Missouri

Powerball winners claim half of jackpot

A Missouri couple, above, came forward Thursday to claim half of the $261.3 million Powerball lottery jackpot, and their spending plans were decidedly modest.

William Walkenbach, a production supervisor, said he wanted to “finally get me a tractor with brakes.”

Claudia Walkenbach, a substitute teacher, said she’d buy a new refrigerator to replace the 30-year-old model sitting in their kitchen in Hermann, a town of about 2,600 on the Missouri River.

Neither purchase will make a dent in the two forms of payment the Walkenbachs can choose: $130.6 million in 30 annual installments of $4.3 million, or a lump sum payment of $73.6 million. Both figures are before taxes.

Maryland

Sniper case police chief says he wanted to stay

Former Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose said Thursday that he had hoped to stay on the job and write a book on the sniper investigation, but an ethics ruling forced him to step down.

At a farewell party in his honor, Moose made his first public comments since the ethics commission ruled in March that he could not write his book about leading the sniper probe last fall.

“I had no plans to leave the Montgomery County Police Department,” said Moose, who resigned June 28. “It’s been very difficult, very hard. It’s very unfortunate.”

Moose reached a settlement earlier this week with the ethics commission that allows him to write the book and pursue a movie project.

California

Recall backers sue secretary of state

One of the Republican groups trying to oust Democratic Gov. Gray Davis sued the secretary of state Thursday, accusing him of trying to delay a special recall election.

The lawsuit by The Recall Gray Davis Committee asks a judge to order Secretary of State Kevin Shelley — a Democrat — to have counties verify signatures as they get them, rather than waiting from month to month as Shelley has told them they can do.

“I think he’s trying to find any angle he can to delay the certification,” the committee’s Sal Russo said.

A spokesman for Shelley said his office had not yet reviewed the suit.