Powerball jackpot climbs to $478M

Powerball jackpot climbs to $478M

DES MOINES, IOWA

Powerball players will have a shot at the nation’s eighth-largest lottery jackpot this weekend, but they’ll face long odds that have led to nearly three months without a winner.

Anyone who matches all five balls and red Powerball on Saturday night could win $478 million paid over 29 years or opt for a $330.6 million lump-sum cash prize.

New Air Force nukes?

WASHINGTON

Advancing what could become a near-total rebuild of the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal, the Air Force on Friday solicited industry proposals to build a new fleet of land-based nuclear missiles as well as replacements for its air-launched nuclear cruise missile force.

The two projects are part of a broader modernization of the nuclear arsenal expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars over 30 years. The plans have broad support in Congress, although some, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have questioned the need to replace all three “legs” of the nuclear triad — the submarines, long-range bombers and land-based missiles that were developed by the Pentagon during a Cold War arms race with the Soviet Union.

Court blocks voter ID law in N. Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C.

A federal appeals court Friday blocked a North Carolina law that required voters to produce photo identification and follow other rules disproportionately affecting minorities, finding that the law was intended to make it harder for blacks to vote in the presidential battleground state.

The Virginia-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the measures violated the Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act by targeting black voters “with almost surgical precision.” It marks the third ruling in less than two weeks against voter ID laws after court decisions regarding Texas and Wisconsin.

Police: McDonald’s worker fired; would not serve officer

BRENHAM, Texas

Police in suburban Houston say a McDonald’s worker has been fired for refusing to serve an officer.

Brenham Police Chief Craig Goodman said in a Facebook post that “one of our employees, who was off duty with his family, was refused service at a local restaurant simply for being a Police Officer.” Goodman doesn’t say when it happened but does say the owners were quickly notified.

Goodman tells Houston’s KHOU-TV that the owners investigated, and the employee in question “no longer works for their business.” Goodman says the worker’s son is in some legal trouble and that might have sparked her negative feelings toward police.

McDonald’s hasn’t responded to a request to comment.

Answers sought after elephant kills girl

Paris

Experts at a zoo in the Moroccan capital of Rabat are trying to understand why an elephant hurled a stone toward visitors, killing a 7-year-old girl.

The behavior of the female elephant was “abnormal” and needs to be understood, a veterinarian at the zoo said Friday.

The girl was visiting the Zoological Garden of Rabat with her family on Tuesday, admiring three elephants when one picked up a stone, then tossed it more than 10 yards over a huge ditch and a wooden barrier toward the visitors. The girl was struck in the head and died hours later.

The elephant exhibit has been temporarily closed, zoo veterinarian Abderahim Salhi said by telephone. He said that zoo personnel remained in shock three days later at what he called an “unforeseeable accident.”

Associated Press