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Powerball jackpot for Saturday’s drawing grows to $615 million – the 10th largest prize in history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:16 GMT

(CNN) — Feeling lucky? The potential prize for the massive Powerball jackpot just made history, lottery officials announced Friday.A fortunate player could end up taking home $615 million in Saturday’s drawing – the 10th-largest Powerball prize ever. The jackpot has a $310.6 million lump-sum cash value, according to a Powerball news release.Game leaders upped the ante Friday after increasing the possible winnings from an estimated $590 million.“The decision to raise the jackpot was the result of strong ticket sales and an increase in the interest rates used to fund the annuitized prize,” a spokesperson for the Multi-State Lottery Association told CNN in an email.There have been 33 consecutive drawings without a big winner.The last time a lottery player matched all five white balls and the red Powerball was on April 19, when a winning ticket in Ohio earned a grand prize of $252.6 million.The lucky winner of Saturday’s jackpot could choose between the annuitized $615 million prize ove...

Why the Stop Trump effort all comes down to South Carolina

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:16 GMT

South Carolina has long been the state most likely to predict the eventual winner of the Republican presidential nomination.This cycle, it will likely be even more crucial.The state Republican Party’s decision to schedule its election for Feb. 24 means the first-in-the-South primary will potentially take place more than a month after Iowa and New Hampshire. That open stretch means South Carolina is poised to carry more weight than ever in determining whether former President Donald Trump’s march to a third consecutive nomination will face a sustained threat stretching past the early states and into the meat of the primary calendar.Consider this: The GOP primary starts in Iowa in mid-January. New Hampshire votes the week after, perhaps on Jan. 23. Then there’s a long gap until South Carolina. While Nevada Republicans could hold their caucuses either before or immediately after South Carolina, the larger electorate and delegate haul from South Carolina has focused far more attention o...

Multiple North Shore beaches close due to bacteria

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:16 GMT

Several North Shore beaches are closed this week due to bacteria in the water.Officials are warning swimmers to stay out of the ocean at Dane Street Beach, Brackenbury Beach, Independence Beach, Mingo Beach, Obear Beach and Rice’s Beach. The City of Beverly announced the closures Friday, saying the bacteria could cause illness in swimmers.They will be closed until at least next week when the water can be retested.

Electrical issues cause house fire in Salem that displaces two

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:16 GMT

A house fire in Salem around midnight between Friday and Saturday was caused by electrical issues, officials said.Crews responded to 50 Roslyn Street and found residents outside already. The fire, which was on the second floor, was cleared by 2 a.m. on Saturday.Two women were displaced, and no injuries were reported.

Crews investigating apartment fire on Comm. Ave.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:16 GMT

Multiple fire trucks responded to a fire in Brighton early Saturday morning.Crews were seen going in and out of 1572 Commonwealth Avenue, as well as using a ladder truck to access the top of the building.No other details were immediately available.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Mike Lupica: Damian Lillard doesn’t owe the Trail Blazers anything. He’s earned the right to leave

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:16 GMT

If you are choosing up sides here between the Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard, you pick Lillard all day long. You do this unless you are a Knicks fan, because Knicks fans would rather Lillard go anywhere except to the Heat if he leaves Portland, including the moon.Of course, you can go the other way on Lillard.You can say that he has a contract, and a real good one, that nobody forced him to sign a two-year extension with the Trail Blazers last summer, one that runs through the 2026-27 season and will pay him around $120 millions over its final two years. He is one of the best players on the planet and he is being paid that way, one hundred percent. And because the Blazers are paying him that way, they had a right to assume that a year later he wouldn’t want to go play basketball somewhere else.Somewhere else means old Coach Riley’s Heat, a team that a month ago was in the NBA Finals against the Jokic Nuggets. Lillard and his agent Aaron Goodwin have made it clear that ...

Mets take series opener against Padres after 10th inning outburst gives them 6th straight win

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:16 GMT

SAN DIEGO — After five games of stellar pitching, timely hitting and clean defense, the Mets went to San Diego and wobbled and bobbled their way through the first nine innings. The 10th, however, was a different story.Facing the Padres in the final series before the All-Star break, the Mets showed resolve by tying the game in the fifth inning after a rocky start, then finishing the job with a four-run 10th inning to win 7-5 on Friday night at Petco Park.It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win, and it was the Mets’ sixth in a row, a new season-high.“We fought back on that one,” said second baseman Jeff McNeil. “Battled all night and it feels good to get that one.”Facing left-hander Tom Cosgrove (1-2) in the 10th, McNeil, who has struggled all season but even more in recent weeks, drilled a double down the line to lead off the inning and score the ghost runner.“In that situation, I’m just trying to get him over,” McNeil said. R...

An Iowa meteorologist started talking about climate change on newscasts. Then came the harassment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:16 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The harassment started to intensify as TV meteorologist Chris Gloninger did more reporting on climate change during local newscasts — outraged emails and even a threat to show up at his house.Gloninger said he had been recruited, in part, to “shake things up” at the Iowa station where he worked, but backlash was building. The man who sent him a series of threatening emails was charged with third-degree harassment. The Des Moines station asked him to dial back his coverage, facing what he called an understandable pressure to maintain ratings.“I started just connecting the dots between extreme weather and climate change, and then the volume of pushback started to increase quite dramatically,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.So, on June 21, he announced that he was leaving KCCI-TV — and his 18-year career in broadcast journalism altogether.Gloninger’s experience is all too common among meteorologists across the country who are encounterin...

South Koreans protest the planned release of Fukushima wastewater during a visit by the head of IAEA

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:16 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hundreds of people marched in South Korea’s capital on Saturday demanding Japan scrap its plans to release treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, as the head of the U.N. nuclear agency met with senior officials to discuss public concerns over foods safety.The protests came a day after South Korea’s government formally endorsed the safety of the Japanese plans, saying that the contamination levels of water pumped out from the plant would be within acceptable standards and wouldn’t meaningfully affect South Korean seas as long as the plant’s treatment systems work as designed.The announcement aligned with the views of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which greenlit the Japanese discharge plans this week, saying the treated wastewater would meet international safety standards and pose negligible environmental and health impacts.Braving blistering summer heat and closely watched by police, the protesters walked in long l...

Climate-hit Pakistan to cooperate with Switzerland on ways to manage the risks of natural disaster

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:15:16 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday his country looked forward to cooperating with Switzerland on managing the effects of climate change and receiving an advanced weather warning system from the European country.Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and the head of Pakistan’s disaster management authority, Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik, signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the Nathia Gali resort, located some 85 kilometers from Islamabad, to cooperate on ways to manage natural disaster risks. The two countries announced they will “pool resources” to help strengthen Pakistan’s response to such disasters. The Swiss foreign minister, who was on a three-day visit to Pakistan, said the MoU signing was a “vital step” in helping Pakistan overcome the catastrophic effects of climate change. The situation in Pakistan was a “stark reminder” of the urgent need for international cooperation against climate change beyond borders, he added.The Sout...