Powerball jackpot climbs to $1.1 billion just 10 days before Christmas
Person holding Powerball ticket ((Photo by John Carl D’Annibale/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A $1.1 billion Powerball jackpot could provide someone with plenty of spending money just 10 days before Christmas.
The total would be the sixth-largest jackpot in the game’s history, and the 12th-largest in U.S. lotto history including Mega Millions. The drawing will be just before 11 p.m. ET on Monday.
While the annual payment is worth $1.1 billion, the lump sum payment would be $503.4 million — both before taxes.
The numbers drawn on Saturday, when the jackpot had crossed $1 billion, were: 1, 28, 31, 57 and 58 with a Powerball of 16.
While no one won the big prize, two winners in Pennsylvania and North Carolina took home $2 million each, and five winners cashed in their tickets for $1 million each.
But if you’re counting on the money for a little holiday pocket change, you might want a backup plan. The odds of winning the jackpot are just 1 in 292.2 million.
In this June 2, 2019, file photo, a sign marking the spot of the Stonewall National monument is shown in Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York. (Epics via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The National Parks Service (NPS) removed the rainbow flag that sat on a flagpole inside the Stonewall National Monument near Christopher Park in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
The site was designated a national monument by President Barack Obama in June, 2016, becoming the first federal monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights.
The communications office for NPS, which is overseen by the Department of the Interior, confirmed the removal of the rainbow flag in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday morning. It said that, under federal guidance, “only the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions.”
“Any changes to flag displays are made to ensure consistency with that guidance. Stonewall National Monument continues to preserve and interpret the site’s historic significance through exhibits and programs,” the statement continued.
The office of Interior Sec. Doug Burgum reiterated the sentiment in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday, saying that federal policy governing flag displays “has been in place for decades,” and “recent guidance clarifies how that longstanding policy is applied consistently across NPS-managed sites.”
The pride flag inside the monument was permanently installed by NPS in 2021, and was the first pride flag to be flown over federally-funded land.
Steven Love Menendez, a New York-based advocate for LGBTQ+ rights who launched the movement for the permanent pride flag to be installed at the site in 2017, questioned the timing of its removal.
“It’s a targeted attack on the community, right? Because the flag was there. It’s not that they never gave permission for it to be erected. They did give permission for it to be erected, and now they’re using some legal language to try to make an excuse for taking it down,” Menendez said. “Why now? That’s the question the administration needs to answer. Why now? It was already up, and my response is, it’s solely based on hate.”
The Stonewall National Monument is located near the Stonewall Inn, a historic gay bar in the neighborhood that was a safe haven for many in the LGBTQ+ community in the 1960s. The bar was raided by the NYPD in 1969, leading to riots that became known as the Stonewall Uprising, which is credited with kickstarting the modern LGBTQ+ movement. The NYPD publicly apologized for the raid in 2019.
“Stonewall will be our first national monument to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights. I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country, the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us. That we are stronger together. That out of many, we are one,” Obama said in 2016.
Menendez said that, during Pride Month in 2017, he got a permit from NPS to install a pride flag inside the monument and his request was granted. Once the month was over, he noted that the flag was taken down. Menendez said he was “very passionate” about people being able to see the pride flag when they visited the monument, so he petitioned NPS in 2017 for the installation of a permanent flag.
According to ABC station in New York City, WABC, NPS was expected to participate in a dedication ceremony for a permanent rainbow flag inside the monument on National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, 2017. But amid opposition from the Trump administration, NPS withdrew from the ceremony — a move that drew widespread criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates, WABC reported.
At the dedication ceremony, the city of New York flew their own rainbow flag on city land outside the Stonewall National Monument and it wasn’t until 2021 when the Biden administration approved the permanent installation of a pride flag inside the monument on federal land. The city flag has remained in place, but the flag on federal land was removed by NPS this week.
“For me, [the rainbow flag] is a sense of pride and joy and celebration and victory for our community. … This flag represents our victory and our triumphs,” Menendez, who attended the 2017 ceremony, told ABC News on Tuesday. “[Removing] it feels like a slap in the face to the community, you know, a punch in the gut. They’re taking away our symbol of pride.”
The removal of the flag comes after President Donald Trump directed Sec. Burgum in a March 2025 executive order to remove “divisive” and “anti-American” content from museums and national parks.
Asked if the removal of the pride flag was in response to Trump’s order, NPS did not comment.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrives for his first check-in at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Baltimore Field Office the day after a federal judge ordered his release from a detention in Pennsylvania, December 12, 2025 in Baltimore. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia will not be detained by immigration authorities, according to his attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, after a federal judge blocked the government from re-detaining him right before he was scheduled to appear before immigration authorities in Baltimore.
