An Arizona jury began deliberating on Friday on whether 32-year-old waitress Jodi Arias should be convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing her boyfriend nearly 30 times and shooting him in the head back in 2008. The case – replete with sex, double-crossing and violence – has become a media sensation as spectators travel from all over the U.S. to get in on the action of a trial that started in January, The Associated Press reported. Fans are camped out on a Phoenix sidewalk in the middle of the night to see the trial, with one seat even selling for $200. HLN has set up a stage for daily broadcasts, and the trial is regularly a trending topic on Twitter, according to the AP. Prosecutors are arguing that Arias was a stalker who killed her boyfriend Travis Alexander, a motivational speaker and salesman for a legal services company, because he wanted to end their relationship. Arias says she acted in self-defense after Alexander lost his temper and slammed her on to the ground. Her lawyers are portraying him as an abusive womanizer.
While lottery players around the country were salivating over the longshot chance (read: 1 in 175,223,510) of winning half a billion dollars in Wednesday's Powerball drawing, Californians were left out of the action.
Not anymore.
On Thursday, the five-member California Lottery Commission unanimously voted to adopt the game, joining 42 other states, Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Powerball sales in the Golden State will begin April 8, 2013.
"We have to continually offer our loyal players a variety of entertaining lottery games, and we firmly believe that Powerball is a right fit for the California Lottery," Lottery Director Robert T. O'Neill said in a statement.
Wednesday's Powerball payout of $588 million was the second-biggest jackpot of all time. Winning tickets were sold in Arizona and Missouri, according to lottery officials.
California currently participates in Mega Millions, a similar multi-state lottery.
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