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.
Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student and Palestinian activist, who was arrested by US immigration authorities in mid-April 2025, attends the inauguration ceremony at City Hall in New York, United States, on January 1, 2026. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — For the second time in a little more than a week, attorneys have announced that an immigration court has terminated deportation proceedings against a pro-Palestinian student after Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed they posed a threat to foreign policy.
According to a letter filed in court, attorneys for Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia University student who was detained at his naturalization interview in April, a judge has found that the Department of Homeland Security “did not meet its burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence” that he is removable.
It comes after an immigration court terminated removal proceedings against Tufts University Ph.D. student Rümeysa Öztürk. Her attorneys announced the order in a letter to the federal judge overseeing the case challenging her detention on Feb. 9.
For Mahdawi’s case, immigration judge Nina Froes appears to have based her decision on the finding that DHS failed to authenticate a memo allegedly signed by Rubio claiming Mahdawi was a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
Mahdawi’s attorneys have argued that, like other pro-Palestinian demonstrators, organizers and students, he was being targeted for his constitutionally protected speech.
Öztürk, like Mahdawi, was also labeled a foreign policy risk by Rubio in a memo.
Both cases can be appealed by the Trump administration, so their habeas petitions will likely continue to play out in federal court.
“I am grateful to the court for honoring the rule of law and holding the line against the government’s attempts to trample on due process,” Mahdawi said in a statement. “This decision is an important step towards upholding what fear tried to destroy: the right to speak for peace and justice.”
“In a climate where dissent is increasingly met with intimidation and detention, today’s ruling renews hope that due process still applies and that no agency stands above the Constitution,” he added.
In response to a request for comment about both cases, the Department of Homeland Security sent a previous statement about Mahdawi and said: “It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country. No activist judge, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that.”
Mahdawi was detained in Vermont last spring during his citizenship interview. Arguing that he should continue to be detained, lawyers for the Trump administration pointed to a 2015 FBI investigation, in which a gun shop owner alleged that Mahdawi had claimed to have built machine guns in the West Bank to kill Jews.
However, the FBI closed that investigation and Mahdawi was never charged with any crime, a point a federal judge highlighted when he ordered Mahdawi’s release.
In response to the government’s allegations against him, Mahdawi and his lawyers have firmly refuted allegations that he ever threatened Israelis or those of the Jewish faith. He told ABC News he has been advocating for peace and protesting against the war in Gaza.
“So for them to accuse me of this is not going to work, because I am a person who actually has condemned antisemitism,” Mahdawi said. “And I believe that the fight against antisemitism and the fight to free Palestine go hand in hand, because, as Martin Luther King said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Öztürk was detained in March by masked federal agents, and the arrest was captured on camera. Attorneys representing her said she was targeted, like other high-profile arrests of students, for her Pro-Palestinian views, specifically, for co-authoring an Op-Ed in the student paper in March 2024 calling on the school’s administration to take steps to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.”
A federal judge ordered her release in May.
“Today, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system’s flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the U.S. government,” Öztürk said in a statement on Feb. 9. “Though the pain that I and thousands of other women wrongfully imprisoned by ICE have faced cannot be undone, it is heartening to know that some justice can prevail after all.”
A memorial for shooting victims MukhammadAziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook at the Van Wickle Gates on the campus of Brown University on December 16, 2025. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Brown University is moving forward with a series of safety and security steps following the deadly shooting on campus this month that left two students dead and nine others injured.
The Ivy League university’s announcement comes the same day the Department of Education announced it would be reviewing the school for potential Clery Act violations.
Brown University’s review includes putting Rodney Chatman, the vice president for public safety and emergency management for the school on leave, effective immediately, the university’s president announced on Monday.
The former chief of police of the Providence Police Department, Hugh T. Clements, will serve as interim chief.
In a message to the campus community, President Christina H. Paxson said the university will first focus on immediate safety measures through a rapid response team working to ensure the campus remains secure during winter break and ahead of the Spring 2026 semester.
