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Ticker: Mega Millions jackpot grows to $640 million, 7th highest in its history

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:00:57 GMT

The Mega Millions top prize has grown again to an estimated $640 million after there was no winner of the lottery’s latest giant jackpot, the seventh largest in the game’s history, Mega Millions said in a statement..The numbers drawn late Friday night were: 10, 24, 48, 51, 66 and gold Mega Ball 15. The estimated jackpot in the next drawing on Tuesday night would only be distributed to a winner who chooses an annuity paid over 29 years.Nearly all grand prize winners opt to take a cash payout, which for Tuesday’s drawing is an estimated $328 million. Mega Millions says the jackpot is the seventh largest in the game’s history. Despite the long odds of 1 in 302.6 million, players continue to purchase tickets as the size of the grand prize grows.The last time a Mega Millions player hit the top prize was April 18.A raucous week for Wall Street closes with a quiet, mixed finishAnother winning week for Wall Street drifted to a quiet close following profit reports from several big U.S....

Tesla electric pickup truck starts rolling off the assembly line

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:00:57 GMT

Tesla says its first production Cybertruck electric pickup has rolled off the assembly line, nearly two years behind the original schedule.The company tweeted a photo on Saturday showing scores of workers in helmets and yellow vests surrounding the truck.“First Cybertruck built at Giga Texas!” Tesla tweeted, including a cowboy hat-wearing emoji. Owner Elon Musk retweeted the post.Musk unveiled the truck in late 2019, and Tesla had said production would start in late 2021, although the company has since cautioned that production would begin slowly and in smaller numbers than Tesla’s other vehicles.With its wedge shape and stainless-steel body — which Tesla calls the exoskeleton — the Cybertruck looks nothing like a traditional pickup. Some analysts have panned it as a niche product that won’t have broad appeal.Musk said in April that the company expected to deliver the first truck probably in the July-through-September quarter. He said that as with other new products, pro...

The Jones Act brigade: Boat patrols waters off New England to enforce century-old regulation on offshore wind energy

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:00:57 GMT

One early morning this week in ocean waters off the coasts of Rhode Island and New York, signs of the nascent wind industry were all around. Giant upright steel tubes poked from the water, waiting for ships to hoist up turbines that will make electricity driven by wind.A battleship-gray vessel was on the prowl. In this ramp-up for U.S. offshore wind, American marine companies and mariners fear they’ll be left behind.So Aaron Smith, president of the Offshore Marine Service Association, was looking through binoculars to see whether ships servicing the new wind farms were using foreign-flagged vessels instead of U.S.-made ships with American crews.“It really makes me upset when I think about the men and women I know who can do this work. American citizens, fully capable, sitting at home while foreign nationals go to work in U.S. waters,” Smith said. “It’s unfair.”The ship is named the Jones Act Enforcer, after the century-old law that says the transport of merchandise between U.S...

Libya’s security forces release ex-minister whose detention prompted oil closure, tribal elder says

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:00:57 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Security authorities in the Libyan capital of Tripoli released a former minister Saturday less than a week after his detention which had prompted his tribesmen to shut down crucial oil fields, a tribal elder said.Former Finance Minister Faraj Bumatari, who hails from the al-Zawi tribe in southeastern Libya, walked free Saturday afternoon from detention in Tripoli, said al-Senussi al-Zawi, one of the tribe’s elders.“I spoke with him by phone, and he is awaiting a flight to the east” of Libya, al-Zawi told The Associated Press by phone. Bumatari was detained earlier this week by the Tripoli-based Internal Security Agency which is allied with the government of Prime Minister Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, according to local media.His detention was prompted by his bid to replace Sadiq al-Kabir as governor of the Central Bank of Libya, according to al-Zawi. Al-Kabir, a divisive figure in Libya, is a close ally of Dbeibah.Dbeibah’s government didn’t comment on Bumatari’s...

