The estimated $977 million prize grew from $893 million after no tickets matched all six numbers on Tuesday of this week. The cash prize for Friday’s drawing is $461 million.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Tickets are $2 and there are a total of nine ways to win a prize. Drawings are held at 11 p.m. ET Tuesdays and Fridays.

USA Mega, which tracks Mega Millions statistics, says the most common Mega Millions numbers are 10, 3, 17, 14 and 46 for the first five numbers. The most common Mega ball number is 11.

These are the largest lottery prizes in the U.S.:

1. $2.04 billion (Powerball): Nov. 7, 2022; California
2. $1.765 billion (Powerball): Oct. 11, 2023; California
3. $1.602 billion (Mega Millions): Aug. 15, 2023; Florida
4. $1.586 billion (Powerball): Jan. 13, 2016; California, Florida, Tennessee
5. $1.537 billion (Mega Millions): Oct. 23, 2018; South Carolina
6. $1.348 billion (Mega Millions): Jan. 13, 2023; Maine
7. $1.337 billion (Mega Millions): July 29, 2022; Illinois
8. $1.08 billion (Powerball): July 19, 2023; California
9. $1.05 billion (Mega Millions): Jan. 22, 2021; Michigan 
10. $977 million (estimated Mega millions)

If no one claims Friday’s jackpot, the next Mega Millions drawing is scheduled to be held Tuesday, March 26.

Nexstar's Addy Bink, Matthew Knight and Ashleigh Jackson contributed to this report.

This year, more than 22 million NCAA Men's Tournament brackets were made on ESPN. But how many perfect brackets remain?

The first game was brutal for brackets: about 9.3 million were busted by Michigan State's win over Mississippi State. Another 9.3 million were busted when BYU fell to Duquesne. Later, 1.1 million brackets were busted when Oregon beat South Carolina.

After eight games, the number of perfect brackets dropped below 1 million, thanks to Dayton's win over Nevada. Kentucky's loss to Oakland later wiped out all but about 20,000 brackets.

By the end of the tournament's first day, just 1,825 brackets remained intact — accounting for 0.008% of all brackets.

A total of 10 brackets currently remain intact, which is 0.00005% of all brackets.

With 63 games in total, how long does it usually take for all brackets to bust?

According to the NCAA, an Ohio man correctly predicted the outcomes of the first 49 games of the 2019 tournament, the current record. Gregg Nigl, of Columbus, picked the correct winner for every game through to the Sweet Sixteen.

Last year, perfect brackets only remained through the 25th game.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on affiliated channels on social media. A U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies had learned the group's branch in Afghanistan was planning an attack in Moscow and shared the information with Russian officials.

It wasn’t immediately clear what happened to the attackers after the raid, which state investigators were investigating as terrorism.

The attack, which left the concert hall in flames with a collapsing roof, was the deadliest in Russia in years and came as the country’s war in Ukraine dragged into a third year. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the raid a “huge tragedy.”

The Kremlin said Putin was informed minutes after the assailants burst into Crocus City Hall, a large music venue on Moscow’s western edge that can accommodate 6,200 people.

The attack took place as crowds gathered for a performance by the Russian rock band Picnic. The Investigative Committee, the top state criminal investigation agency, reported early Saturday that more than 60 people were killed. Health authorities released a list of 145 injured — 115 of them hospitalized, including five children.

Some Russian news reports suggested more victims could have been trapped by the blaze that erupted after the assailants threw explosives.

Video showed the building on fire, with a huge cloud of smoke rising through the night sky. The street was lit up by the blinking blue lights of dozens of firetrucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles, as fire helicopters buzzed overhead to dump water on the blaze that took hours to contain.

The prosecutor’s office said several men in combat fatigues entered the concert hall and fired on concertgoers.

Dave Primov, who was in the hall during the attack, described panic and chaos when the attack began.

“There were volleys of gunfire,” Primov told the AP. “We all got up and tried to move toward the aisles. People began to panic, started to run and collided with each other. Some fell down and others trampled on them.”

Videos posted by Russian media and on messaging app channels showed men toting assault rifles shooting screaming people at point-blank range. One video showed a man in the auditorium saying the assailants had set it on fire, as gunshots rang out incessantly.

Guards at the concert hall didn’t have guns, and some could have been killed at the start of the attack, Russian media reported. Some Russian news outlets suggested the assailants fled before special forces and riot police arrived. Reports said police patrols were looking for several vehicles the attackers could have used to escape.

In a statement posted by its Aamaq news agency, the Islamic State group said it attacked a large gathering of “Christians” in Krasnogorsk on Moscow’s outskirts, killing and wounding hundreds. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the claim.

However, U.S. intelligence officials confirmed the claim by the Islamic State group's branch based in Afghanistan that it was responsible for the Moscow attack, a U.S. official told the AP.

