Powerball winner stays anonymous

Powerball winner stays anonymous

INDIANAPOLIS

An Indiana man who won last month’s $435.3 million Powerball jackpot has chosen to remain anonymous, collecting the 10th-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history through a limited liability corporation, officials said Monday.

A lump sum of $189.1 million, after federal and state taxes are withheld, will be paid to the LLC set up on behalf of the winner, Hoosier Lottery director Sarah Taylor said at news conference.

The winner bought five tickets at a convenience store in his hometown of Lafayette on the day of the Feb. 22 drawing, said Jennifer Dzwonar, an Indianapolis public-relations official who spoke on behalf of the winner.

The winner plans to give some of the money to his family to help pay for their education, Dzwonar said. He is also considering pursuing an advanced degree and buying a new car and home.

Girl Scout cookie cash boxes stolen

ANDERSON, S.C.

Girl Scouts have reported cash boxes stolen this past weekend from their cookie stands outside businesses from South Carolina to California.

In San Diego, police arrested a 28-year-old man accused of snatching about $400 to $500 in cookie sales from a Girl Scout stand outside a grocery store Sunday afternoon. The man dropped his cellphone, and police were able to track him to a motel a few miles away, Officer Billy Hernandez said Monday. The cookie money wasn’t found, and he was booked on petty theft charges.

Also Sunday, in South Carolina, a mother and daughter were robbed as they sold Girl Scout cookies outside a Wal-Mart store.

Anderson County sheriff’s deputies said a woman asked them for change, then went back and forth to a Jeep, supposedly to see what flavor cookies the driver wanted. She eventually paid $4 for a box of cookies but grabbed the money box, kicking the girl’s mother several times and dropping her cookies as she fled, said Karen Kelly, a Girl Scouts spokeswoman in South Carolina.

Woman questions Spicer at Apple store

WASHINGTON

A woman has posted video of herself pointedly questioning White House press secretary Sean Spicer while he was out shopping at a local Apple store.

Shree Chauhan has identified herself as the video’s poster to Britain’s Daily Mail. She’s an Indian-American who was born in New York. She put up video on Twitter on Saturday.

In it, Chauhan asks Spicer how it feels to work for “a fascist” and “what can you tell me about Russia.” Spicer smiles through the encounter and repeatedly says “thank you” to Chauhan. At one point, he tells her, “such a great country that allows you to be here.”

Chauhan says in a blog post that Spicer’s comment was racially motivated.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request to comment.

Power is given to begin EU exit

LONDON

Britain lurched closer to leaving the European Union on Monday when Parliament stopped resisting and gave Prime Minister Theresa May the power to file for divorce from the bloc.

But in a blow to May’s government, the prospect of Scotland’s exit from the United Kingdom suddenly appeared nearer, too. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called for a referendum on independence within two years to stop Scotland being dragged out of the EU against its will.

In an announcement that took many London politicians by surprise, Sturgeon vowed that Scotland would not be “taken down a path that we do not want to go down without a choice.”

Associated Press