In brief: Winning Powerball ticket sold in California
Tallahassee, Fla. – One ticket, sold in California, has matched all the winning numbers for the $425 million Powerball jackpot, lottery officials said late Wednesday.
The winning numbers drawn Wednesday night were: 1, 17, 35, 49, 54 and a Powerball of 34.
The drawing followed several consecutive drawings that produced no top winner, boosting the jackpot to $425.3 million. That’s one of the largest in U.S. history – but it’s still far from the record. The nation’s biggest lottery prize was a $656 million dollar Mega Millions jackpot won in March 2012.
Screeners, airlines warned about explosives in shoes
Washington – The Department of Homeland Security warned airlines Wednesday to watch for explosives hidden in the shoes of passengers flying into the United States from overseas, officials said.
The alert was based on new intelligence indicating that a shoe bomb may be used to blow up a U.S.-bound jetliner, said two law enforcement officials.
Officials said the threat was not specific to a particular airline, flight, country or time. It was not related to the Winter Olympics underway in Sochi, Russia.
The alert was issued “out of an abundance of caution,” said a homeland security official.
Airport screeners at international airports were instructed to step up scrutiny of passengers boarding flights for the United States.
Judge orders second look at Holmes’ state of mind
Denver – Colorado theater shooting defendant James Holmes must undergo a second psychiatric evaluation at the state mental hospital because the first was “incomplete and inadequate,” the judge ruled Wednesday.
Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. agreed with prosecutors that the first evaluation, conducted last summer, was flawed, although most of his explanation of the deficiencies was redacted.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and Holmes’ fate likely hangs on whether the jury decides he was sane or insane at the time of the shooting.
If jurors determine Holmes was insane, he would be acquitted and sent indefinitely to the state hospital. But if they decide he was sane, he could be convicted and sentenced either to be executed or spend life in prison without parole.
Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and injuring 70 in a 2012 attack on a suburban Denver movie theater. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
His lawyers have acknowledged he was the shooter but said in a court filing he was “in the throes of a psychotic episode.” Colorado law defines insanity as the inability to tell right from wrong.