The official said U.S. intelligence agencies had gathered information in recent weeks that the IS branch was planning an attack in Moscow. He said U.S. officials privately shared the intelligence earlier this month with Russian officials. The official was briefed on the matter but was not authorized to publicly discuss the intelligence information and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Noting that the IS statement cast its claim as an attack targeting Christians, Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, an expert on the terrorist group, said it appeared to reflect the group’s strategy of “striking wherever they can as part of a global ‘fight the infidels and apostates everywhere.’”

In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacation-goers returning from Egypt. The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, also has claimed several attacks in Russia’s volatile Caucasus and other regions in the past years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of former Soviet Union.

On March 7, Russia’s top security agency said it thwarted an attack on a synagogue in Moscow by an Islamic State cell, killing several of its members in the Kaluga region near the Russian capital. A few days earlier, Russian authorities said six alleged IS members were killed in a shootout in Ingushetia in Russia’s Caucasus region.

On Friday, statements of outrage, shock and support for those affected by the concert call attack streamed in from around the world.

Some commentators on Russian social media questioned how authorities, who relentlessly surveil and pressure Kremlin critics, failed to identify the threat and prevent the attack.

Russian officials said security was tightened at Moscow’s airports, railway stations and the capital’s sprawling subway system. Moscow’s mayor canceled all mass gatherings, and theaters and museums shut for the weekend. Other Russian regions also tightened security.

The Kremlin didn’t immediately blame anyone for the attack, but some Russian lawmakers were quick to accuse Ukraine and called for ramping up strikes. Hours before the attack, the Russian military l aunched a sweeping barrage on Ukraine’s power system, crippling the country’s biggest hydroelectric plant and other energy facilities and leaving more than a million people without electricity.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said that if Ukraine involvement was proven, all those involved “must be tracked down and killed without mercy, including officials of the state that committed such outrage.”

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied Ukraine involvement.

“Ukraine has never resorted to the use of terrorist methods,” he posted on X. “Everything in this war will be decided only on the battlefield.”

John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said he couldn’t yet speak about the details but “the images are just horrible. And just hard to watch.”

Friday's attack followed a statement earlier this month by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow that urged Americans to avoid crowded places in view of “imminent” plans by extremists to target large gatherings in the Russian capital, including concerts. The warning was repeated by several other Western embassies.

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Friday the U.S. government had information about a planned attack in Moscow, prompting the State Department advisory to Americans. The U.S. government shared the information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding “duty to warn” policy, Watson said.

Putin, who extended his grip on Russia for another six years in this week’s presidential vote after a sweeping crackdown on dissent, denounced the Western warnings as an attempt to intimidate Russians. “All that resembles open blackmail and an attempt to frighten and destabilize our society,” he said earlier this week.

Russia was shaken by a series of deadly terror attacks in the early 2000s during the fighting with separatists in the Russian province of Chechnya.

In October 2002, Chechen militants took about 800 people hostage at a Moscow theater. Two days later, Russian special forces stormed the building and 129 hostages and 41 Chechen fighters died, most from effects of narcotic gas Russian forces use to subdue the attackers.

In September 2004, about 30 Chechen militants seized a school in Beslan in southern Russia taking hundreds of hostages. The siege ended in a bloodbath two days later and more than 330 people, about half of them children, were killed.

___

Associate Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.

___

This story was updated to correct that John Kirby is a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, not the White House national security adviser.

“We wish health and healing for Kate and the family,” Harry and Meghan said in a statement Friday obtained by ITK. The pair said their hope was that Kate, who’s married to Harry’s brother, Prince William, is able to recover “privately and in peace.”

The statement came hours after 42-year-old Kate announced in a video posted on social media that she had been diagnosed with cancer following abdominal surgery in January.

“It’s been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family,” Kate said.

The medical update followed weeks of intense press coverage and speculation about Kate’s health and extended absence from public appearances following the surgery, which had been announced by Kensington Palace.

Harry and Meghan’s relationship with much of the British royal family has appeared strained following last year’s release of his tell-all memoir “Spare.” The couple stepped down as full-time working members of the royal family and moved to California in 2020, later saying that racism played a role in their decision to step back from their senior positions.

King Charles III, who Buckingham Palace said last month had also been diagnosed with cancer following a procedure for an enlarged prostate, shared a message for Kate, saying he was “so proud” of his daughter-in-law for her “courage in speaking as she did.”

“Both Their Majesties will continue to offer their love and support to the whole family through this difficult time,” a statement from Buckingham Palace said, according to multiple news reports.

Mizuhara was let go from the team Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker.

“Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei (Mizuhara) from the news media," the commissioner's office said in a statement Friday. "Earlier today, our Department of Investigations began their formal process investigating the matter.”

