Free Republic

PARSHALL, N.D. — In this tiny reservation town about two hours from the Canadian border, a Southern twang is sometimes heard over the din at the local diner and there’s talk of Texas tea beneath the streets. Roughnecks from Texas and Oklahoma have travelled here on hopes that they now share with the town’s 1,000 or so inhabitants — that there is oil in Parshall. About 400 people own mineral rights under homes, businesses, churches, nursing homes or tribal land. All of it has been leased, town officials said. “We were dying,” said Loren Hoffman, a local farmer and the...

ROSEVILLE, Minn. - Paul and Sue Rosenau say they already have everything they need, so their lives won't change that much after winning a $180.1 million Powerball jackpot. "We realize that money is probably not as important as friendship and helping others. And that's what we hope to do with it," Paul Rosenau said at a news conference Tuesday when they accepted a ceremonial check. Rosenau, 54, is a heavy equipment operator and his wife, Sue, works at an agricultural research institute. The couple from Waseca will take the prize from last Saturday's drawing in a lump-sum of $59.6 million...

VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A customer looking for a size 10 pair of sneakers at the Indian River Mall ended up with much more than he expected. The unidentified man found more than $5,200 in cash inside a black Reebok shoe he was trying on Tuesday, according to an Indian River County Sheriff's Office report. The store's accounting department did not find money missing from its safe. Employees believe the shoes had been purchased and returned, The Stuart News reported. The money has been turned over to authorities

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — A World War II veteran and his family stepped forward Monday to claim a Powerball jackpot worth more than a quarter-billion dollars, one of the largest single-ticket lottery prizes in U.S. history. Jim Wilson II, 84, and his wife, Shirley, 79, claimed the winning prize from last Wednesday's drawing, along with their three sons. "I was absolutely astonished," said Jim Wilson, a retired electrician who served in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Africa and Europe, at an afternoon news conference. "I couldn't believe it, and still don't." He bought the winning ticket — with the numbers...

Jury Awards Cal. Man $18M for Harassment LOS ANGELES (AP) - A jury has ordered The Vons Companies Inc. to pay more than $18 million in damages to a former employee who claimed the supermarket chain fired him after he filed a report accusing a female supervisor of sexual harassment. The Simi Valley jury awarded more than $16 million in punitive damages to James Stevens on Friday, two days after ordering Vons to pay the one-time inventory clerk $1.7 million for economic loss and emotional distress, said attorney Gloria Allred, who represented Stevens. Stevens, a Ventura County resident who worked...

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — A struggling actor has been paid nearly $260,000 by a casino after he was initially denied the money when managers said his apparent win was a mistake. Freddy Howard, 53, of Sunny Isles Beach, took part in a free promotional game, the Swipe and Win Progressive jackpot, while at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino near Hollywood on Aug. 29. Howard swiped his Players Club card, and a hostess and supervisor broke the news: He had won $259,945.75. Howard was showered with attention and presented with a giant cardboard check. Then casino managers broke the...

MIAMI -- A struggling actor paraded around a local casino after managers told him he won a nearly $260,000 jackpot later found out he won nothing at all. Freddy Howard, 53, of Sunny Isles Beach, took part in a free promotional game, the Swipe and Win Progressive jackpot, while at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino near Hollywood early on Aug. 29. Howard swiped his Players Club card and said a hostess and supervisor broke the news, he won $259,945.75. For three hours, Howard was showered with all the attention he dreamed of. As he told it, casino workers...

8/11/2006 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- A C-130 unit assigned here is carrying a fairly conventional piece of equipment throughout the skies over the Central Command area of responsibility in an unconventional way. Instead of hauling people and cargo, the 777th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron is carrying an airborne command and control communications suite, helping convoy commanders communicate on the ground. The Joint Airborne Command and Control Command Post, what the unit calls Jackpot, fits nicely into the back of a Hercules, said Lt. Col. Mark Czelusta, 777th EAS commander. "It's a way to use airlift other than from...

Two men from Manitoba have hired a lawyer and are threatening legal action after a Winnipeg casino refused to pay out more than $209,000 in slot-machine winnings. The men were playing a computerized version of Keno last week when they matched all five numbers on the screen. The machine said the win was worth a jackpot of $209,716.40. The casino said it was a software error. "It's our position that it's not a mistake that my clients should be paying for, if it was a mistake," lawyer Josh Weinstein told CBC Radio on Tuesday. "We don't have results of independent...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (April 19) - For 84-year-old Josephine Crawford, the golden years just got a lot more golden. After a night playing the slot machines, the retired waitress widow was about to call it quits Tuesday when she hit a $10 million jackpot - the biggest in the history of casino gambling in Atlantic City. Crawford, who gambles here twice a week and has been going to the casinos since the first one opened in 1978, had never won more than $1,000 before she came into the big money at the nickel slots at Harrah's Atlantic City. The widow...

