. >> reporter: sea to shining sea.n a mad scramble for tickets. everyone hoping for a chris miracle. its peak today half a million tickets sold per minute driving the prize to at least $636 million. lyi lying -- leading up to tonight's drawing. what can all the money buy? nba team, world champion miami heat, or a hawaiian island like the one bought by oracle ceo larry ellison, or a trip into space, on the soyuz rocket with ten of your closest friends. similarly, the odd are astronomical. one in 258 million. you would be more likely to be hit by an asteroid. still, people keep buying. because after all, eventually, somebody's bound to win. just ask retired police officer, steven ontell. $1 million lottery man. who has beaten the odd before. >> when this lottery started years age i felt i would be lucky in it. >> reporter: he has won three times. for people who want to believe there is a see if yens cience t lucky what would you say? >> it's all luck. faith and luck. >> what are the keys to success? >> walk up to the mac

. >> reporter: sea to shining sea, mega millions has united the country in a mad scramble for ticketsng for a christmas miracle. >> we're trying. we got $120. >> reporter: half a million tickets were being sold per minute. driving the prize to at least $636 million. what could all that money buy? an nba team? even the world champion miami heat. or a hawaiian island, like the one bought by oracle ceo, larry ellison. or a trip into space, on the soyuz rocket, with ten of your closest friends. familiarly, the odds are astronomical. 1 in 258 million. you'd be more likely to be hit by an asteroid. still, people keep buying because, after all, eventually, somebody's bound to win. just ask retired police officer, steven ontel, who has betten the odds before. ontel has won three times. a surprising 70% of people will receive a windfall like the lottery, end up losing it within a few years. a chicago man who won $1 million

revolution, and she's already beginning to work on a book for next year which will be called from sea to shining sea in which alice helps lewis and clark go to the pacific. and her goal -- and this is, by the way, very hard. "breakout" is my 27th book, and i can tell you that watching her write the ella series, when you have to take facts -- and we're in a small c sense conservative in that we actually want our history books to be factual which is, i think, a very useful model. [laughter] when you have to take a set of facts you think 4 to 8-year-olds can understand and then you have to describe them in rhyme -- [laughter] so it's easy for them to remember, and then with the help of her terrific artist, susan, you've got to have a scene which explains what the rhyme is describing. each of her page sections is the equivalent of one of my chapters in effort. it is -- i didn't know this when she first started. i thought, oh, this'll be great, you know, write kids' books. turns out to be really important. but it's extraordinarily important that young americans learn why we are, in fact, an exceptional n

from sea to shining sea is dry.

from sea to shining sea is dry. you can't deny our planet is in the midst of a massive climate change. that means more hurricanes, more fires and floods, hitting harder and more often with increasingly devastating consequences. but few natural disasters have more of a global impact than drought. crops wither, animals starve, food production and distribution become strained and prices around the world skyrocket. when that happens, things spin out of control pretty quickly. here in the united states and in sheridan, we're in the middle of a record-breaking drought that's affecting everything from how we fill our gas tanks to the price of a bowl of cereal. in the face of a rapidly changing climate affecting everyone in the world, can the farmers and ranchers right here in the heartland hang onto their way of life? and can we do anything to stop it? ♪ >>> if you live in certain parts of the country, drought is as unthinkable as a drought or tsunami. it just happens somewhere else. but if you live in sheridan county, neb

as morley safer reported in 2005, houses were growing like some alien weed from sea to shining sea. >t the aftermath of katrina. it is the prelude to a monster. across the country, thousands of perfectly sound and cozy houses are being torn down. the empty lots then get filled up with the likes of this. the maryland town of chevy chase has become divided over size. pat rich has seen eight tear-downs on her street, including the house next door. you have a pet name for this one, yes? >> yes, walmart. >> [laughs] "walmart." what do you make of these? >> i just don't know why people need that much space, because it's not as though everybody has a lot of children. coming in here are two people. >> two people in this. >> yes. >> the riches have been offered $1 million for the house they paid $19,500 for back in 1960. one builder's offer included a sob story. >> well, we had one who said that he had this mother who was ailing and wanted to move her to a nice, small house so he could be close to her. i think she'd last about a month, and the house would come down. >> chevy chase finally deci

revolution and she's already beginning to work on a book for next year which will be called from sea to shining sea and which it helps lewis and clark to go into the pacific and her goal -- by the way "breakout" is my 27th dhaka and i can tell you that watching her right of the series when you have to take the facts and we want our history books to be factual which i think is a very useful model -- when you have to take a set of the fact 4-year-olds can understand and then describe them in rhymes so it's easy for them to understand and with the help of the terrific artist, suzanne you have to have a scene that explains what the writing is describing -- rhyme is describing is one of my chapters and effort. i didn't know, i thought this will be great to write kids' books. it turns out to be important but it's extraordinarily important that younger americans learn why we are in fact an exceptional nation. [applause] it's interesting and in fact a very appropriate to talk about a yankee doodle dandy for a second because it describes the american revolution and the declaration of independence and what m