Ohtani and the Dodgers were in Seoul, South Korea, for their opening series against the San Diego Padres when reports were published about alleged ties between the 39-year-old Mizuhara and an illegal bookmaker. The teams returned to the U.S. after Thursday night's game and MLB did not make a public comment until announcing the investigation on Friday.

The IRS confirmed Thursday that Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details.

“In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft and we are turning the matter over to the authorities,” law firm Berk Brettler LLP said in a statement Wednesday.

Sports gambling is illegal in California, even as 38 states and the District of Columbia allow some form of it.

Mizuhara is a familiar face to baseball fans as Ohtani’s constant companion, interpreting for him with the media and at other appearances since Ohtani came to the U.S. in 2017. He even served as Ohtani’s catcher during the Home Run Derby at the 2021 All-Star Game. When Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels to sign a $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers in December, the club also hired Mizuhara.

Officials confirmed Strain’s body was found in the Cumberland River on Friday, March 22 after receiving a call from a worker who spotted the 22-year-old in the water near the Nations neighborhood of West Nashville.

Businesses in the area had reportedly been routinely checking the water for signs of Strain since his disappearance. Police said they were able to identify the body based on multiple factors including his shirt and watch.

“I want to say to the family my heart and prayers go out to you all for this very unfortunate and tragic incident,” Nashville Police Chief John Drake said in a press conference following the discovery.

Strain’s father, stepfather and mother all showed up to police headquarters wearing green as they prepared to speak Friday afternoon. All three thanked law enforcement, the community and their loved ones back home for their support and efforts to find Strain.

His father, Ryan Gilbert, said those efforts, including “lots of sleepless nights” on behalf of the police department, have finally helped bring them some closure.

Strain's stepfather, Chris Whiteid, took a deep breath as he explained that the last few weeks have been “an emotional roller coaster.” However, he said the support shown by others has given them “faith in people that sometimes gets clouded.”

“You don’t understand how much that meant to us in some of our darkest hours. The hugs, the prayers, the offers. I can’t say it enough, thank you,” Chris Whiteid said.

Strain’s mother, Michelle Whiteid, spoke through tears as she also expressed her gratitude for those involved in the search for her son.

“I just want to reiterate how thankful we are for everyone and how much we appreciate everyone’s support and love and prayers because we feel them. We’ve felt every one of them,” she said. “I just ask that you mamas out there hug your babies tight tonight, please. Please for me.”

Strain disappeared while on a fraternity trip in Nashville on March 8. One of his friends called 911 the next morning after saying he went to the Central Police Precinct and called the sheriff’s office to file a missing person’s report.

In addition to law enforcement, several volunteers and Strain’s family members were heavily involved in a search that stretched nearly two weeks. It was two TikTokers who reportedly found Strain’s bank card on the riverbank days after he disappeared.

Strain’s family drove down to Nashville immediately after his friends alerted them to his disappearance on March 9. In an interview on March 15, Strain’s cousin, Jake Bradley, told News 2 there was much more to him than this picture of a “college kid having fun.”

“That’s not — if you saw him outside of that, his love and his care and his kindness were of a five-year-old boy that loved every toy he ever had, you know?” Bradley said.

During the investigation into his disappearance, investigators analyzed several bits of surveillance video from different bars and businesses showing his path through downtown Nashville. Strain could be seen stumbling around and falling over in the footage.

One of the final pieces of footage of Strain that night was bodycam video from a Metro Nashville officer who interacted with him on Gay Street just south of the Woodland Street Bridge. However, police said he did not appear distressed at the time.

Strain’s last phone ping was near James Robertson Parkway and Gay Street, where the search was focused for several days. Then, on Wednesday, March 20, officials began focusing efforts at the Cheatham Lock and Dam near Ashland City.

The spot where Strain's body was found near 61st Avenue North was about eight miles from where he was last seen. According to officials, “no foul play-related trauma was observed.” 

An autopsy is being conducted on Saturday and more information is expected to be released at a later date. The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has also been conducting a separate investigation to determine whether Strain was overserved the night he disappeared.

In a statement released last week, TC Restaurant Group, which owns and operates Luke’s 32 Bridge, said records show Strain purchased and was served one alcoholic drink and two waters before he was kicked out of the bar.

Kate, 42, was hospitalized in January for unspecified abdominal surgery and until this week hadn’t been seen publicly since Christmas, sparking a frenzy of conjecture about her health.

That didn’t stop after Kensington Palace released a photo of Kate and her children on March 10 to coincide with Mother’s Day in the U.K. The move backfired when The Associated Press and other news agencies retracted the picture from publication because it appeared to have been manipulated. Kate issued a statement acknowledging she liked to “experiment with editing” and apologizing for “any confusion” the photo had caused.

