QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We are not in any way recommending the disarming of the intelligence community. We’re not saying the struggle against terrorism is over.”
Michael Morell, a former deputy director of the CIA and member of a presidential advisory panel that has recommended limits on the government’s surveillance programs Article, this page
Georgia woman splits $636 million jackpot
ATLANTA - A Georgia woman who bought just one ticket and used family birthdays and lucky No. 7 to choose her numbers was one of two winners Tuesday of the $636 million Mega Millions jackpot, the second-largest in U.S.
history.
Lottery officials in Georgia identified the winner as Ira Curry of Stone Mountain, which is east of Atlanta. Curry will take a lump sum of $123 million after taxes, said Georgia Lottery Chief Executive Debbie Alford.
The other winning ticket was sold at a gift shop in San Jose, Calif.
Alford wouldn’t say where Curry worked or how old she was.
The winning numbers were 8, 14, 17, 20, 39 and Mega Ball 7. The jackpot started its ascent Oct. 4. Twenty-two draws came and went without winners.
Some $336 million in tickets were sold for Tuesday’s drawing.
Report: Big-city kids catching up on tests
BOSTON - Grade-school students in big U.S. cities have made progress toward catching up with nationwide test averages, according to a national report card of math and reading proficiency released Wednesday.
Fourth-graders in Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta contributed to the advance with increases in math scores that were greater than the nationwide gains at the same grade level, according to the Education Department, which sponsors the biennial testing of students in 21 cities with populations of more than 250,000.
About 600,000 fourth-graders attend public schools in large U.S. cities, said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council for Great City Schools, a Washington-based coalition of urban school districts. The results suggest that about 100,000 more fourth-grade students in big-city school districts would test as proficient, the highest of three levels, than in 2003, he said.
The big-city report card expands on results from a state-by-state look at mathematics and reading in the fourth and eighth grades that was released last month.
GOP hopeful concedes in Virginia recount
RICHMOND, Va. - Republican Mark Obenshain on Wednesday conceded the race for Virginia attorney general as Democrat Mark Herring built an insurmountable lead in a recount.
The concession Wednesday gives Democrats a sweep of statewide races for the first time since 1989.
Herring is a state senator. He will succeed Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who unsuccessfully ran for governor.
Obenshain petitioned for the recount after he trailed by 165 votes out of more than 2.2 million ballots cast Nov. 5.
It had been the closest statewide race in modern Virginia political history.
Obenshain is also a state senator. He conceded on the third day of the statewide recount.
Superfund fire fight halted by fuel fears
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Firefighters stopped trying to put out a large industrial fire at a federal Superfund site in central Tennessee on Wednesday afternoon, fearing that two 1,000-gallon propane tanks could explode.
Kim Skelton in the Hickman County mayor’s office said the fire at Industrial Plastics Recycle started about 10 a.m. She said surrounding homes, schools and businesses were evacuated.
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Dean Flener said that between 400 and 500 people were asked to leave the area, about 45 miles southwest of Nashville. School officials said another 1,800 or so students were evacuated from four nearby schools out of concern over toxic fumes from the blaze.
The EPA website said the former Wrigley Charcoal Plant, located northwest of Tennessee 100, was placed on the National Priorities List in 1989 because of contaminated debris, groundwater and soil in the county of about 24,000. The Superfund area includes a 35-acre primary site and surrounding areas comprising about 300 acres.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 12/19/2013