Mega Millions jackpot surges to $1.15 billion after no Christmas Eve winner
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(NEW YORK) — The Mega Millions jackpot surged to $1.15 billion on Wednesday after no ticket matched the numbers drawn on Tuesday, the lottery said.
The next drawing will take place on Friday at 11 p.m. ET, with the cash value of the jackpot estimated to be $516.1 million.
The numbers drawn on Christmas Eve were 11, 14, 38, 45, 46 and gold Mega Ball 3.
The estimated jackpot would make it the seventh-largest in the game’s history and its seventh billion-dollar prize.
It would also be the largest ever won in December, if a ticket matches all six numbers drawn.
The last time the jackpot was won was at $810 million in Texas on Sept. 10. No one has won the grand prize in the last 29 drawings, as the jackpot has ballooned.
The Mega Millions jackpot has only been won on Christmas Eve once before, according to the game. A $68 million jackpot was won in New York on Dec. 24, 2002, though it was never claimed.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350, according to Mega Millions.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 for one play.
(BOSTON) — As more than two million federal employees face a midnight Thursday deadline to accept the Trump administration’s buyout offer, a federal judge in Massachusetts will consider an eleventh-hour request to block the buyout from moving forward.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. set Thursday afternoon hearing to consider a request by three federal unions to issue a temporary restraining order that would suspend Thursday’s deadline for the buyout and require the Office of Personnel Management to provide a legal basis for the unprecedented offer, which offers to continue to pay federal employees through Sept. 30, 2025, if they resign by Thursday at 11;59 p.m..
Three unions representing a combined 800,000 federal civil servants argue that the “deferred resignation” offer is unlawful, arbitrary, and would result in a “dangerous one-two punch” to the federal government.
“First, the government will lose expertise in the complex fields and programs that Congress has, by statute, directed the Executive to faithfully implement,” the lawsuit said. “And second, when vacant positions become politicized, as this Administration seeks to do, partisanship is elevated over ability and truth, to the detriment of agency missions and the American people.”
The lawsuit comes as at least 40,000 federal workers — roughly 2% of the civilian federal workforce — have accepted the deferred resignation offer to leave the federal government since last week, ABC News has reported.
The three unions — the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Association of Government Employees, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — argue that the OPM violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide a legal basis for the buyout offer and leaving open the possibility that the government might not follow through with the buyout once federal employees agree to resign.
The lawsuit added that the buyout’s promise of payments through September violates the law because the current appropriation for federal agencies expires in March. Moreover, the buyout is unfair because it was made alongside a threat of future layoffs, the lawsuit said.
The buyout offer, part of DOGE head Elon Musk’s effort to trim the size of government under President Donald Trump, was sent out under the subject line “Fork in the Road” — the same language Musk used when he slashed jobs at Twitter after taking over that company in 2022.
“To leverage employees into accepting the offer and resigning, the Fork Directive threatens employees with eventual job loss in the event that they refuse to resign,” the unions’ lawsuit says.
Overall, the lawsuit alleges that the OPM rushed the offer with a questionable legal basis, largely mimicking Elon Musk’s management style following his takeover of Twitter.
“OPM’s rapid adoption of Musk’s private-sector program confirms that the agency took very little time to consider the suitability of applying an approach used with questionable success in a single for-profit entity to the entirety of the federal workforce,” says the lawsuit.
(LOS ANGELES) — As strong winds in Southern California pick up further early on Tuesday, a “particularly dangerous situation” with a red flag warning will go into effect in western Los Angeles County and most of Ventura County, weather officials said.
The warning begins at 4 a.m. local time. Winds are forecast to gust between 45 mph to 70 mph, with relative humidity as low as 8%.
Those strong winds and dry conditions are likely continue to fuel the historic wildfires raging in Southern California.
The largest, the Palisades Fire, has spread by late Monday to almost 24,000 acres with only 14% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Thousands of firefighters are battling the blazes across 45 square miles of densely populated Los Angeles County.
Winds overnight and early on Tuesday have been gusting up to 67 mph in the mountains near Los Angeles. The West San Gabriel Mountains have seen gusts up to 67 mph, with the Central Ventura County Valley hit about 66 mph.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the gusty Santa Ana winds will come in periods.
The strongest gusts are expected Tuesday morning and early afternoon, which will then be followed by a break in the evening. More gusty winds are expected Wednesday morning.
It has been so dry that any spark could produce major fire that would grow explosively. The weather in Los Angeles last year and early this year has been the second-driest water year on record to date. Water years are recorded from Oct. 1 to Sept. 2, with records going back to 1877.
After Wednesday, winds will begin to calm down and by Friday and Saturday humidity will come up a bit. There a very small chance for a rain shower Friday into Saturday across southern California.
(NEW YORK) — Executives at CoreCivic, one of the nation’s largest private prison companies, said they anticipate the Trump administration’s new immigration policies will lead to “the most significant growth” in the company’s history over the next several years.
“I’ve worked at CoreCivic for 32 years, and this is truly one of the most exciting periods of my career,” CEO Damon Hininger said Tuesday on the company’s earnings call. “We anticipate significant growth opportunities, perhaps the most significant growth in our company’s history over the next several years.”
“The change in presidential administration on Jan. 20 has ushered in significant policy and legislative changes that directly impact our business,” Hininger said on the public call, which comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased its apprehensions of people alleged to be in the country illegally.
Hininger told shareholders that the company is taking proactive steps to prepare facilities and beds in anticipation of potential new contracts with ICE.
CoreCivic executives on the call said they currently speak almost “hourly” with ICE officials and with members of the administration, and have “active tours going on” at their facilities.
“We’ve got a proposal in front of ICE for 28,000 beds,” one executive said, adding that the offer could result in more than a billion dollars in revenue for the company.
The 28,000 beds offered to ICE comes from vacant facilities that are not currently activated, as well as from availability in existing facilities and from the South Texas Family Residential Center, the nation’s largest migrant detention center that was closed in 2024, executives said.
ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
In response to questions about the administration’s decision to use Guantanamo Bay and a prison in El Salvador to hold migrant detainees, executives for CoreCivic said they believe their facilities are “superior” to the alternatives when it comes to cost and logistics.
“We’ve got a real advantage on the cost side, especially in this environment. We’ve got DOGE out there looking at the best value for the government,” Hininger said, referencing Elon Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency.
The CoreCivic CEO also said he believes the company’s facilities are less likely to face litigation, and said they are “more humane than the other alternatives.”
“We’re feeling very encouraged by the conversations with ICE to date,” Hininger said. “We’ve got a lot of activity going on in the organization, a lot of opportunities, so it’s a very exciting time within the company.”