This week, video surfaced of her with her husband, Prince William, at a farm shop near their Windsor home, which set off another round of wild rumors.

The royal family announced last month that King Charles III was being treated for an unspecified type of cancer. Charles’ relative openness about his diagnosis was a departure for the generally secretive royal family.

The former Kate Middleton, who married William in a fairy-tale wedding in 2011, has boosted the popularity and appeal of the British monarchy worldwide more than any royal since Princess Diana.

Kate and William moved with their three children — George, 10, Charlotte, 8, and Louis, 5 — from Kensington Palace in central London to a cottage near Windsor Castle in 2022, emphasizing their desire to raise the children in relative privacy.

Typically observed in March in India, Nepal, other South Asian countries and across the diaspora, the festival celebrates love and signifies a time of rebirth and rejuvenation — a time to embrace the positive and let go of negative energy.

For one of Holi's most well-known traditions, celebrants clad in all white, come out to the street and throw colored powders at each other, leaving behind a kaleidoscope of pigments and joy. Festivities with music, dancing and food ensue.

WHEN IS HOLI CELEBRATED?

Holi is celebrated at the end of winter and the beginning of spring, on the last full moon day of the Hindu luni-solar calendar month of Falgun. The date of the festival varies depending on the lunar cycle. Typically, it falls in March, and will be celebrated this year on March 25.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE STORIES ASSOCIATED WITH HOLI?

The holiday has its origins in Hindu mythology and lore.

In one origin story, the king, Hiranyakashipu, ordered everyone in his kingdom to worship him and was irked when his own son Prahlad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, disobeyed his command. So, he ordered his sister Holika who was immune from fire to take the child, Prahlad, into a bonfire while holding him in her lap. However, when the pyre was lit, the boy’s devotion to Lord Vishnu protected him and left him unscathed while Holika, despite her immunity, burned to death.

Some also consider Holi a reference to Lord Krishna and his love for his beloved, Radha, and his cosmic play with his consorts and devotees called “gopikas," who are also revered for their unconditional love and devotion to Krishna.

HOW IS THE FESTIVAL OF COLORS CELEBRATED?

In many parts of India, people light large bonfires the night before the festival to signify the destruction of evil and victory of good.

On the day of Holi, entire streets and towns are filled with people who throw colored powder in the air. Some fling balloons filled with colored water from rooftops and others use squirt guns. For one day, it’s all fair game. Cries of “Holi hai!” which means “It’s Holi!” can be heard on the streets. Holi has also been romanticized and popularized over the decades in Bollywood films.

The colors seen during Holi symbolize different things. Blue represents the color of Lord Krishna’s skin while green symbolizes spring and rebirth. Red symbolizes marriage or fertility while both red and yellow — commonly used in ritual and ceremony — symbolize auspiciousness.

An array of special foods are part of the celebration, with the most popular food during Holi being “gujia,” a flaky, deep-fried sweet pastry stuffed with milk curd, nuts and dried fruits. Holi parties also feature "thandai," a cold drink prepared with a mix of almonds, fennel seeds, rose petals, poppy seeds, saffron, milk and sugar.

HOW IS HOLI CELEBRATED IN THE DIASPORA?

In North America and in any country with a Hindu population, people of Indian descent celebrate Holi with Bollywood parties and parades, as well as a host of public and private gatherings. It is also common for Hindu temples and community centers to organize cultural programs, friendly cricket matches and other festivities around the holiday.

“If a house is not inhabited, we can seize it,” Leonel Moreno -- who the New York Post says appears to live in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio -- told his 500,000 followers on TikTok.

News Nation reports that a recent video posted by Moreno where he advises followers to avoid being homeless by invading “empty homes and live there,” has garnered nearly four million views. 

He claims that squatters' rights under U.S. law allow an uninhabited home to be seized. 

Moreno says in the viral TikTok clip that he has “African friends” who have “already taken about seven homes.”

Property rights attorney James Burling told News Nation with more migrants moving into cities we are going to see more squatting. “They’re talking about all the advantages that you can get from squatting, it’s inevitable that it’s going to increase," Burling said.

Burling also warned that some of Moreno's advice is incorrect and could get people who try it in trouble.

NewsNation said it spoke with city leaders who reported they hadn’t heard of Moreno or seen a local uptick in squatting.

Note: Both NewsNation and KTLA are owned by Nexstar Media Group.

“As a Victim Specialist with the Seattle Division, I'm contacting you because we have identified you as a possible victim of a crime,” the FBI letter, dated Tuesday, reads.

Attorney Mark Lindquist, who is representing over 20 passengers who were on the early January flight, provided a copy of the letter to The Hill and confirmed that it had been sent to his clients who were passengers on the Boeing 737 Max 9 flight. 