Date:23rd FEBRUARY 2006 Dear Friend, This mail may not be surprising to you if you have been following current events in the international media with reference to the Middle East and Palestine in particular. I am Mrs. SUHA ARAFAT, the wife of YASSER ARAFAT, the Palestinian leader who died recently in Paris. Since his death and even prior to the announcement, I have been thrown into a state of antagonism, confusion, humiliation, frustration and hopelessness by the present leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization {PLO} and the new Prime Minister. I have even been subjected to physical and psychological torture....

LINCOLN, Neb. - Eight workers at a Nebraska meat processing plant claimed the record $365 million Powerball jackpot Wednesday, giving each about $15.5 million after taxes. The seven men and one woman all work at a ConAgra ham processing plant near the U-Stop convenience store where they bought the winning ticket last week for Saturday’s lottery. They ended up with the biggest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.

CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his government would take legal action against Pat Robertson and potentially seek his extradition after the U.S. evangelist called for Washington to assassinate the South American leader. Robertson, who later apologized for the remark, said he was expressing his frustration with Chavez's constant accusations against the administration of President George W. Bush. "I announce that my government is going to take legal action in the United States ... to call for the assassination of a head of state is an act of terrorism." Chavez said in a...

Holding a solid conservative view on the world certainly infringes on my ability to be congenial. I can’t help but approach the multitude of decisions and obligations presented in everyday life from a deductive point of view. It’s a simple remedy really. Recognize a difficulty. Identify the problem. Assess your options. Address the problem. There is no reason, in most cases, to seek counsel or solutions from an outside source. Life is an ongoing conveyer belt of such scenarios. The self-sufficient among us recognize these challenges and face them in stride.

Man wins Hoosier Lotto jackpot two days after divorce from cheating wife finalized - By Ben Jennings, THG News July 25, 2004 Until last Saturday, 2004 had been the worst year of Randy Fletcher’s life. On a cold mid-January day, the 29 year old Brownstown resident took a half-day off of work due to a severe case of diarrhea, only to find his wife of four years, Tara, in bed with a neighbor. Two months later, he wrecked his mint-condition 1956 Chevy that he had spent three years carefully restoring when a deer ran out in front of him. May...

March 3, 2004, 9:19AM Traffic stop yields $1 million stashed in truck By S.K. BARDWELL Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Law officers seized about $1 million in cash found in a hidden compartment in a tractor-trailer rig pulled over for a routine traffic stop this morning. The truck was stopped about 4 a.m. on the southbound lanes of U.S. 59 near Bissonnet by Harris County Sheriff's Department deputies. The deputies said they became suspicious when the driver's description of where he had been and where he was going kept changing. Drug-sniffing dogs were brought to the scene and found a hidden...

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio (AP) -- One ticket sold in Ohio won a multistate Mega Millions lottery jackpot worth $155 million, lottery officials said Wednesday. The ticket for Tuesday's drawing, sold at a convenience store in this Cleveland suburb, was the only one to match all five numbers and the Mega Ball number, said Mardele Cohen, spokeswoman for the Ohio Lottery. When redeeming the ticket, the winner may choose between an immediate cash payout of $90 million before taxes or $155 million over 26 years, Cohen said. It is the biggest lottery prize ever in Ohio, which joined the Mega Millions...

Today I received my share of the settlement in the Schwarz v. Citibank, et. al. class action lawsuit. Regarding all of us class members: "...all their claims stem the failure of Citibank and Universal to credit payments to the accounts of consumers as of the date on which they were received, unless the payments were received before 10:00 AM that day."The attorney's fee for bringing this huge financial institution to justice in this matter was $7.2 million. My award was $0.68.

Chicago man, on skid row, hits five million-dollar jackpot Wed Dec 10, 7:00 PM ET CHICAGO (AFP) - James Gatzke was struggling with depression, and living off handouts and charity, with only his seven cats for company, when he hit the jackpot. Three weeks ago, the unemployed 44-year-old was eating beef stew out of a can, and scraping by on food and cash donations from neighbours and charities. His water and power supply had long been cut off, he hadn't worked since August when he was laid off from his job as a cab driver, and he hadn't bathed in...

A boy visiting San Angelo was shot in the eye with a BB gun in July 2001, and his mother is going to the courts for relief. According to court records, a young boy and his friend were playing with their BB guns in a living room. One of the boys pulled the trigger, documents state, but he didn't aim at his friend. The BB ricocheted and lodged into the other boys' left eye, where the fated BB remains. The mother of the injured boy filed a civil suit this week in district court against the gun manufacturer and the...