In brief: Three win $250,000 in Mega Millions drawing

OLYMPIA – No one won the big jackpot in Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing, but several people picked five of the six numbers to win $250,000, and three of those winners are in Washington.

The Washington Lottery says two of the quarter-million-dollar tickets were sold in Spokane and one in Ferndale. In addition, a $10,000 prize was claimed Wednesday by a Naval Base Kitsap worker who played with a group of 28 friends.

The Mega Millions jackpot is now the largest in U.S. lottery history – $500 million for the Friday night drawing.

The $1 lottery tickets are sold in 42 states and Washington, D.C.

Home health worker arrested in theft case

A Spokane County home health care employee is accused of stealing money from a 79-year-old woman she’d cared for since 2003.

Deanna M. Purser, 50, was arrested Wednesday after a lengthy investigation by Spokane County sheriff’s Detective Tamie Spitzer alleged she’d been making unauthorized purchases and taking unauthorized cash back while grocery shopping for the woman.

The victim’s daughter contacted the Sheriff’s Office after she noticed an abnormally large amount of money spent at the Albertsons grocery store in Liberty Lake. She’d become suspicious when she noticed her mother’s bank statements were lower than usual while preparing her taxes, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Spitzer determined Purser took $31,762 in cash from 2009 to 2011. She also determined $33,141 in groceries had been purchased, but the victim’s average grocery bill should have been just $300 per month.

Purser was booked into the Spokane County Jail Wednesday on seven counts of first-degree theft, 51 counts of unlawful possession of a payment instrument and 51 counts of second-degree theft.

‘Horrible pain’ recalled by Boeing worker

SEATTLE – A 30-year-old Boeing employee who lost both legs after he was trapped by the landing gear of a 787 jet said he doesn’t know how it happened but recalls “just horrible pain.”

Josh Divers of Everett talked to reporters Wednesday as he left Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. With him were his father, Del Divers of Arlington, and his mother, Linda Lewis of Gresham, Ore.

Divers faces months of rehabilitation. Dr. Janna Friedly of the hospital’s rehab unit said learning to walk with prosthetic limbs on both sides is “really like walking on stilts.”

He said Boeing has given him and his family all the support they’ve needed – and he’d love to work for the company again someday.