Three winning tickets sold in record $656 million U.S. lottery

Three winning tickets sold in record $656 million U.S. lottery
Dead wolf photos stir tensions in West
Marchers again demand arrest in Trayvon Martin case
Gunmen kill two outside Miami funeral of shooting victim
Colorado wildfire claims third fatality, blaze nearly contained
Midwest towns cannot give land away to modern homesteaders
Ultra-marathon runner Micah True found dead in New Mexico
Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf arrested in Montana
Cape worn by Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra" sold
Military nonbelievers' event shows there are atheists in foxholes
Blood and ominous note link Josh Powell to missing wife
With U.S. okay, Cuban agent returns home to see brother
Iraqi-American murder highlights anti-Muslim hate crimes
Prosecutors say two former Penn State officials lied multiple times
U.S. seeks life in prison for Russian arms dealer Bout
Dead wolf photos stir tensions in West
Slain Iraqi-American woman buried in Iraq
Ultra-marathon runner Micah True found dead in New Mexico
Colorado wildfire claims third fatality, blaze nearly contained
Midwest towns cannot give land away to modern homesteaders
Three winning tickets sold in record $656 million U.S. lottery
Military nonbelievers' event shows there are atheists in foxholes
Dead wolf photos stir tensions in West
Iraqi-American murder highlights anti-Muslim hate crimes
Gunmen kill two outside Miami funeral of shooting victim
Blood and ominous note link Josh Powell to missing wife
Cape worn by Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra" sold

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ATLANTA (Reuters) - The largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history - a whopping $656 million - will be shared by the buyers of three winning Mega Millions tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland - but their identities remained a mystery, lottery officials said on Saturday. A pre-dawn call alerted Denise Metzger, manager of a Motomart convenience store, to news from lottery officials that her store had sold a winning ticket in the tiny farming community of Red Bud in southern Illinois, with less than 4,000 residents, about 30 miles southeast of St. Louis. ...

Dead wolf photos stir tensions in West

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SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Photos of dead and maimed wolves have pervaded the Internet in recent weeks, raising tensions in the Northern Rocky Mountains over renewed hunting and trapping of the once federally protected animals. Escalating rancor between hunters and animal rights activists on social media and websites centers on pictures of wolves killed or about to be killed. Many have text celebrating the fact that Western states are allowing more killing of the predators. ...

Marchers again demand arrest in Trayvon Martin case

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SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters marched through Sanford, Florida, on Saturday demanding an arrest of the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed an unarmed black teen a month ago. "We want arrests ... shot in the chest," they chanted in reference to 17-year-old victim Trayvon Martin, who was shot in the chest. Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP which organized the march, and civil rights leader the Rev. ...

Gunmen kill two outside Miami funeral of shooting victim

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MIAMI (Reuters) - Gunmen opened fire on mourners outside a Miami funeral home, killing two people and injuring 12, including a young girl, police said on Saturday. The gunmen escaped after firing from a car into a crowd of mourners who had gathered on Friday night for the funeral of a 21-year-old man, who was himself the victim of a deadly shooting. "I was on my way out of the chapel when I heard the shots," the pastor who officiated at the service, A.D. Lenoir, told The Miami Herald. "I told people to look for cover. It was chaos. ...

Colorado wildfire claims third fatality, blaze nearly contained

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DENVER (Reuters) - Remains believed to be those of a missing woman were found on Saturday at her home within a nearly-contained wildfire zone west of Denver, authorities said, the third death resulting from the blaze that was ignited by a controlled burn gone awry. While identification is still pending, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said crews were suspending the search for Ann Appel, who was unaccounted for since the fire erupted on Monday. "Possible human artifacts have been located within the Appel home," the sheriff's office said in a statement. ...

Midwest towns cannot give land away to modern homesteaders

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MARQUETTE, Kansas (Reuters) - In Marquette, Kansas an ice cream cone is $1.09, haircuts start at $10 and land is free. The land draws a lot less interest than ice cream or haircuts. In a modern day version of President Abraham Lincoln's 1862 Homestead Act that gave free land to settle the vast American interior, Marquette is among a dozen struggling central Kansas towns offering free lots to anyone who agrees to build a house. ...

