The Powerball is 4. The odds against wining are astronomical, but millions of Americans will be hoping for some life-altering luck on Wednesday night when winning numbers are drawn for the second-highest jackpot in the history of the Powerball lottery. A winning ticket could bring the holder an estimated $700 million windfall, a prize topped only by a January 2016 $1.56 billion Powerball jackpot, the world's largest lottery reward ever.

The White House is expected to tell the Pentagon in coming days how to implement a ban on transgender people in the military, according to a memo that says the defense secretary may decide whether to remove service members based on their ability to deploy, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. The two-and-a-half-page White House document gives Defense Secretary Jim Mattis six months to fully implement the ban, according to a story first reported by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by the official. It also directs the Defense Department to deny admittance to transgender individuals and to stop spending on medical treatment regimens for those currently serving, the Journal reported, citing U.S. officials.

By Yeganeh Torbati WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of the U.S. State Department's three science envoys publicly resigned on Wednesday, the latest in a wave of defections over President Donald Trump's response to a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Daniel Kammen, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a letter posted on his Twitter account that Trump had failed to condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis, part of "a broader pattern of behavior that enables sexism and racism, and disregards the welfare of all Americans, the global community and the planet." (http://bit.ly/2vpEUPn) Trump told reporters last week that "both sides" were to blame for the violence between white supremacists and counter protesters in Virginia on Aug. 12, and said there were "very fine people" among those who participated in the white nationalist rally.

The following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - Thank you Arizona. Beautiful turnout of 15,000 in Phoenix tonight! Full coverage of rally via my Facebook at: https://www.facebook. ...

A federal court judge on Wednesday threw out a Texas voter identification law that was supported by the Trump administration, but the state's attorney general said his office would appeal the ruling. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of the Southern District of Texas said the state did not allow enough types of photo IDs for voters, "even though the (5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals) was clearly critical of Texas having the most restrictive list in the country." President Donald Trump campaigned on cutting voter fraud, picking up a theme of fellow Republicans across the country.

By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - U.S. wildlife managers erred when they declined to list as endangered a small population of grizzly bears in the remote reaches of Idaho and northwest Montana, a federal judge has ruled in what conservationists on Wednesday hailed as a huge victory. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2014 determined the fewer than 50 grizzlies that roam the Cabinet Mountains and Yaak River drainage in the Northern Rockies were not in danger of extinction and did not warrant re-classifying as endangered or threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.