Three tickets confirmed as winners of $564M Powerball jackpot

Feb. 11, 2015: People line up to buy Powerball tickets at a newsstand in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Tickets in Texas, North Carolina and Puerto Rico had the winning numbers in Wednesday's drawing for a $564.1 million Powerball jackpot.

Sue Dooley, senior drawing manager for the Multi-State Lottery Association, told the Associated Press that the Puerto Rico ticket was the first Powerball jackpot winner ever sold outside the continental United States. Puerto Rico joined Powerball less than a year ago.

The winning numbers in Wednesday's drawing were: 11, 13, 25, 39, 54 and the Powerball 19.
Dooley had no immediate information on the specific locations of where the tickets were sold.
Should the winners select the lump sum option, each would get a one-third share of $381,138,450.16 before taxes.

The jackpot was the third-largest in Powerball history and the fifth-largest U.S. lottery prize. The jackpot now reverts to $40 million.

It had been nearly two years since a Powerball jackpot has grown as large as Wednesday's  prize. That time, it was a $590.5 million jackpot won in May 2013 in Florida, a prize that ranked third on the all-time list.
The largest payout was to three ticketholders in the Mega Millions game, the other national lottery drawing. That was a $656 million prize won in March 2012 by players in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland.

In 2012, state officials who run Powerball and Mega Millions changed ticket prices and lowered the odds of winning jackpots in hopes the moves would increase the number of huge prizes and draw more players.
The new rules worked, causing jackpots to repeatedly climb to record levels. More than half of the top 10 U.S. jackpots have been reached in the past couple of years.

 However, although prizes grew larger, there had been something of a jackpot drought, as ithad  been nearly a year since a Powerball prize reached the giant number people have come to expect. That was in February 2014 when someone won $425.3 million. A Mega Millions jackpot reached $326 million in November, but that was the first huge prize since the game rose to $414 million in March 2014.

Lottery officials say it all evens out in the long run, but the lack of a huge prize caused a drop in ticket sales. That ultimately means less money for state government programs financed by the lotteries.

In the six months from July to the end of December 2014, Powerball had more than $1.6 billion in ticket sales. That compares to sales of $2.7 billion during the same period in 2013.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Original post found here: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/12/three-tickets-confirmed-as-winners-564m-powerball-jackpot/

Texas establishes 'Chris Kyle Day' 2 years after his death

Video can be seen here:

http://news.yahoo.com/video/chris-kyle-day-honors-fallen-233400951.html

 

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two years after Chris Kyle's death, and days before the man accused of killing him goes to trial, the retired Navy SEAL depicted in the blockbuster movie "American Sniper" received a state day Monday in his honor.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed a proclamation declaring Feb. 2 "Chris Kyle Day" in Texas, where Kyle was raised and lived after serving in Iraq. Flags statewide were to fly Monday at half-staff.

"As governor, I am proclaiming this to be Chris Kyle Day, but in doing so, as Chris would have it, we are also recognizing every man and woman who has ever worn the uniform of the United States Military," Abbott said, flanked by a dozen bipartisan lawmakers.

Abbott called Kyle — reputed to be the deadliest sniper in American history — "the face of a legion of warriors who have led the mightiest military in the history of the world."

Four years after he retired from service, he and neighbor Chad Littlefield were shot and killed at a North Texas gun range. Accused in their deaths is former Marine Eddie Ray Routh, whom the two men were trying to help. Routh has been described by family as a troubled veteran who was hospitalized for mental illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder.

An Abbott spokeswoman said the success of the movie based on Kyle's autobiography and the upcoming trial were not driving forces behind Monday's announcement. An effort is underway to make Chris Kyle Day an annual event.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, surrounded by lawmakers, signs a proclamation making today, February 2, 2015 …

Jury selection begins Thursday in Stephenville, about 150 miles north of Austin, in the trial of Routh, 27, who is charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of murder.

Some 800 people have been summoned for jury duty, said court spokeswoman Wanda Pringle, compared with the typical jury pool of 175 in Erath County. Once seated, the jury will be under orders not to discuss the case.

Routh's attorney, J. Warren St. John, has said that Routh will plead not guilty by reason of insanity. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Finding jurors who haven't heard about Chris Kyle could prove to be difficult, said Allen Place Jr., a criminal defense attorney and spokesman for the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

"We want everything to be even-handed, and if there was any pretrial publicity that intends a different spin on anything, then we should all be upset, regardless of where it comes from," Place said.

Last week, Kyle's widow, Taya Kyle, spoke to legislators at a private screening of "American Sniper" at the Texas Capitol. She praised peer counseling such as the Military Veteran Peer Network, one of several assistance programs that the Texas Veterans Commission hopes will receive more state funding this year.

Although Chris Kyle wasn't working with the network, "he is sort of a model of that network," said Kyle Mitchell, deputy executive director of the commission. "He was outreaching in the field on his own."

Taya Kyle did not attend Monday's event.

Original post found here: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-establishes-chris-kyle-day-2-years-death-232043229.html