Powerball jackpot reaches $700 million ahead of Saturday drawing
Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, FILE
(NEW YORK) — The biggest Powerball jackpot of the year continues to grow, with an estimated prize of $700 million after no ticket matched all winning numbers in Wednesday’s drawing.
The lucky winner of Saturday’s drawing could choose between the full jackpot paid in annual installments over 29 years or a one-time cash payment of $316.3 million before taxes, according to Powerball.
Wednesday night’s drawing marked the 36th consecutive round without a grand prize winner since a $204.5 million ticket was claimed in California on May 31. The numbers drawn on Wednesday were 31, 59, 62, 65, 68, and Powerball 5.
While nobody matched all six numbers, Wednesday’s drawing produced several other winners, according to Powerball. A Tennessee player matched five numbers and included the Power Play option, securing a $2 million prize. Two other tickets matched five numbers for $1 million each.
Additionally, 30 tickets won $50,000 by matching four numbers plus the Powerball, with eight of those winners doubling their prize to $100,000 through the Power Play option.
The current jackpot towers above other 2025 prizes, though it hasn’t reached the heights of 2024’s staggering $1.3 billion jackpot claimed by Cheng “Charlie” Saephan in Oregon last April. The second-highest prize this year was a $526.5 million jackpot won by a California ticket holder.
Players can purchase $2 tickets in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Some states offer online purchasing options through official channels or licensed services. The drawing is scheduled for 10:59 p.m. ET on Saturday.
For an additional dollar, players can add the Power Play option, which multiplies non-jackpot prizes by up to five times. In select states, a separate Double Play option allows participants to enter a second drawing for up to $10 million.
Lauren Semanchik and 29-year-old Tyler Webb were found dead in Semanchik’s Franklin Township home over the weekend and their suspected killer is New Jersey State Trooper Sgt. 1st Class Ricardo Jorge Santos. WABC
(PITTSTOWN, N.J.) — A New Jersey State Police sergeant, who once served on Gov. Phil Murphy’s security detail, is suspected of killing his former girlfriend and the volunteer firefighter she was dating in a house in Franklin Township before dying by suicide, authorities said.
Following Sunday’s double homicide, police discovered Sgt. 1st Class Ricardo Jorge Santos dead in a Mercedes SUV from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot in Johnson Park in Piscataway, New Jersey, according to a statement from the Henderson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Killed in what investigators said was a “targeted act” in Pittstown, Henderson County, were 33-year-old Lauren Semanchik, a local veterinarian, and 29-year-old Tyler Webb, a volunteer firefighter from Forked River, New Jersey, according to the prosecutor’s office.
“Considering the suspect’s subsequent suicide, we recognize that many questions remain, and healing will take time. While justice in the legal sense may not proceed, our commitment to supporting survivors and preventing future tragedies remains unwavering,” Henderson County Prosecutor Renee Robeson said in a statement.
Franklin Township police officers responded to Semanchik’s home around around 12:22 p.m. on Sunday after a 911 caller reported finding an unconscious woman there with “apparent physical trauma,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
Upon entering the Pittstown home, officers found Semanchik and Webb dead from “apparent gunshot wounds from a semiautomatic firearm,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that Semanchik and Webb were killed on Friday night, officials said. Detectives learned that a 911 call came in around 7:08 p.m. on Friday from an area near Semanchik’s home in which a dispatcher could hear gunshots and screaming in the background, the prosecutor’s office said. Officers responded to the call and checked the area but did not find the source of the gunshots and screaming, according to the prosecutor’s office.
As the investigation unfolded, detectives zeroed in on Santos as the primary suspect after learning he had previously dated Semanchik.
“After ending her relationship with Santos in approximately September 2024, Semanchik accused Santos of “harassing and controlling behavior,” according to the prosecutor’s statement.
