Tonight’s Mega Millions lottery jackpot has grown to an estimated $640 million, according to the Massachusetts Lottery.
The jackpot had already broken the record Thursday for the largest lottery prize in history.
The new estimate, which was $100 million higher than Thursday’s, was announced this morning after officials from participating states spoke with each other and assessed the volume of ticket sales. Paul Sternburg, executive director of the Massachusetts Lottery, said the estimate was conservative and could rise even higher after all the ticket sales are tallied tonight.
Over the past three days, nearly $9 million in tickets have been sold in Massachusetts. As of noon, the total for the day was approaching $3 million. But the busiest time was expected to be between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., Sternburg said. “The sales figures are flying,” he said.
He estimated that the day’s sales could eventually total $10 million to $15 million. Tickets for the game are $1.
If a winner is not drawn tonight, the jackpot will climb to nearly $975 million. He said that would be a problem for lottery agency billboards in other states that will not have enough digits to display the jackpot if it goes over $1 billion.
He said he would be surprised if there’s no winner tonight, but “anything is possible.”
The winner of tonight’s drawing, if there is one, can elect to receive a lump sum of $462 million. Otherwise, the prize will be paid out over 26 years.
The odds of winning in the lottery game, which is offered in 42 states and the Virgin Islands and District of Columbia, are 1 in 176 million.
The drawing will be held tonight at 11:24 p.m.
Source: Boston.com
Birth certificates to reflect NY gay-marriage move
AP Online December 14, 2008 | JENNIFER PELTZ State officials will now let married same-sex couples list both their names on their children’s birth certificates in a policy shift deeply important to many gays and lesbians. site ny gay marriage
The decision, which echoes similar provisions in states that allow gay marriages or civil unions, is one of many changes since Gov. David Paterson ordered state agencies in May to respect out-of-state gay marriages.
The state Health Department said Friday it had agreed to the change, which came after a lesbian couple who are expecting a baby filed a lawsuit. The change would apply statewide except in New York City, which is considering revamping its own birth certificate forms to accommodate same-sex couples.
Under state law, a woman’s husband is automatically deemed a parent of a child the pair conceives through artificial insemination, whether or not he is the genetic father. Gay couples have complained about having to jump through legal hoops to secure equivalent parental rights.
Carolyn Trzeciak and Nina Sheldon Trzeciak of Ulster County, who got married in Canada in 2006, sued last month. Nina Sheldon Trzeciak is carrying their first child, conceived through in vitro fertilization.
The couple argued they both should be designated as parents under Paterson’s directive. The governor told state agencies to make sure policies and regulations treat married same-sex couples equally, saying a recent court ruling suggests they would otherwise risk discrimination claims.
Gay couples may be able to secure a second parent’s rights through adoption. But having their names on a child’s birth certificate immediately gives both spouses such rights as nursery visits and information on the child’s medical condition, the lawsuit said.
“That gives them equal treatment,” said the Trzeciaks’ lawyer, Melissa B. Brisman of Park Ridge, N.J.
The Health Department said in a statement that it had been exploring how to apply Paterson’s directive to birth certificates for some time but arranged a quick resolution for the couple because the baby was due Friday. see here ny gay marriage
Massachusetts and Connecticut are now the only U.S. states that allows gay marriages; California briefly did until voters banned it last month. Some other states let same-sex couples enter into civil unions that offer some of marriage’s legal advantages.
States that allow gay marriage or civil unions have made provisions for birth certificates to list both partners’ names, said Susan Sommer, senior counsel for the gay rights advocacy group Lambda Legal. It was not involved in the Trzeciak case.
While the group urges couples to cement both parents’ rights through an adoption or other court order, Sommer said getting the names of both parents on the birth certificate is a great help to the children.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal organization based in Scottsdale, Ariz., is challenging various attempts to extend spousal rights to gay couples in New York. In September, a Bronx judge threw out the group’s challenge to Paterson’s directive; the organization is appealing.
The alliance argues that only the Legislature, not the governor, has authority to recognize out-of-state gay marriages.
(This version corrects that Connecticut also allows same-sex marriage) JENNIFER PELTZ
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