“This case is currently under investigation by the FBI,” the letter continues. “A criminal investigation can be a lengthy undertaking, and, for several reasons, we cannot tell you about its progress at this time. A victim of a federal crime is entitled to receive certain services. The enclosed brochure introduces you to the FBI's Victim Assistance Program and the types of assistance that may be available to you.”

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that the Department of Justice had launched a criminal probe into the Alaska Airlines flight on which an “explosive decompression” occurred when a panel plugging an unused emergency exit door, also known as a door plug, blew off midflight. 

Lindquist called the Boeing plane on which the blowout occurred “essentially a time bomb” in a segment on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” last month.

“A plane was delivered by Boeing to Alaska Airlines without four critical bolts, which means the plane was essentially a time bomb. This door plug could have blown off at any time,” Lindquist said.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a preliminary report last month that four bolts that were supposed to assist in securing the door plug on the Boeing jet were missing before the blowout occurred.  

The Hill has reached out to Boeing, the FBI and Alaska Airlines.

These types of candies are sold by multiple brands under different names but generally use a roller ball applicator to allow kids to eat liquid candy. The issue, according to the CPSC's new release, is that the ball itself can dislodge, posing a choking hazard.

“CPSC urges consumers not to purchase or sell any candy of this type. Consumers should stop using and dispose of these products,” the agency said in a statement.

In the release, the CPSC provided links to three recent recall announcements, including one recall issued this week for approximately 290,000 Happiness USA Liquid Rolling Candy products, which were sold nationwide.

The candy, sold by Twenty Four Six Foods, has been linked to a choking incident during which a 7-year-old required emergency surgery to "remove the rolling ball from his throat."

Other products discussed in the news release concerned Slime Licker Sour Rolling Licking Candy and Cocco Candy Rolling Candy, both of which were recalled in 2023. The latter candy is associated with the death of a 7-year-old girl in New York, who choked on the rolling ball in April 2023, the CPSC said.

In all cases, consumers were urged to stop using the candy immediately and take it away from children.

Anyone wishing to report an incident stemming from the use of these or similar candies can do so with the CPSC at SaferProducts.gov.

"Each report is reviewed by our staff of investigators and consumer product safety experts to determine what actions should be taken to protect the American public," the agency writes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Residents are worried that the gator could potentially cause harm to a passerby or get out of the fenced-in area through a gaping hole in one of the gates.

"I kind of got to check every time I come out the house," resident Priscila Watson said.

"The kids know there's a gator there -- don't feed him, don't mess with him. I don't even allow them over there without me," another resident Jean Marc said.

Photos show the massive reptile sprawled out in a pile of mulch with various trash and debris littered around the animal.

Construction crews nearby told Nexstar's WFLA that people in the area have been feeding him -- something that is illegal and dangerous. Neighborhood residents said the gator has been there for a "really long time."

(Photos: WFLA)

It's unclear what led the gator to make this location its home. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation told WFLA they are aware of the reptile and are looking into the incident.

In the state of Florida, it’s illegal to harass or kill an alligator without a permit. FWC also advises citizens not to bother or feed the animals.

Anyone with concerns about an alligator should call the agency’s Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286).

Here are some tips the FWC said people should know when dealing with alligators in Florida:

• Keep a safe distance if you see an alligator.
• Keep pets on a leash and away from the water’s edge. Pets often resemble alligators’ natural prey.
• Swim only in designated swimming areas during daylight hours and without your pet. Alligators are most active between dusk and dawn.
• Never feed an alligator. It’s illegal and dangerous. When fed, alligators can lose their natural wariness and instead learn to associate people with the availability of food, which can lead to dangerous circumstances for yourself and others who could encounter the alligator in the future.

Authorities received a report of a body found in the river in the Nations neighborhood of West Nashville on Friday morning. The Metro Nashville Police Department later confirmed it was the missing 22-year-old.

In a news conference, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said the call came from a worker at a nearby business. Businesses in the area had reportedly been routinely checking the water for signs of Strain.

Police said they were able to identify the body based on multiple factors, including his shirt and watch. According to officials, “no foul play-related trauma was observed.” An autopsy was scheduled to be conducted Friday.

Drake also extended his condolences to Strain’s family, who were notified of the discovery Friday morning.

“I want to say to the family my heart and prayers go out to you all for this very unfortunate and tragic incident,” Drake said. “I also want to say thank you to the Nashville community (for) the outpouring of support from the community in trying to help us locate Mr. Strain.” 

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell also took to social media Friday morning to comment on the discovery, saying in a post on X, “This is not the outcome that anyone hoped for.”

We learned the sad news this morning that crews located a body we believe to be missing Missouri student Riley Strain. The discovery was made near 61st Ave N in the river. This is not the outcome that anyone hoped for – especially his parents and everyone who loved him.

Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell

Strain disappeared while on a fraternity trip in Nashville on March 8. One of his friends called 911 the next morning after saying he had gone to the Central Police Precinct and called the sheriff’s office to file a missing person’s report.

After Strain's disappearance, investigators analyzed several bits of surveillance video from different bars and businesses showing his path through downtown Nashville.

One of the final pieces of footage of Strain that night was bodycam video from a Metro Nashville officer who interacted with him on Gay Street, located just south of the Woodland Street Bridge.

Strain’s last phone ping was near James Robertson Parkway and Gay Street, where the search was focused for several days. Then, on Wednesday, March 20, officials began focusing efforts at the Cheatham Lock and Dam near Ashland City.

In addition to law enforcement, Strain's family members and several volunteers were heavily involved in the search. It was two TikTok users who reportedly found Strain's bank card on the riverbank days after he disappeared.

Strain's family drove to Nashville immediately after his friends alerted them to his disappearance on March 9. In an interview on March 15, Strain's cousin, Jake Bradley, told Nexstar's WKRN that there was much more to him than this picture of a “college kid having fun.”

“That’s not — if you saw him outside of that, his love and his care and his kindness were of a 5-year-old boy that loved every toy he ever had, you know?" Bradley said.

The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has been investigating to determine whether Strain was overserved the night he disappeared.

In a statement released last week, TC Restaurant Group, which owns and operates Luke’s 32 Bridge, said records show Strain purchased and was served one alcoholic drink and two waters before he was kicked out of the bar.

Like Samsung's Bespoke AI refrigerator. Just wave your hand under the door handle and it will open the door for you! They've had refrigerators in the past where the door would sort of pop open, but this one fully opens. Like an automatic door at the grocery store.

There's also an AI camera that logs what goes in and out of the refrigerator so you always know what's on hand. You can consult a photo of the inside of your fridge on your phone or just see a list of everything.

Solar is becoming more common on roofs, but perhaps making your own water is the next big thing.

The Watercube 100 from Genesis Systems makes fresh water by pulling it out of thin air. A three-step filtration system process ensures it's pure, even for drinking.

"It gives people the water freedom to be able to do what they want with water," said Shannon Stuckenberg of Genesis Systems. "It’s a good way that we can be good water stewards, putting water back or not taking from the aquifers."

When paired with solar, the system can run 24 hours, generating up to 100 gallons a day. All this fresh water will cost you, though. The machine is $20,000.

Maybe you can use some of that water for Neoplants - the first plants bioengineered to purify the air in your home.

"We target the four main pollutants you can find in any home - volatile organic compounds, they come from a lot of things you have indoors, paints on the walls, pieces of furniture, and even household products," said Lionel Mora of Neoplants.

The plants, which are on pre-order, start at $179 each, so you definitely don't want to kill them.

"One of our plants is equivalent to up to 30 regular house plants in terms of air purification," said Mora.

Finally, a gadget I’ve been using for months now: the GatorGrip!

It keeps your phone or tablet propped up for watching videos, reading ebooks and more.

"We create simple solutions to common problems. It grips it and it’s like the alligator… it has those teeth that will grip it," said Raymond Alonzo of GatorGrip.

My only gripe with the GatorGrip: just be careful when you're taking it off. It's sort of spring-loaded, so it could snap on your fingers.

"That’s our motto: grip it here, grip it there, grip it anywhere," said Alonzo.

There's a grippy rubbery strip on the bottom of the clip to keep your gadget in place. It truly deserves a place in your bag. No more propping up your phone on a ketchup bottle at the restaurant or watching your phone slide down the seat back tray on a plane.

The GatorGrip is $20 for a phone grip and $25 for a tablet grip, available now.

On Thursday, the carrier touted its new MileagePlus miles-pooling program as "a new way for MileagePlus members to contribute and combine their miles into a joint account." A press release indicated the option was available as of Thursday, but the provided links to the pooling program webpage, or its terms and conditions, were redirecting back to United's homepage on Friday.

A spokesperson for United's media department blamed the program's unavailability on technical issues.

"We experienced some unexpected technology issues overnight and look forward to bringing back our new miles pooling feature soon," a spokesperson told Nexstar. 

The representative did not say when the feature would be accessible. A member of the carrier's customer service team, however, confirmed on Friday morning that it could take 48–72 hours before customers could utilize the webpage.

There is no option to begin the pooling process via telephone, the customer service member said.

As described by United, the program — when available — will allow a “pool leader” to choose up to four other people to set up a joint account in its MileagePlus program. The group leader must be over 18, but there is no minimum age for others, so parents can sign up kids. Everyone in the pool must have their own United frequent-flyer account.

JetBlue Airways, Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines already offer pooling, with the rules varying a bit from one to another. But United Airlines will be the first major carrier to operate a similar program.

