Page 3 - Aruba Today

U.S. NEWS A3
Record $1.6B Powerball jackpot spreads the wealth
Balbir Atwal owner of the 7-Eleven store that sold one of the winning Powerball ticket, holds the
check he received for $1 million dollars with his daughters, Sabrina, left, and Sonia, right, at his no Hills!”
store in Chino Hills, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. Atwal, who came to the U.S. from India in
1981, owns four 7-Elevens. He says he will share his winnings with employees and family, and give
some to charity.
Continued from Front
That store will get a $25,000
check; Florida’s store col-
lects $100,000, and Califor-
nia lottery spokesman Alex
Traverso told The Associ-
ated Press that a $1 million
bonus will be shared be-
tween the Chino Hills store
owner and the 7-Eleven
company. The amounts
that follow each state’s
rules.
TV trucks from Memphis
quickly arrived in Munford,
where people marveled
over the winning ticket and
joked about what they
would have done with the
money.
Auto body shop worker
Jerry Caudle said he was
“freaking out” when he
Rare January hurricane forms
in Atlantic, threatens Azores
MIAMI (AP) — A rare
January hurricane formed
far out in the Atlantic on
Thursday, and U.S. officials
said it was the first hurricane meters (60 feet) high and
to form in the month of
January since 1938.
Hurricane Alex’s maximum
sustained winds were
near 85 mph (140 kph).
A hurricane warning was
issued for Portugal’s mid-
Atlantic Azores Islands,
where the Civil Protection
Service issued a weather
red alert, the highest of four
warnings that indicates
Friday 15 January 2016
the television cameras and night to learn if he won.
chanting “Chino Hills! Chi- Some took selfies with the
store clerk, who became
Store owner Balbir Atwal an instant celebrity and
worked as an electronics may well have been the
salesman after emigrat- man who sold the ticket.
ing from India in 1981, and “I’m very proud that the
bought his first 7-Eleven ticket was sold here,” the
(AP Photo/Nick Ut) franchise at the age of 27. clerk, M. Faroqui, told the
Now he owns four. He said local San Bernardino Sun.
he has sold winning tickets “I’m very happy. This is very
before, but never like this exciting.”
one. “Every time we say, In Melbourne Beach,
oh, this is time,” Atwal said. neighbors were gossiping
“I was just joking, I said, this that the winner might be
is the time someone’s go- someone in a housing de-
ing to hit it.” velopment several miles
Michael Fahim, 48, real es- from the Publix where loud
tate broker from Chino Hills, partying could be heard,
said he bought 20 lottery according to Lisa Londini, a
tickets Wednesday night professional caregiver who
just up the street. “I’m hap- was shopping at the mar-
py it’s in Chino Hills. I think ket Thursday.
it put us on the map — all “The winner could be as
over the world,” he said, close as your neighbors!”
adding that his brother she said, visibly excited. “I
called from Australia over- wish it was me!”q
heard a winning ticket was
sold in his town, but then
saw that he matched only
two numbers, for a prize of
$14. He wore a wistful smile
as he left the Munford Short
Stop gas station and con-
venience store, which of-
fers Tipton County’s “best
chicken on a stick” for
$3.69.
“It’s been tough,” Caudle
said. “The hardest winter
for me here in 17 years.”
The California store and its
surrounding strip mall sud-
denly became a popular
gathering spot in the rural
suburb of 78,000, where
cows still graze on hill-
sides. Hundreds of people
crowded the store and
spilled into its parking lot,
cheering and mugging for
extreme risk, for five of the
archipelago’s nine islands.
It said residents should
expect waves up to 18
wind gusts up to 160 kph
(100 mph).
The U.S. National Hurricane
Center in Miami said in a
Facebook post that there
hasn’t been a hurricane
present during the month
of January since 1955,
when Alice formed in
late December 1954 and
carried over into the next
month.q