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Happening Today: Powerball, John Kelly, Typhoon Hato, Climate Change, Opioid Crisis, Showtime

What to Know

  • The winning ticket for the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot was sold in Massachusetts, according to game officials
  • Exxon Mobil misled about climate change as research echoed the growing scientific consensus that global warming is real and caused by humans
  • A rare Prince music film, "Sign O' the Times," will air on Showtime beginning Sept. 16

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Ticket Sold Wins 2nd Largest Powerball Jackpot, Game Officials Say

We have a winner. The winning ticket for the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot was sold in Massachusetts, according to game officials. The jackpot is the second largest in U.S. history. The numbers were 7, 26, 16, 23, 06, and the powerplay number was 04 x4. No one has matched all six balls in more than two months, so the jackpot grew after every drawing. It sometimes grows in between drawings. The odds of winning the giant prize is one in 292.2 million. Tom Rietz, a professor who researches probabilities, says one way to think about it is to envision the 324 million U.S. residents. Your chance of winning is roughly comparable to being that one lucky person out of the entire population, with everyone else losing. Almost a million additional players won prizes totaling more than $135 million, according to game officials. The jackpot now resets to $40 million.

Facing Big Fights, Kelly Seeks to Restore White House Order

In his first month on the job, White House chief of staff John Kelly has made significant progress toward imposing discipline on a chaotic operation, even as it's clear he still struggles to have the same effect on the president himself. The White House is a less contentious place and decision-making is becoming more orderly under Kelly's thumb, according to more than a dozen people interviewed by The Associated Press, including White House officials, outside advisers and others who work regularly with the administration. They say a group of more experienced advisers — including a trio of generals — is increasingly holding sway. And they describe a process in which Kelly has successfully limited dissenting voices, restricted access to the president and "stacked the deck" on major decisions to guide him toward an outcome. The new Afghanistan war strategy announced this week was a chief example of the process. But President Trump also made clear this week there's no steering him toward less incendiary rhetoric.

At Least 16 Dead as Strong Typhoon Floods Macau, Southern China

The most powerful typhoon to hit the southern Chinese region in more than half a century left at least 16 dead as a sudden deluge swamped the gambling hub of Macau, submerging streets and stranding residents. Macau said eight people were killed in the former Portuguese colony, including two men found overnight in a parking garage. Another 153 were injured amid extensive flooding, power outages, and the smashing of doors and windows by the high winds and driving rain. A Macau lawmaker said the flooding was at its worst in the older parts of the city, where narrow lanes date back from Macau's time as a Portuguese colony for more than four centuries. Residents waded in waist-high murky water and rows of city buses sat half-submerged on city streets, according to photos circulating among residents.

Exxon Mobil Misled Public on Climate Change, Study Finds

Exxon Mobil misled the public about climate change for years even as its research echoed the growing scientific consensus that global warming is real and caused by human activity, a new study finds. The conclusion is based on a study by two researchers, who used social science methods to compare what Exxon Mobil said in nearly 200 scientific publications and internal communications on climate change with what they presented in three dozen advertisements over 15 years, CNBC reported. The researchers' takeaway is that the more publicly available advertisements sowed doubt that climate change is real and caused by humans, while the scientific studies and private exchanges more openly acknowledged that scientific fact.

Despite Trump's Talk, No Official Action Yet on Opioid Crisis

Two weeks ago, President Trump declared the opioid crisis a national emergency and called it "a serious problem the likes of which we have never had." But so far, Trump hasn’t formally signed such a declaration sent to Congress, NBC News reported. The millions of dollars the executive branch could direct towards expanding treatment facilities — or supplying police officers with the anti-overdose remedy naloxone — aren’t moving because Trump yet to take official action. A White House spokesperson would not comment on when Trump plans to get around to it.

Showtime to Air Rare Prince Music Film, “Sign O' the Times”

A rare Prince music film, "Sign O' the Times," will air on Showtime beginning Sept. 16. Directed by Prince himself, the film was created as an in-theater companion to his 1987 double album of the same name. The movie features performances and other scenes shot mostly at his Minneapolis studio complex, Paisley Park, with some tour footage from concerts in the Netherlands and Belgium. The 84-minute film captures Prince at a critical period, just after he disbanded his band, The Revolution, but it didn't perform well in U.S. theaters and his vision of a true live concert documentary was dashed by poor sound quality. Some critics have hailed "Sign O' the Times" as one of the best concert films ever made.

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