Frequent-flyer programs remain popular despite complaints that the value of miles and points decline over time because airlines raise the requirements for redeeming them for flights or other items.

The programs are valuable to the airlines by increasing customer loyalty and giving consumers a reason to get an airline-branded credit card. United’s credit cards are issued by Chase.

United points are in the middle of the pack for value among programs at U.S. and international airlines, according to a recent analysis by the consumer site NerdWallet.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The recall covers air bag inflators on both sides of Dodge Chargers and Chrysler 300 large cars from the 2018 through 2021 model years.

The automaker says in documents posted Friday by U.S. safety regulators that moisture may get into the inflators due to a manufacturing defect and cause corrosion and cracks. The documents say Stellantis has seven warranty claims and customer assistance reports but no reports of injuries.

Dealers will replace both side air bag modules. Owners will be notified starting May 3.

Stellantis estimates that 1% of the inflators are defective.

The inflators are made by Joyson Safety Systems, a company that ended up acquiring Japanese air bag maker Takata after its bankruptcy. Takata used ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate front air bags in a crash. But the chemical propellant can deteriorate over time when exposed to high temperatures and humidity. It can explode with too much force, blowing apart a metal canister and spewing shrapnel.

It wasn’t clear whether Takata was involved in designing the recalled Dodge and Chrysler air bags or if the company used ammonium nitrate as the propellant. Messages were left seeking comment from Stellantis.

At least 26 people have been killed in the U.S. by Takata inflators since May 2009, and at least 30 have died worldwide including people in Malaysia and Australia. In addition, about 400 people have been injured. The potential for a dangerous malfunction led to the largest series of auto recalls in U.S. history. About 100 million Takata inflators were recalled worldwide.

As of late Thursday, Mega Millions officials estimated the jackpot at $977 million, with a cash value of $461 million. At that size, it ranks as the sixth-largest in Mega Millions history.

There are various ways in which players believe they can increase their odds at the jackpot. Among those is, of course, picking just the right numbers.

Do your lucky numbers stand a chance, though?

When playing Mega Millions, you'll have the option of getting a random set of numbers or selecting your own. Either way, you'll end up with five main numbers from a pool of 1-70, and one Mega Ball number between 1-25.

While the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are ultra-slim (about 1 in 302.6 million), it does seem that some numbers are picked more often than others.

Data collected by Lotto America shows that since 1996 (when Mega Millions was rebranded from "The Big Game"), there are 10 numbers that have been drawn more than 250 times. The five most frequent numbers are 17, 31, 10, 46, and 20 — all five have been drawn at least once since the last Mega Millions jackpot was won in December.

As for the Mega Ball, only six numbers have been drawn more than 100 times: 1, 3, 9, 10, 15, and 7. Only 9 and 15 have not been pulled during this jackpot run, Lotto America shows.

Those stats change slightly if we only look as far back as 2017, when the main ball pool dropped from 75 and the Mega Ball pool grew from 15.

The five most frequently drawn numbers since then are 10, 3, 17, 14, and 46, while the most frequent Mega Ball numbers have been 11, 22, 18, 24, and 13. Only Mega Ball 22 has not been drawn since early December.

But maybe you're more interested in the numbers that have been hot (and cold) as of late. We've got you covered.

After analyzing the last 29 drawings (that's how many there have been since the jackpot was last won), we found that among the main pool of numbers, 58 has been drawn the most, coming up in seven drawings. It was last pulled during the drawing on March 8. Close behind is 10, which has appeared in five drawings, but none since early February.

After 58 and 10 are nine numbers that have been pulled four times: 2, 19, 22, 26, 49, 50, 61, 64, and 69. For the Mega Ball, there are four numbers that have been drawn three times: 1, 11, 24, and 7.

There are some, however, that haven't been drawn at all. In the main pool, that's 43, 48, 52, 56, 63, and 65. For the Mega Ball, nine numbers have yet to appear in this jackpot run: 2, 19, 22, 5, 16, 23, 8, 15, and 9.

Some players might consider these numbers “overdue.” According to Lotto America, that is the case for 48, 56, 63, 7, and 43 in the main pool, as well as 23, 19, 9, 5, and 2 for the Mega Ball (your state may also be "overdue" for a jackpot).

Can't decide between playing the hottest numbers, or maybe all of the overdue numbers?

You could do either, neither, or a combo. Either way, any and every number combination has the same slim chance of winning, Rong Chen, professor and chair of the Department of Statistics in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, explains. That means the numbers drawn on Tuesday have an equal chance of being drawn again on Friday. 

You can try to cut down your odds of having to split the lottery prize by picking numbers others may not pick. Chen suggests numbers larger than 31 (this avoids dates like birthdays) and avoiding numbers along the edges or corners of the ticket form. 