The investigation uncovered a video surveillance system with a rear-facing camera that Semanchik had installed in her car, authorities said. Detectives combed through the surveillance footage from Semanchik car and saw that when she left work at the Long Valley Animal Hospital around 5:25 p.m. on Friday, she was followed to her home by a 2008 Mercedes SUV matching Santos’ vehicle, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Just after 6 p.m. on Friday, an individual was recorded on surveillance video “surreptitiously walking through the wooded area along the driveway” of Semanchik residence, authorities said. The video also showed Webb’s vehicle arriving at the home around 6:45 p.m.
Investigators collected a semiautomatic handgun from the vehicle that Santos’ body was found in and believe the suspect used the firearm to commit the homicides and take his own life.
Santos served in the New Jersey State Police’s executive protection unit, which guards the governor, officials said. He was most recently assigned to the agency’s dignitary protection unit, which guards high-ranking state officials.
“We are shocked and devastated by this horrific tragedy,” a spokesperson for Murphy said in a statement. “Due to the law enforcement investigation currently underway, we will refrain from further comment at this time.”
Friends and colleagues of both victims mourned their horrific death and Robeson urged “anyone experiencing threats, harassment, or abuse to seek help and know thy are not alone.”
“Not only was Lauren a phenomenal veterinarian, she was one of the kindest souls you could ever encounter and a friend to us all,” a colleague of Semancik’s at Long Valley Animal Hospital told New York ABC station WABC.
The Pinewald Pioneer Fire Company in Bayville, New Jersey, where Webb was a volunteer firefighter, released a statement on social media, saying, “Tyler served our department with dedication and honor.”
“His contributions to our company and community will never be forgotten,” the department wrote in the post.
(NEW YORK) — The Army is reviewing how pro-President Donald Trump merchandise wound up being sold on one of its bases this week at a service-sponsored event orchestrated by the White House and the president’s supporters.
Earlier this week, Trump spoke at Fort Bragg in North Carolina in celebration of the Army’s 250th birthday. At the event, a truck was spotted selling Trump merchandise — including “Make America Great Again” hats and other “America First” swag. The practice is likely at odds with long-standing Defense Department policy, which prohibits troops from wearing political garb such as hats or flags or expressing their political opinion while in uniform.
The policy is intended to preserve America’s tradition of apolitical military forces, serving at the behest of a democratically elected president regardless of party.
When asked about pictures of troops in uniform buying Trump merch on a military base, a spokesperson for the base said the matter was under review.
“The Army remains committed to its core values and apolitical service to the nation,” said Col. Mary Ricks, a spokesperson for the XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg.
“The Army does not endorse political merchandise or the views it represents,” Ricks added. “The vendor’s presence is under review to determine how it was permitted and to prevent similar occurrences in the future.”
The public event at Fort Bragg, which is home to the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and serves as the headquarters of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, was orchestrated much like a Trump campaign rally.
Trump spoke for nearly an hour, repeating false claims of a “rigged and stolen election” and bashing his political rivals. He referred to Los Angeles as a “trash heap” in the grip of “transnational gangs and criminals” — a reference to the ongoing protests in the city. He said immigration protestors were part of a “foreign invasion,” an assessment at odds with his top military adviser, Gen. Dan Caine, who publicly contradicted that statement in testimony.
Sources say organizers of the event placed soldiers who volunteered to attend directly behind the president as he aired his political grievances. Some of the troops nodded and cheered at Trump’s suggestion of putting people in jail for burning the American flag and some jeered when he mentioned the “fake press.”
Several of the soldiers booed at Trump’s references to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
“In Los Angeles, the governor of California, the mayor of Los Angeles, they’re incompetent and they paid troublemakers, agitators and insurrectionists,” he said of the protests in Los Angeles. “They’re engaged in this willful attempt to nullify federal law and aid the occupation of the city by criminal invaders.”
In hindsight, one Army official said, uniformed officials on the ground probably should have pushed back more on the political nature of the event. Two weeks prior, the president had turned a commencement ceremony at West Point into a politically charged speech in which he also advised cadets to avoid “trophy wives.”
“But what can you do? To you, he’s the president. To us, he’s the commander-in-chief,” the official said, a reference to the president’s democratically appointed role in commanding the nation’s fighting forces.