and she is already beginning to work on a book next year which is called from sea to shining sea and by the way, this is very hard and i can tell you that watching her ripeness À la series, we actually want our history books to be factual which i think is a useful model and when you take these facts, you have to describe them rhyming so it is easy for them to remember. and then with the help of her terrific artist, you have to have a scene which explains what is describing and this is the equivalent of what my chapters. and it turns out to be really important but it's extraordinarily important that young americans learn why we are an exceptional nation. [applause] [applause] now, it is interesting and very appropriate because we are going to describe the american revolution and the declaration of independence. and what makes tomorrow's anniversary of lincoln's speech so special is that it is a two minute speech in which lincoln reunites the declaration of independence and the constitution had been the dominant document, one that let people look at and what does it mean to be an ameri

revolution and is already beginning to work on a book for next year which will be called from sea to shining sea, helping lewis and clark go to the pacific. her goal, this is by the way very hard, "breakout" is my 27th book, watching her right the yellow ceres, have to take facts, we want our history books to be factual, we have a very useful model. take a set of facts, 4 to 8-year-olds, when you have to describe them in rhyme cities easy for them to remember and with the help of her terrific artist, you have got to have the scene which explains what the rhyme is describing. each of her page sections is the equivalent of one of my chapters. i didn't know this. it turned out to be really important but it is extraordinarily important that young americans learn why we are in fact an exceptional nation. [applause] >> it is interesting and very appropriate to talk about yankee doodle dandy for a second. the american revolution, describing the declaration of independence and what makes tomorrow's anniversary of lincoln's speech so special is it is at gettysburg in a two minutes speech, lincoln really

sea. sunlight now shines deeper into the bay, causing algae to grow. reducing growth could saw local sewage treatment plans $10 million. scientists believe the plants might have to reduce how much nitrogen and fors forrous they release. >>> county supervise will consider building a memorial park in honor of a teenager killed by a deputy. he was shot in late october by a deputy who mistook his bb gun for an assault rifle. activists recently planted a young oak tree near the site where lopez was shot. state lawmakers say they will introduce legislation next month to ban the manufacture and sale of imitation firearms. >>> an oakland gender-neutral teen is excited about returning to school tomorrow. 18-year-old sasha fleschman was sleeping on an ac transit bus last month when a teenager set fleschman's skirt on flier. flesch man, who identifies as neither female nor male, suffered second and third degree burns to the legs. fleschman is okay. police say the attack was partially because of homophobia. >>> planned parenthood is opening a clinic in north fair

sea. sunlight now shines deeper into the bay, causing algae to grow. reducing growth could saw local sewage treatment plans $10 million. scientists believe the plants might have to reduce how much nitrogen and fors forrous they release. >>> county supervise will consider building a memorial park in honor of a teenager killed by a deputy. he was shot in late october by a deputy who mistook his bb gun for an assault rifle. activists recently planted a young oak tree near the site where lopez was shot. state lawmakers say they will introduce legislation next month to ban the manufacture and sale of imitation firearms. >>> an oakland gender-neutral teen is excited about returning to school tomorrow. 18-year-old sasha fleschman was sleeping on an ac transit bus last month when a teenager set fleschman's skirt on flier. flesch man, who identifies as neither female nor male, suffered second and third degree burns to the legs. fleschman is okay. police say the attack was partially because of homophobia. >>> planned parenthood is opening a clinic in north fair

shine, a million euro yacht. guy johnson shows us how to cruise the high seas with style. >> glamorous, romantic, and refined.ts are made for for beautiful people, but more importantly, youthful weather. this is not what i had in mind. what that means is two things. the first is that the rain cover is on. the second is that we have like zio totwo up -- lake i ourselves. it is sleek and sophisticated. if it was a car, it would be somewhere between a for ari --a ferrari and a rolls royce. >> if you want this thing to go, it can go. the top speed is 41 knots. on a day like this, it feels a little abrasive. looking for a storm below deck, it certainly fulfill that option. the fully fitted kitchen under here and the head over here is all that you could ask for. if it all becomes too much, the option of an afternoon snooze. >> this boat is all about joining a club, but you club, includedbership has sean connery. the price of entry is high. >> if you want to keep her, she is going to cost you one million euros. at that point, it is fair to say that your vote really has come in. boat really has come in. >> we have mu

shines >> look how close, clear this picture is. >> the only thing you need to carry is the lens. >> i take it outside to get pictures of the sea lions. look at this close up. tourists are amazed. the lens is with the sea lions. >> that is amazing! >> that is cool. >> this set up with bag, caps and tripod costs $49.95 here is another picture taking accessory. the motor gallileo can take a true picture. >> it is controlling it to line up each image, and next one. >> here is when you end up with. a 360 picture of the world. it can be controlled anywhere in the world. so can be used to monitor a home, or video conferencing. it sells for. just go to abc7 news.com. i'm michael finney seven on your side. >> a good deed that went wrong turned into a bonanza for a waitress. samantha knight found $1,000 on a chair in the restaurant. you can see her giving him the money. the problem is that she gave it to the wrong man. news got out, the man returned the cash and gave her a $100 tip. the owner decided to let the waitress keep the $1,000. >> he's like no. merry christmas. i was just in shock. i couldn't believe it. it made my holiday a lot bett