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By Channing Joseph Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO » The win- ner of one of the largest Pow- erball jackpots in history has finally come forward — but he still hasn't quite revealed his identity. B. Raymond Buxton, a Northern California man, waited more than a month to accept his prize on Tues - day at the California Lot- tery headquarters in Sacra- mento. In a photo taken after he claimed the money on Tues- day, Buxton was covering his face with an oversize check for $425 million. Perhaps the only clue to his identity was his unusual shirt, which fea- tured a picture of the Star Wars character Yoda and read, "Luck of the Jedi I have." "He really wants to live a private life as best he can," Bux ton's publicist Sam Singer told The Associated Press. "He was a solidly mid - dle-class American, and to- day he is a solidly wealthy one." Buxton is hoping to re- main out of the limelight and doesn't want to speak di- rectly to the media, Singer said. He also won't reveal his age, address or what he did for a living until his very re - cent retirement. One reason that Buxton waited to come forward on April 1 — April Fool's Day — is simply that he has a healthy sense of humor, Singer said. "He still can't believe it's not a prank on him. But the reality is Ray Buxton is the winner." Another reason is that Buxton has been working since February with an at - torney and financial adviser to establish new bank ac- counts, set up a charity and sort out tax issues. "I'm going to enjoy my new job setting up a chari - table foundation focused on the areas of pediatric health, child hunger and education," Buxton said Tuesday in a prepared statement. Buxton bought the sole winning ticket for the Feb. 19 drawing at the Dixon Land - ing Chevron station in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Milpitas, about 10 miles north of San Jose. Buxton was getting lunch at a Subway restaurant in - side the station when he de- cided to buy another ticket because the jackpot was so large, lottery officials said. After the winning num- bers were announced, Bux- ton said, he sat in front of his computer in disbelief, checking and rechecking his ticket — and telling no one else that he had won. "Sitting on a ticket of this value was very scary," he said. "Once the initial shock passed, I couldn't sleep for days," Buxton said in the statement on Tuesday. The $425 million jack- pot is one of the largest lot- tery jackpots in U.S. history, though far from the record. The nation's biggest lottery prize was a Mega Millions jackpot of $656 million in 2012. The biggest Powerball jackpot was a $590.5 million in May. The Feb. 19 jackpot was the largest jackpot in Cal - ifornia history, according to lottery officials, and the sixth-largest ever won in the United States. "It's amazing how a little slip of paper can change your life," said Buxton, who esti - mates he has been playing the lottery for 20 years. The odds of matching all six Powerball numbers are 1 in about 175 million, accord- ing to statistics from the Multi-State Lottery Associ- ation in Iowa. Powerball is played in 43 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Associated Press writer Sud - hin Thanawala contributed to this report. JACkpOt $4 25 m il li on P ow er ba ll w in ne r wa nt s pr iv ac y AssociAted Press this photo provided by the california Lottery shows Powerball winner B. raymond Buxton holding a check for $425 million tuesday in sacramento. Associated Press LOS ANGELES » Despite new rules that say only about 140 medical marijuana dispensa- ries are eligible to stay open, more than 450 have filed re- newals to pay Los Angeles business taxes this year. Records show more than 1,100 medical marijuana collectives are actively reg - istered to pay taxes in the city, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. However, it's unclear if that many medical mari - juana dispensaries are ac- tually operating. A business may obtain a registration certificate but never actu- ally open or it might also close but fail to notify the city. Also, some shops might have never registered to pay taxes. City Attorney Mike Feuer told the newspaper it's im - possible to know for sure how many dispensaries re- main open, but, he said, the numbers are much lower than estimates from before Proposition D passed last spring. Feuer called the new fig - ures "a sign of continued progress." Proposition D limits dis- pensaries to those approved in 2007. Before the passage of the law, police estimated there were roughly 700 dis - pensaries — though others put the number much higher. Fewer than 140 medical mar- ijuana dispensaries are eli- gible to stay open under the new rules, according to city estimates. After registering, Los Angeles businesses are re - quired to file an annual re- newal to report their tax- able gross receipts. So far this year, 457 medical mar- ijuana collectives have filed a renewal, according to Of- fice of Finance General Man- ager Antoinette Christovale. The city has continued to register new medical mari- juana collectives to pay busi- ness taxes. Earlier this year, the Office of Finance re- ported that after the new law went into effect, it had regis- tered nearly 200 pot shops with no previous records in the tax system. mARIJuANA Pot shops file to renew L.A. taxes AssociAted Press fiLe this feb. 1, 2011 file photo shows medical marijuana clone plants at a medical marijuana dispensary in oakland. Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO » A North- ern California man who survived two days in freez- ing temperatures in a snowy mountainous region said what he wanted most after the end of his ordeal was a hamburger. "I'm grateful. Thank you very much," Robert Root said Tuesday as he was loaded into an awaiting am - bulance. He was taken to Sutter Auburn Faith Hospi- tal in nearby Auburn, Calif., where he was treated and re- leased by Tuesday evening, said Robin Montgomery, a hospital spokeswoman. Root, who is known as Bob, said he wanted an In- N-Out hamburger upon his release, said Placer County sheriff's spokeswoman Dena Erwin. Root survived two days in a treacherous region by sleeping on a cliff and kept warm in freezing conditions by curling up in bushes, au - thorities said Tuesday. Root, 55, of Modesto, was wearing only a light jacket, shorts and running shoes when rescuers discovered him walking on a bridge on the Western States trail Tuesday afternoon, Erwin said. Covered in metallic blan - kets and other warm mate- rials, a disheveled and red- faced Root smiled at TV re- porters after authorities slowly brought him down in an all-terrain vehicle from the snowy trail in the Sierra Nevada, about 200 miles east of San Francisco. "It's just amazing. He was found alive, alert and talking," Erwin said. "Just amazing." The news of Root's dis - covery spread quickly in Modesto, said Heidi Ryan, who belongs to the same running club as Root. "I feel like I'm still a little numb, but that's just me," Ryan said. "I'm still process - ing it." Root was last seen Sunday morning before he became separated from fellow mem - bers of the ShadowChase Running Club along the trail near Foresthill. The group was training for the annual Western States Endurance run in June. Root was not going to par - ticipate in the race, Ryan said. The runners who were out Sunday were split into fast and slow groups. Root was initially running with the slower group. When his group briefly stopped, Root decided to run ahead and join the faster group, but he took a wrong turn on the trail, Erwin said. BAy AREA California runner craved burger aer rescue By Donna Cassata Associated Press WASHINGtON » Repub - licans have accused the Oba ma administration of trying to mislead the American people about an act of terrorism in the final weeks before the November election. Morell deleted refer - ences to extremist threats linked to al-Qaida in ver- sions of the talking points that were used by Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in a series of Sunday talk show appearances. Morell said his actions were driven by the information provided by intelligence community analysts and the Defense Department. He said the CIA knew that some of the individu - als involved in the attack were al-Qaida from clas- sified sources, information that couldn't be included unless it was declassified. The talking points were provided to members of the committee for dissem - ination to the American people. Morell said he removed references to the warn - ings based on previous CIA analysis. Otherwise, he said, the talking points would have been a "way for CIA to pound its chest and say 'we warned,' laying all the blame on the State Department." Morell said there would be plenty of time later on to figure out what went wrong. In his prepared testi - mony, Morell said he was deeply troubled by alle- gations made by lawmak- ers and some in the media "that I inappropriately al- tered and influenced CIA's classified analysis and its unclassified talking points about what happened in Benghazi, Libya in Septem - ber 2012 and that I covered up those actions." "These allegations ac- cuse me of taking these ac- tions for the political bene- fit of President Obama and then Secretary of State Clinton. These allegations are false," Morell said. He said he and the agency could have done a better job, but he dismissed suggestions that the CIA "cooked the books" in the assessment of the attack. Morell said he had no idea that Rice would use the talking points on the Sunday shows. Morell described his step-by-step actions, from the first time he saw the talking points on Friday, the 14th, to his concerns about the inclusion of warn - ing language. He said an in- telligence analyst on the 13th had said the attack evolved sponta neously from a protest. Morell said he believed his analyst that there had been a protest but he also believed it was a terrorist attack. He said he never considered them mutually exclusive. A year and a half after the assault, multiple con - g ressiona l committees and an independent review have investigated and re- ported on the attack. The hearing underscored that the assault remains highly politicized, with no signs of abating as Clinton is frequently mentioned as a possible presidential can - didate in 2016. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chair- man of the committee, said the White House used the talking points "to perpetu- ate its own misguided polit- ical agenda." "The White House wants to ignore reality and per- petuate the fallacy that al- Qaida and other Islamic ex- tremists are on the verge of defeat," Rogers said. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., complained about a "partisan smear cam - paign." The panel's top Dem- ocrat, Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger of Mary- land bemoaned the fact that months after the at- tack, Congress was still dis- cussing the talking points when the focus should be on catching those who carried out the attacks. WASHINGtON Former CIA official: No politics in Benghazi memo 530 566 1966 Ask about cushy country boarding Free 10 minute phone chat. You decide to pay. 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