“Shortly after midnight, we filed an application for temporary restraining order with Judge Xinis, and at 7:30am she granted the temporary restraining order prohibiting Kilmar Abrego Garcia from being re arrested at this check in today. As a result of that, I’m pleased to announce that Mr. Abrego Garcia will be walking back out those doors again later this morning,” said Sandoval-Moshenberg.
Xinis granted an emergency temporary restraining order request from Abrego Garcia’s attorneys because an immigration judge appeared to add a removal order to Abrego Garcia’s immigration record.
When Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia released Thursday she said that the government could not hold him in immigration detention because he was never issued a removal order.
But that night, an immigration judge issued a rare decision saying that he had “corrected” an error in Abrego Garcia’s record and appeared to add a removal order.
Immigration judge Philip Taylor said in his order that Abrego Garcia’s order of removal was “was erroneously omitted” from a 2019 immigration hearing, according to documents obtained by ABC News.
“The order of removal to El Salvador, which should have preceded the order granting him withholding of removal to El Salvador, was erroneously omitted,” Taylor said.
In her order on Thursday, Xinis said that “since Abrego Garcia’s wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority.
“The circumstances of Abrego Garcia’s detention since he was released from criminal custody cannot be squared with the ‘basic purpose’ of holding him to effectuate removal,” Xinis said.
Xinis, citing reporting from ABC News and others, said the government at the same time could have removed Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica, his preferred country of removal.
“Respondents’ calculated effort to take Costa Rica ‘off the table’ backfired,” Xinis wrote. “Within 24 hours, Costa Rica, through Minister Zamora Cordero, communicated to multiple news sources that its offer to grant Abrego Garcia residence and refugee status is, and always has been, firm, unwavering, and unconditional.”
Xinis in August blocked the government from removing Abrego Garcia from the United States until the habeas case challenging his removal was resolved in court. The habeas petition was granted Thursday.
“The history of Abrego Garcia’s case is as well known as it is extraordinary,” Xinis wrote in her decision Thursday.
Donna Massey, the mother of shooting victim Sonya Massey, is comforted during a press conference at New Mount Pilgrim Church on July 30, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson/Getty Images
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, is set to be sentenced on Thursday after his convicted in October 2025 of second-degree murder for the July 2024 fatal shooting of Sonya Massey, a Black woman who called 911 to report a possible intruder at her home in Springfield, Illinois.
Grayson could be sentenced to four to 20 years in prison or he could be sentenced to probation, according to prosecutors.
Sontae Massey, Massey’s cousin, told Springfield ABC affiliate WICS in an interview that aired ahead of the sentencing on Wednesday that her death “shattered” her family and they are now bracing for Grayson’s sentencing.
“I’m a little anxious. I think I speak for the family when I say that. You know, there’s a lot of feelings involved, particularly her children,” Sontae Massey said.
She noted that family members, including Massey’s teenage children Malachi and Summer, are expected to deliver impact statements during the sentencing hearing.
Family representatives for the Massey family told ABC News on Wednesday that the family will hold a press conference after Grayson’s sentencing hearing.
Ahead of sentencing Grayson, the judge denied on Thursday morning Grayson’s request for a new trial.
Grayson’s attorneys filed a motion for a new trial on Dec. 2, 2025, arguing that “several erroneous rulings” “resulted in prejudice to the defendant.”
The motion, which was reviewed by ABC News, cited alleged “errors” that include “incorrectly” focusing on Grayson’s “obligations as a police officer” when determining not to release him pre-trial, as opposed to “the danger he posed as a private citizen.”
Grayson’s attorneys also argued in the motion that the judge should not have admitted into evidence the body camera video that showed Grayson’s “statements and actions” after he fatally shot Massey.
Grayson’s attorneys did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser, who prosecuted Grayson, told ABC News on Thursday that his office filed a motion asking the judge to deny Grayson’s request for a new trial.
Body camera footage of the July 6, 2024 incident shows Grayson, who was inside Massey’s home, pointing to a pot of boiling water on her stove and says, “Walk away from your hot steaming water.”
Massey then appears to pour the water into the sink and repeats the deputy’s phrase before saying, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” according to the video.
Grayson threatens to shoot her and Massey apologizes and ducks down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt, the video shows. As she briefly rises, Grayson shoots her three times in the face, the footage shows.
During Grayson’s testimony, he told the jury he believed Massey was going to throw the scalding water on him and was scared.
The assistant state attorney said that Massey’s final words before being shot with her hands up were, “I’m sorry,” according to WICS.
Grayson was initially charged with three counts in connection to Massey’s death — first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Following the seven-day trial in October 2025, the jury was given the option of considering second-degree murder instead of first-degree murder.
ABC News’ Mariama Jalloh and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