Ultra-marathon runner Micah True found dead in New Mexico

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(Reuters) - Ultra-marathon runner Micah True, missing for four days in the rugged wilderness of New Mexico, was found dead on Saturday, police said. True, 58, was found in the mountainous Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico, near the Arizona border in the early evening, said Tom Bemis, incident commander with the New Mexico State Police. Nicknamed "Caballo Blanco," or White Horse, True became a celebrity after he was featured in the best-selling book "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. ...

Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf arrested in Montana

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SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf, once a Heisman Trophy finalist and San Diego Chargers first round draft choice, was arrested in his hometown of Great Falls, Montana, on theft and drug charges, authorities said on Saturday. Leaf was arrested on Friday on suspicion of felony burglary and drug possession as well as a misdemeanor theft charge, authorities said. Great Falls police were unable to provide further details on Saturday. ...

Cape worn by Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra" sold

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DALLAS (Reuters) - A gold cape worn by Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 film "Cleopatra" sold at auction for $59,375 in Dallas on Friday. The cape had been wrapped in tissue and stored in a cedar closet for years, the female owner of the garment told officials at Heritage Auctions. The owner, who asked not to be identified, said her mother had acquired the cape from the now defunct Western Costume company sometime after the film's premiere. The woman's mother had worked in the couture fashion industry, Heritage officials said. ...

Military nonbelievers' event shows there are atheists in foxholes

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FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (Reuters) - An atheist-themed festival drew hundreds of people to an Army post in North Carolina on Saturday for what was believed to be the first-ever event held on a U.S. military base for service members who do not have religious beliefs. Organizers said they hoped the "Rock Beyond Belief" event at Fort Bragg would spur equal treatment toward nonbelievers in the armed forces and help lift the stigma for approximately 295,000 active duty personnel who consider themselves atheist, agnostic or without a religious preference. ...

Blood and ominous note link Josh Powell to missing wife

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SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A Utah police probe of Josh Powell, who killed himself and two sons last month in an explosion that drew national attention, found his missing wife's blood at the family home and an ominous note from her in a safe deposit box, newly released court documents show. Josh Powell had long been considered a suspect in Susan Powell's disappearance and presumed death, due in part to his unusual alibi of a midnight camping trip. But the search warrant documents released on Friday reveal fresh details. ...

With U.S. okay, Cuban agent returns home to see brother

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HAVANA (Reuters) - A Cuban agent on parole in the United States after 13 years behind bars for his activities in an espionage ring has returned temporarily to the communist island to visit his critically ill brother, state television reported on Friday. Rene Gonzalez, one of what Cuba calls the "Five Heroes," returned on Friday "on a private family visit," it said. U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard granted Gonzalez his request for the visit on March 19 with the proviso that he had to obtain permission from the U.S. government and return within 15 days. ...

Iraqi-American murder highlights anti-Muslim hate crimes

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EL CAJON, Calif (Reuters) - The murder of an Iraqi-American mother in a close-knit refugee community on the outskirts of San Diego has brought attention to a rise in bias crimes against Muslims, even as police caution against definitively labeling her death a hate crime. Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother of five, was found brutally beaten in the dining room of her rented home last week by her 17-year-old daughter, police said. She died of her wounds on Saturday. ...

Prosecutors say two former Penn State officials lied multiple times

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State prosecutors listed a number of instances on Friday in which they said two former Penn State University officials lied to a grand jury about their involvement in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. Former Athletic Director Tim Curley and now-retired financial officer Gary Schultz pleaded not guilty in January to charges of perjury and failing to report abuse allegations against Sandusky to police. ...

U.S. seeks life in prison for Russian arms dealer Bout

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U.S. prosecutors asked a federal judge in New York on Friday to send convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was the subject of the book "Merchant of Death," to prison for life, a court filing showed. Bout, a former Soviet air force officer, was convicted in November on charges he agreed to sell arms to people he thought were Colombian militants intent on attacking U.S. soldiers. He faces a mandatory minimum 25-year sentence. ...

Dead wolf photos stir tensions in West

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Slain Iraqi-American woman buried in Iraq

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi-American woman who was beaten to death in her U.S. home in a possible case of hate crime was buried in her native Iraq on Saturday. Relatives wept as the casket of Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old mother of five, was taken to the Valley of Peace cemetery in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Iraq's capital Baghdad. Alawadi was found unconscious in the dining room of her rented home in California last Wednesday by her 17-year-old daughter. ...