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A woman who won a $559.7 million Powerball jackpot will get her money as a legal fight over releasing her identity plays out in court. In a court filing on Thursday, the New Hampshire Lottery Commission approved the payment to a trust the woman set up. The winning ticket will be placed in a secure location until a court decides whether it’s subject to the state’s Right to Know Law.

Everyone has that spot in their house or car where they let the mail and receipts pile up. For 68-year old Jimmie Smith, it was an old shirt hanging in his closet. Stuffed in its pockets was a stack of unchecked lottery tickets. "I always told myself, 'I'll check them when I have the time,'" the New Jersey man said. It's a good thing he did. Because had he waited two days longer, he'd have lost out on $24.1 million. More than a year ago, Smith bought a ticket to the New York Lotto. The winning numbers for the May...

A 24-year-old former substitute teacher from Iowa who was arrested in July after admitting to a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student says he had swept her off her feet with love notes scribbled on Post-Its. Mary Beth Haglin, of Cedar Rapids, has been charged with misdemeanor sexual exploitation by a school employee in connection to her six-month tryst with a male student at Washington High School. On Wednesday, Haglin pleaded not guilty to the charge in writing, and her trial date has been set for November 14. If convicted, she could face up to two years in prison and...

Amanda Clayton, who admitted to receiving public food assistance after winning $1 million in the state lotto, was arrested Monday evening in Michigan on two felony counts of welfare fraud. Clayton, of Lincoln Park, Mich., failed to report her winnings and employment while receiving $5,475 in food and medical assistance, the state Attorney General said. "It's simply common sense that million dollar lottery winners forfeit their right to public assistance," Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement. "We will continue to work with local, state and federal authorities to uphold state laws intended to ensure wise stewardship of...

NEWPORT, Ky. (AP) -- A woman who won a $65.4 million Powerball jackpot with her husband five years ago was found dead at her home overlooking the Ohio River. Police said she had been dead for days before anyone found her. Virginia Metcalf Merida's son found her dead Wednesday. Campbell County Police are awaiting autopsy results and toxicology results before announcing a cause of death. Investigators said there was no sign of forced entry at the 5,000-square-foot, custom-built geodesic dome house that Merida, 51, bought for $559,000 in 2000. Her husband, Mack Wayne Metcalf, died in 2003 at age 45...

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German lottery winner who blew all his winnings decided he was better off supplementing his income as a thief than claiming welfare benefits, a court in the central town of Meiningen said on Tuesday. The court said shortly after the man had frittered away the last of his prize worth around 760,000 euros ($921,000) by autumn 2003, he turned to robbery, looting cars and houses for sums as small as one euro. "He's confessed to about 60 offences," said a spokesman for the court. "He would break in to see how much money they had --...

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