitution would rise from a simple majority to 60%. That would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the fall proposal to succeed, based on polling figures. Voters in several states, even deeply conservative ones, have affirmed abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, though usually with less than 60% of the vote.