The university will also hire outside experts to conduct an after-action review of the shooting. That review will examine campus safety conditions leading up to the incident, how the university prepared for and responded on the day of the shooting, and how emergency response efforts were handled afterward.
The Department of Education said on Monday its Office of Federal Student Aid will investigate if Brown violated Section 485(f) of the Higher Education Act, otherwise known as the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, which requires institutions of higher education to meet certain campus safety and security-related requirements as a condition of receiving federal student aid.
“The Department is initiating a review of Brown to determine if it has upheld its obligation under the law to vigilantly maintain campus security,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in a statement. “Students deserve to feel safe at school, and every university across this nation must protect their students and be equipped with adequate resources to aid law enforcement.”
“The Trump Administration will fight to ensure that recipients of federal funding are vigorously protecting students’ safety and following security procedures as required under federal law,” McMahon added.
The Clery Act requires colleges and universities receiving federal student aid to annually share a report on campus crime and details about the efforts taken to improve campus safety, “including timely issuance of campus alerts and safety procedures to the campus community,” according to the Dept. of Education
The Department said it can fine universities that have violated the Clery Act and “may require them to make policy changes to come into compliance with the law.”
In the statement on Monday, Brown University also announced it will launch a comprehensive external safety and security assessment of its campus. The review will look at existing policies, procedures, training and security infrastructure, including building access, cameras, and other safety technology. The assessment will build on security improvements already underway.
Both reviews will be overseen by a committee of the Corporation of Brown University, which will approve the outside organizations conducting the work. University leaders said they plan to share key findings with the campus community and the public.
(WASHINGTON) — Two National Guard members are dead after being shot in downtown Washington near the White House, according to West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
“It is with great sorrow that we can confirm both members of the West Virginia National Guard who were shot earlier today in Washington, DC have passed away from their injuries. These brave West Virginians lost their lives in the service of their country. We are in ongoing contact with federal officials as the investigation continues,” Morrisey said.
“Our entire state grieves with their families, their loved ones, and the Guard community. West Virginia will never forget their service or their sacrifice, and we will demand full accountability for this horrific act,” Morrisey said.
The two National Guard members were a woman and man, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the situation.
A suspect is in custody, the Metropolitan Police Department said, and the scene has been secured. A man believed to be suspect in critical condition, the law enforcement official said.
Multiple law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Marshalls, ATF and the FBI, responded to the shooting. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said her agency was working with local authorities to gather more information.
According to a D.C. police official, there was an active shooter incident reported at 2:20 p.m. ET at the entrance to the Farragut West Metro station.
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
A White House official confirmed the White House is currently on lockdown. Trump is currently in Florida, where he is spending Thanksgiving at his Mar-a-Lago club.
“The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen, with both being critically wounded, and now in two separate hospitals, is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price,” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Wednesday afternoon. “God bless our Great National Guard, and all of our Military and Law Enforcement. These are truly Great People. I, as President of the United States, and everyone associated with the Office of the Presidency, am with you!”
The National Guard was deployed to the nation’s capital as part of President Trump’s federal takeover of the city in August. According to the most recent update, there are 2,188 Guard personnel assigned to D.C.
On Tuesday, during the traditional turkey pardon, Trump touted his administration’s takeover of D.C. He said it was “one of our most unsafe places anywhere in the United States. It is now considered a totally safe city.”
“You could walk down any street in Washington and you’re going to be just fine. And I want to thank the National Guard. I want to thank you for the job you’ve done here is incredible,” Trump said at the event.
Vice President JD Vance addressed the shooting on Wednesday as he spoke to troops in Texas, where he was spending the day serving meals to soldiers and their families ahead of Thanksgiving.
“We’re still learning everything. We still don’t know the motive,” Vance said.
“It’s a somber reminder that soldiers, whether they’re active duty reserve or National Guard, our soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,” the vice president said. “And as a person who goes into work every single day in that building and knows that there are a lot of people who wear the uniform of the United States Army, let me just say very personally thank them for what they’re doing.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
