NATIONAL BRIEFS

NATIONWIDE: Medicare fraud: 107 charged

Doctors, nurses and social workers from across the country, 107 in all, were charged in what federal officials in Washington called a "nationwide takedown" of medical professionals accused of fraudulently billing Medicare nearly half a billion dollars. The amount of bogus claims, about $452 million, was the highest in a single raid in the history of a federal strike force combating rising fraud in the medical industry, the Justice Department said. Arrests were made in seven major cities. In addition, officials in the Health and Human Services Department suspended or took other administrative actions against 52 medical providers after analyzing billing requests and finding additional "credible allegations of fraud."

OHIO: City ties bomb plot to Occupy

Occupy protesters must ask serious questions about their open-arms policy in light of charges brought against five members accused of trying to blow up a bridge, a top Cleveland official said Wednesday. The city declined to renew the group's downtown encampment permit Wednesday, a denial planned before the bridge plot arrests were announced Monday, said Ken Silliman, chief of staff to Mayor Frank Jackson. Spokesman Joseph Zitt said the five men didn't represent Occupy Cleveland and were not acting on its behalf. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio questioned the timing of the permit revocation, saying it was concerned Jackson's announcement was an attempt to connect the entire Occupy movement to the bomb plot.

ARKANSAS: Whose lottery jackpot is it?

When she plucked a winning lottery ticket out of the trash, Sharon Jones' luck changed instantly. The $1 million prize let her pay off debts, give thousands of dollars to her children and buy a gleaming new pickup truck. Now her jackpot is in jeopardy. A judge ruled this week that the money belongs to Sharon Duncan, who says she threw the ticket away after a lottery machine incorrectly told her it was a loser. A judge issued a restraining order, after the Joneses spent some of the money. Their attorneys plan to appeal the judge's decision.