Allen Phelps Wins $10,000 Prize in Nov. 19 Powerball^® Drawing

DES MOINES, Iowa - A Long Grove man was unaware he'd won a $10,000 prize in the Nov. 19 Powerball^® drawing until he had his ticket validated.

Allen Phelps, 48, just happened to have his ticket validated at a local retailer and was shocked to learn what he'd won.

"[The clerk] said, 'Do you know what you won?' And I said, 'No.'" Phelps said. "And she said, 'Ten grand!'"

Phelps said he was celebrating his wife, Nancy's, birthday the night of the drawing and wasn't near a television to watch the Powerball drawing, so he was totally unaware of how much he'd won.

"The clerk was so excited. She asked to take a picture of the ticket!" Phelps said.

Phelps said Nancy didn't believe the news and he had to show her the ticket to prove it.

"I said, 'I'll be home in ten minutes to prove it!'" Phelps said with a laugh.

Phelps purchased his winning ticket at DeWitt Travel Mart, 630 S. Sixth Ave. in DeWitt. He won the $10,000 prize using his own numbers.

"I always use my own numbers," Phelps said. "Some are special to me, like my dad's birthday and date of death."

Phelps claimed his prize Nov. 22 at the Iowa Lottery's regional office in Cedar Rapids. He said he plans to use some of his winnings to purchase a newer tractor for his property.

The winning numbers in the $59.9 million Powerball jackpot drawing on Nov. 19 were: 9-16-17-28-30 and Powerball 11. The Power Play^® multiplier was 3. Phelps won a $10,000 prize by matching four of the first five numbers and the Powerball. Had he added the Power Play to his ticket, Phelps would have multiplied his $10,000 win by three to win a $30,000 prize.

There was one jackpot winner in the Nov. 19 drawing from Pennsylvania.

Players can increase their prizes with the Power Play (except the jackpot) up to five times. The cost is $1 per play. The Power Play number, 2 through 5, is chosen at the beginning of the drawing indicating the amount prizes (except the jackpot) will be multiplied if that number is drawn.

For players who choose the Power Play and match five white balls (regularly a $200,000 prize), the multiplier will always be 5, so those players would win an instant $1 million.

Winning numbers may be checked at the lottery website at www.ialottery.com or through the winning numbers' hot line at (515) 323-4633. Winning numbers may also be checked with lottery retail outlets or by calling the lottery at (515) 725-7900 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Players may visit the Iowa Lottery at 2323 Grand Ave. in Des Moines or go to one of the lottery's regional offices in Council Bluffs, Storm Lake, Mason City or Cedar Rapids to claim prizes.

Since the lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.7 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised more than $1.3 billion for the state programs that benefit all Iowans.

Today, lottery proceeds in Iowa have three main purposes: They provide support for veterans, help for a variety of significant projects through the state General Fund, and backing for the Vision Iowa program, which was implemented to create tourism destinations and community attractions in the state and build and repair schools.

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Scholastic News Kids Press Corps APPOINTS 32 New KID reporters

59 New and Veteran Kid Reporters Provide Election 2012 coverage for Students Nationwide

New York, NY (November 17, 2011) - Today Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children's publishing, education and media company, welcomed 32 new members to the Scholastic News Kids Press CorpsÔ, a group of student journalists, ages 10-14, who report "news for kids, by kids" with coverage of current events, breaking news, entertainment stories, and sports events from their hometowns and on the national stage.

The newly-appointed Kid Reporters will join 27 returning young journalists who were part of the student reporting program this past year. As its new team of 59 Kid Reporters from 31 states hits the campaign trail, the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps is well-positioned to provide another year of award-winning election coverage to classrooms nationwide

"Teachers, parents and kids turn to the Scholastic News Kid Corps for kid-friendly news coverage, especially during an election year. The Kid Reporters help put the issues of the day in a context that is both relevant and age-appropriate for young readers," said Dante A. Ciampaglia, Editor of the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps.  "This is the fourth presidential election to be covered by the Kid Reporters. It is an exciting time to learn about and practice journalism."

The new reporters were chosen by the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps editors from more than 200 student applications that required students to submit a news report about their local community, ideas for future stories, and a personal essay explaining why they would like to be a Kid Reporter. For the full list of reporters, see below.

For more than 11 years, the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps has delivered "news for kids, by kids". The Kid Reporter videos and reports are available on the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps site, and their stories are often published in issues of Scholastic classroom magazines including Scholastic News^® and Junior Scholastic^® that go to tens of thousands of classrooms nationwide. Recently, the Kid Reporters made news with their exclusive sit-down interview at the White House with President Barack Obama. Other stories this fall included coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement, special reports on the 10^th anniversary of 9/11 and National Bullying Prevention Month, and interviews with authors including Brian Selznick and Jeff Kinney.

The 2011-2012 members of The Scholastic News Kids Press Corps are:

* indicates new reporter

Arizona 

Abigail Gerber - Mesa

California 

Maev Dunning -Davis *

Diego Magaña - Oxnard *

Veronica Louise Mendoza - Los Altos Hills *

Damien Murphy - Burbank

Miranda Rector - Los Angeles

Aminah Tamimi - Bellflower *

Colorado 

Jenna Winocur - Denver 

Connecticut 

Claudia Pagnozzi-Schwam - Mystic * 

Leila Sachner - Hamden

Florida 

Shelby Fallin - Lakeland

Albert Ordonez - Miami

Topanga Sena - Orlando

Georgia 

Andrew Liang - Atlanta

Hawaii 

Jessica Taylor - Honolulu *

Illinois 

Anum Shafqat - Chicago * 

Natalie Wexler - Highland Park *

Indiana

Grace Ybarra - Indianapolis

Iowa

Alysa Goethe - Bettendorf

Elena Hildebrandt - Des Moines

Adam Metivier - Davenport *

Kansas

Caleb Michel Wilson - Wichita *

Louisiana

Tori Feaster - Leesville

Christopher Pate - Alexandria *

Maryland

Hannah Olympia Prensky - Middletown *

Massachusetts

Coleman F. Hirschberg - Somerville *

Michigan

Zarin Loosli - Canton *

Molly Pribble - Ann Arbor

Missouri

Annie Secker - Joplin *

Nevada

Cheyenne Ruiz - Sun Valley *

New Hampshire

Naomi Bamidele - Concord *

Chloe Conway - Manchester

New Jersey

Taylor Mae Galgano - Pennington *

Amiri Tulloch - Woodbridge *

New Mexico

Jacob Schroeder - Albuquerque

New York

Dani Bergman Chudnow - New York *

Cecilia Gault - New York

Fred Hechinger - New York

Grace McManus - New York

Jasmine Perry - New York *

William Russell - Sound Beach *

Ellie Sommers - Manlius

North Carolina

Katharine Paige Richardson - Raleigh *

North Dakota

Aria Wanek - Bismarck *

Ohio

Meggie Zahneis - West Chester

Pennsylvania

Naina Balepur - Lancaster *

Katelyn Marie Barr - Wayne *

Matthew Moore - New Castle *

South Carolina

Faith Dalzell - Charleston

Zach Dalzell - Charleston

Tennessee

Ben Frigon - Chattanooga *

Texas

Chloe McWilliams - Del Rio

Erin Sheena - Bellaire

Virginia

Nick Berray - Great Falls

Abby Lauren Sacks - Burke *

Alexandra Zhang - McLean

Edward Zhou - Oakton *

Washington, D.C.

Nell Leibovich - Washington, DC *

Washington

Morgan Annice Tolley - Moses Lake *

The full list of Kid Reporters, along with their bios, can be viewed here.

For more information, please visit the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps at www.scholastic.com/kidspress, or visit the media room.

# # #

Senator Grassley: "Someone in the Justice Department leaked a document to the press along with talking points in an attempt to smear one of the ATF whistleblowers who have testified before the House.  This document was supposed to be so sensitive that you refused to provide it to Congress, but then someone provided it to the press.  The name of the criminal suspect in the document was deleted. But the name of the ATF agent was not.  This looks like a clear and intentional violation of the Privacy Act as well as an attempt at whistleblower retaliation. In a private phone conversation with me, you already told me that someone has been held accountable for this.  But your staff refused to provide my staff with any details.  Who was held accountable and how?"

Attorney General Holder: "You know, it - it's - it - it almost pains me and please don't take this away from Senator Grassley - pains me that as you said we had a private conversation.  You sent me a handwritten note that I took very seriously.  You and I have worked together on a variety of things, I think I have a good relationship with you. You sent me a handwritten note that I looked at, took serious, referred that letter to OPR, the I.G., I'm not sure which of the two, and asked them to try to find out what happened.  I called you to try to indicate to you that I had taken that matter seriously, that action had been taken.  You know, in a different time in Washington, I'm not sure that what you just said necessarily would have been shared with everyone here, but, you know, so be it, it's a different time I suppose."

FACT

A week and a half before the November 8th oversight hearing with the Attorney General, Senator Grassley was informed that the Attorney General wanted to speak with him.  Their discussion was a follow-up to a handwritten letter which Senator Grassley had sent to Attorney General Holder on June 30, 2011, but had never released or discussed publicly.  The letter raised concerns about the leak of a sensitive document to the press regarding a whistleblower who had come forward with allegations of gunwalking.

In the Attorney General's call, he assured Senator Grassley that someone had been held accountable for the leak of the document.  However, Attorney General Holder would not identify who had been held accountable.  At that time, Senator Grassley informed Attorney General Holder that in order to refrain from raising the issue publicly, Senator Grassley's staff would need more detailed information on the issue from Justice Department staff, such as who had been held accountable and how.  After the phone call, Justice Department staff contacted Senator Grassley's staff, but refused to provide any further details.

 

The evening of the November 8^th hearing, attorneys for former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke acknowledged that Mr. Burke had leaked the sensitive document to the press.  The Justice Department Inspector General confirmed that the office continues to investigate the leak, which means there are others who may be involved in drafting and distributing the talking points and document to the press.  In addition to the Inspector General investigation into the leak, the Justice Department has confirmed that its Office of Professional Responsibility is conducting a separate investigation of other leaks.  However, the department has refused to provide additional details.

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011

On Thursday (tomorrow), the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will hold a hearing examining derivatives reform that will feature testimony from Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Committee members are likely to ask questions about the agencies' work leading up to the MF Global bankruptcy, which has left farmer clients in the lurch.  Sen. Chuck Grassley, a member of the Agriculture Committee, made the following comment on the hearing.  Grassley has a scheduling conflict with the Judiciary Committee, where he serves as Ranking Member, but plans to attend the Agriculture Committee hearing as much as possible.  If he can't attend, he will pose any questions he thinks were not asked to the witnesses for written responses for the hearing record.  Also, the Agriculture Committee has scheduled an investigative hearing on the MF Global case for Dec. 13, so there will be continued opportunities to ask questions.

"I appreciate the committee leaders' attention to this issue.  It's been weeks since MF Global's bankruptcy.  The public is still in the dark on basic facts.  Unanswered questions include who discovered that client money was missing, how much of that money is actually missing, and how much of the client money can be recovered.  I hope the committee will be able to get some direct answers from Chairman Gensler and Chairman Schapiro.  It's a good opportunity to ask the questions our constituents would ask if they could be there."