Oct 20, 2018

Mega Millions grand prize reaches $1.6 billion

Mega Millions ticket. Photo: Atilgan Ozdil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The Mega Millions grand prize is now officially tied for the largest lottery prize in U.S. history and is still poised to grow from its current $1.6 billion mark, making it one of six other top 10 drawings in the last three years, the AP's Scott McFertridge writes.

The big picture: Lottery officials have lessened the odds of winning a jackpot, increasing the opportunity for huge prizes that attract more attention and more money being spent on $2 Mega Millions or Powerball tickets despite the lower odds. In turn, older lottery grand prizes have been dwarfed.

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Axios

Updated 56 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 3 p.m. ET: 11,514,395 — Total deaths: 535,453 — Total recoveries — 6,223,819 — Map.
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 3 p.m. ET: 2,910,023 — Total deaths: 130,090 — Total recoveries: 906,763 — Total tested: 35,512,916 — Map.
Public health: Case growth outpacing testing in hotspots
States: Cuomo accuses Trump of "enabling" the coronavirus surge — West Virginia becomes latest state to mandate facial coverings.
Politics: Meadows says Trump "is right" to claim 99% of coronavirus cases are "harmless."

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Orion Rummler

1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Amy Cooper charged for calling police on Black bird-watcher in Central Park

A white woman who called 911 to accuse a Black man of threatening her life in Central Park in March faces misdemeanor charges for making a false report, the Manhattan District Attorney's office announced Monday.

The big picture: The May 25 incident, which was caught on film, was one of several viral episodes that helped catalyze massive Black Lives Matter protests against the police killings of Black people in the U.S.

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Axios

1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

McEnany defends Trump's tweet about Bubba Wallace and Confederate flag

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press briefing Monday that President Trump "was not making a judgment one way or the other" about NASCAR's decision to ban the Confederate flag and that his attack on Bubba Wallace was an attempt to stand up for NASCAR fans who are unfairly painted as racist.

The state of play: McEnany was repeatedly grilled by reporters over the president's inflammatory tweet, in which he demanded that NASCAR's only Black driver apologize after the FBI determined that he was not a target of a hate crime and claimed that ratings had dropped after the sport banned the Confederate flag at its events.