Police seeking information in serious assault in Hamilton

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:00:57 GMT

Hamilton police are asking for information as they investigate a serious assault that took place at Woodlands Park located at 501 Barton Street East in Hamilton.On Saturday morning shortly before 12:00 p.m., Hamilton police responded to a call of an assault in Woodlands Park and located a 37-year-old male victim without vital signs.The victim was transported to hospital where he underwent successful emergency surgery and remains in critical condition.Police are seeking suspects and ask any witnesses to come forward, as well as asking residences, businesses and vehicles with cameras in the area to review security cameras between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. for any footage related to the assault.

US Rep. George Santos repays himself $85K raised from lackluster reelection fundraising

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:00:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Embattled freshman U.S. Rep. George Santos, a Republican from New York charged with a host of financial crimes, including embezzling money from his campaign, withdrew $85,000 from his campaign to help repay hundreds of thousands of dollars he loaned himself to get elected in 2022.Congressional campaign records released Friday show Santos raised a relatively paltry $138,000 during the last three months for a reelection bid that is expected to be one of the country’s most-watched and hotly contested races in 2024.The records show he spent nearly $118,000, the bulk of it to begin repaying the more than $700,000 he loaned himself for his successful but surprising victory last year.The underwhelming fundraising suggests potential struggles in fending off a challenge from fellow Republican Kellen Curry, an Afghanistan war veteran and former J.P. Morgan banker, who raised more than $200,000 and spent $36,000 during the same period.Meanwhile, the top Democrat vying for...

FBI opens criminal investigations into violent Los Angeles County deputy encounters

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:00:57 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The FBI has opened criminal investigations into violent encounters involving Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, including one in which a deputy punched a woman in the face as she held her baby.Federal authorities visited the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department headquarters to take documents related to the probes, according to an email obtained by the newspaper, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.Department officials confirmed the visit and told the newspaper they planned to cooperate with investigators.The second case being scrutinized by the FBI involves a deputy who threw a woman to the ground by her neck last month in a grocery store parking lot after she started recording an arrest with her cellphone.In addition to the federal investigations, the California Department of Justice has agreed to review the case of 18-year-old Andres Guardado, who was shot in the back three years ago by a sheriff’s deputy in the city of Gardena, south of Los Ang...

Cultural sharing key part of North American Indigenous Games as sacred fire lit

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:00:57 GMT

HALIFAX — Organizers of the North American Indigenous Games ignited a sacred fire on Saturday, saying the rekindling of First Nations culture is at the heart of the sports competition.“We set the goal at these games to have 50 per cent culture and 50 per cent sport, so we’re infusing cultural aspects into all aspects of the games themselves,” said games president George (Tex) Marshall in an interview after the ceremony.The 2023 version of the games is taking place at venues in Halifax, referred to as Kjipuktuk, along with events at Millbook First Nation, near Truro, N.S., and Sipekne’katik First Nation, about 60 kilometres north of Halifax.Sports include the traditional Indigenous sports of canoe/kayak, archery, and box lacrosse, as well as soccer, softball, swimming, volleyball, wrestling, beach volleyball, rifle shooting, golf, athletics, badminton, baseball and basketball.Indigenous ceremonies will occur at each of the venues, said Marshall. “There w...

CPD: 27-year-old woman missing from the Hermosa neighborhood

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:00:57 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department is looking for the public's assistance in helping find a woman who went missing in the Hermosa neighborhood Friday.Antoinette Mathis, 27-year-old missing from the Hermosa neighborhood.According to CPD, 27-year-old Antoinette Mathis was last seen leaving her residence in the 2100 block of North Kildare Avenue Friday. Police said she was wearing a black top, black pants, and a gray sweater wrapped around her waist the last time she was seen.She is described as being around 5-foot-6-inches tall, weighing around 108 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.Anyone with information that can help detectives find Mathis is asked to contact Area Five detectives at 312-746-6554.

Man shot after attempted armed robbery on South Side

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 18:00:57 GMT

CHICAGO -- A 22-year-old man is in critical condition after resisting an armed robbery on the Far South Side, police said. The man was found in the 11000 block of South Western Avenue around 1:48 a.m. with a gunshot wound to the chest. Teen, 17, shot in arm on West Side: CPD Police investigation found that the man was approached by unidentified individual who attempted to rob him at gunpoint. The man refused and the armed individual fired shots before fleeing on foot.There is currently no one in custody and police are investigating the incident.