You could also buy more tickets. But, for example, buying 100 tickets would only cut your odds from 1 in 302.5 million to about 1 in 3.02 million. 

The next Mega Millions drawing is scheduled for Friday at 11 p.m. ET. Mega Millions is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets start at $2 each.

The CPSC said it issued a notice of violation to the seller, All Merchandise of Charlotte, North Carolina, because Comfi Baby Infant Walkers could cause children to fall and become trapped.

Officials say the walkers violate federal safety regulations for three reasons:

• They fit through standard doorways
• They are not designed to stop at the edge of stairs
• The leg openings are large enough for a child to slip through, possibly causing their head to become trapped

The walkers, which cost about $100, were sold on Amazon.com from October 2022 to March 2023. The walkers have a gray seat, a gray tray with toys attached, and a push handle. The height settings can also be adjusted.

“Comfi Baby” is printed on the top frame and the Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) is B0BFJNQSW7.

The CPSC is urging parents to immediately throw the walker away and report any incidents of injury or "product defect" to the commission.

The CPSC says there is no chance for a repair, since All Merchandise is no longer in business.

That's how a young woman who died of cancer opened a heartfelt letter announcing her own death that has now been shared across the world and social media.

In posts to LinkedIn and Facebook on Feb. 23, Daniella Thackray said the letter was posted by her family at her request after her battle with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

"Although we can’t control what happens to us, we can control how we react. I chose not to mourn the life I was losing despite being so devastated, but to instead enjoy every moment I had left," she wrote.

According to Today.com, Thackray was 25, worked for an advertising agency in Leeds, England. She leaves behind a fiancé.

"I LOVED my life. Everything I had achieved was what I wanted. I loved my job, my fiancé, my family, my friends and my dog, and the house we were going to buy and the future we were making for ourselves. Leo my fur baby was definitely brought into my life to help brighten my darkest days."

The letter goes on to encourage others to live their lives to the fullest.

"As I have always said and believed you should enjoy the little things in life and cherish every moment! Romanticise your life! Do whatever makes you happy and don’t let anyone take the joy of life away from you," she wrote.

The letter ends with a note to her fiancé.

"And lastly to my dear, beautiful Tom, I love you and always will. Thank you for supporting me and bringing so much love and happiness into my life. Go enjoy your life now, you deserve it," reads the letter.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, cholangiocarcinoma is a bile duct cancer that often affects adults in their 70s.

Thackray said in the letter she lived a very healthy and active lifestyle and believes the diagnosis was not caused by anything within her control.

"I really, really do hope that in the years to come more research is done about this horrid cruel disease so that more lives can be saved," she wrote.

You can learn more about cholangiocarcinoma and the warning signs by visiting the Cleveland Clinic website.

In a recorded video message, Princess Kate addressed the public directly after months of rumors about her condition. Kate, 42, was admitted to the London Clinic for abdominal surgery in January. Since then, she has largely been out of the public eye.

At the time of the surgery, Kate said Friday, her condition was thought to be non-cancerous, but tests after the fact revealed cancer cells were present.

"My medical team, therefore, advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and I am now in the early stages of that treatment," she said in the released video.

Kate said she needed time to recovery from the surgery, start cancer treatment, and talk to her children about her condition.

"It has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that's appropriate for them and to reassure them that I'm going to be OK," she said. "We hope that you'll understand that as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment."

She also thanked the public for their support and understanding.

The news is another shock for the royal family since the announcement last month that King Charles III was being treated for an unspecified type of cancer that was caught while undergoing a procedure for a benign enlarged prostate.

Charles, 75, has withdrawn from public duties while he has cancer treatment, though he's appeared frequently in photos carrying on meetings with government officials and dignitaries and was even seen going to church.

Kate, on the other hand, had been out of view, leading to weeks of speculation and gossip. Attempts to put rumors to bed by releasing a photo of her on Mother's Day in the U.K. surrounded by her three smiling children backfired when The Associated Press and other news agencies retracted the image because it had been manipulated.

Kate issued a statement the next day acknowledging she liked to “experiment with editing” and apologizing for “any confusion” the photo had caused.

The former Kate Middleton, who married William in a fairy-tale wedding in 2011, has boosted the popularity and appeal of the British monarchy worldwide more than any royal since Princess Diana.

The princess is the oldest of three children brought up in a well-to-do neighborhood in Berkshire, west of London. The Middletons have no aristocratic background, and the British press often referred to Kate as a “commoner” marrying into royalty.

Kate attended the private girls’ school Marlborough College and then University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where she met William around 2001. They were friends and housemates at first, then their relationship came to be in the public eye when they were pictured together on a skiing holiday in Switzerland in 2004.

Kate graduated in 2005 with a degree in art history and a budding relationship with the prince.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.