Sources say civilians from the federal commission America 250 — many of them with close ties to the White House — were given “full creative control” of the Fort Bragg event. America 250 and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to two people familiar with the planning effort, the organizers told Army officials on base ahead of the rally that they wanted a certain number of soldiers eager to stand behind the president. These troops would have to undergo a criminal background check for security reasons. Also required, according to sources, — the troops would need to look fit, not fat, in keeping with the new administration’s focus on fitness standards, warrior ethos and lethality.
The troops would have to agree to behave professionally and respectfully, sources said. No eyerolling, for example, or reacting negatively during Trump’s speech.
Army officials from the base worked diligently with America 250 organizers to find troops that would fit the bill.
“We’re soldiers,” one person said. “We do what we’re told.”
As it turned out, finding troops on base willing to be respectful of Trump wasn’t hard, sources said. Trump tends to be popular at Fort Bragg among many of the rank-and-file there. And because the event was voluntary, the spectacle attracted his most ardent supporters.
In the end, footage of troops booing and cheering a political speech while being offered MAGA merch was regrettable, said the Army official.
“We wish it hadn’t happened,” the official said. “The Army would like to focus on the history and the celebration of its 250th anniversary and its commitment to defend the nation.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — Prosecutors have filed murder charges against a man accused of shooting and killing a woman who was walking her dogs in San Leandro, California, earlier this month.
Rohith Sunil, 21, was charged with felony murder, assault with a semi-automatic gun and carrying a loaded weapon in public in the July 17 shooting death of 41-year-old Casey Way, according to the Office of District Attorney of Alameda.
Prosecutors have also included sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a firearm causing death.
Way was walking her dogs with her boyfriend when she was allegedly approached by Sunil, according to prosecutors. He allegedly had a conversation with the couple before suddenly pulling out a handgun and shooting her, prosecutors said.
Way was transported to Eden hospital after suffering from a single gunshot wound. She later succumbed to her injuries, according to a probable cause declaration.
Way’s boyfriend told police that the couple was walking from their apartment to a liquor store when a black sedan pulled up alongside them and parked. A man wearing a black ski mask and all black clothing and who had a tattoo under one of his eyes got out of the car and confronted them, asking if the city they were in was Oakland and how to get back to San Jose, according to the declaration.
Way then began to look up directions on her phone to help the suspect. As she was doing so, the suspect noticed she was wearing a red bandanna and began to ask her if she was in a gang, which Way and her boyfriend denied, according to the declaration.
The suspect then pulled out a black pistol and pointed it at the couple, who backed away from him.
“The suspect laughed and racked the pistol slide, ejecting a live round onto the ground. The suspect then pointed the firearm at the victim and fired a single shot, striking her on the right side of her body,” the witness told police, according to the declaration. The suspect then allegedly got back in the vehicle and fled the scene.
Way’s boyfriend told police that he did not know the suspect and that this was a “random act,” according to the declaration.
Sunil is being held in Santa Rita Jail without bail, according to jail records.
Sunil “personally and intentionally discharged a firearm, and caused great bodily injury and death to Casey Lyn Way,” and “inflicted great bodily injury on another person,” a criminal complaint against Sunil said.
On July 18, Dublin Police Department officers arrested Sunil after they received a call from a victim who said he was being followed around by a vehicle, according to the declaration.
Police located the vehicle and contact the individual inside, Sunil, and while speaking with him a semiautomatic firearm fell out of his waistband, according to the declaration. Dublin officers were not aware of the murder investigation but booked Sunil at Santa Rita Jail.
Sunil was interviewed by police and he allegedly admitted to having the gun and being the sole occupant of the car on the day of the murder. Police say he told them he had been “black out” drunk from drinking at a friend’s house and denied knowing anything about the murder, according to the declaration.
Sunil matched the appearance and clothing description given to police by witnesses to the murder as did his vehicle.
Sunil is not listed with the Department of Justice as the registered owner of a pistol, revolver or other firearm capable of being concealed on his person, according to court documents.
Sunil’s plea hearing is scheduled for Monday.
If convicted, Sunil could be sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison, according to the district attorney’s office. Attorney information for Sunil was not immediately available.
