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A woman who planned to testify as a character witness for Jodi Arias in a bid to spare her life decided Monday that she couldn’t go through with it, saying she had received death threats and was deeply conflicted about the case.

Lawyers for Arias, who was convicted earlier this month of the frenzied murder of an ex-lover, quickly asked for a mistrial in the sentencing phase on the grounds that a witness had been intimidated. The judge denied the request.

The potential witness, Patricia Womack, is a childhood friend of Arias who planned to testify about Arias’ abusive childhood. Besides the threats, she said that her heart went out to the family of Travis Alexander, whom Arias was convicted of killing.

“I couldn’t do it,” she told NBC News in an email. “I feel there is so much good in Jodi to be saved but then also someone’s dear life was taken.”

Court abruptly adjourned for the day after lawyers for Arias said they had no witnesses to call. It remained possible that jurors in the sentencing phase would hear from Arias herself, perhaps Tuesday.

Karen DeSoto, a defense lawyer and legal analyst for MSNBC, said there were ways of overcoming Womack’s feelings of intimidation.

“If she really is scared, then turn the cameras off,” she said. “There’s a lot of ways to cure whether somebody can testify. Clear the courtroom.”

After the judge, Sherry Stephens of Maricopa County Superior Court, denied the mistrial request, lawyers for Arias asked to be taken off the case. The judge denied that request as well.

Arias, 32, was found guilty May 8 of first-degree murder. She admitted to killing Alexander after a day of sex. She shot him in the face, stabbed him more than 20 times and slit his throat ear to ear. At trial, she claimed self-defense.

Jurors, after hearing tearful statements from Alexander’s brother and sister, ruled that Arias had been “especially cruel,” a finding that made her eligible for the death penalty under Arizona law. The same jury is considering whether to sentence her to death.

Arias was briefly put on suicide watch after the conviction. Hours after the verdict, she told an Arizona TV station that she would rather get death than life and that death was the “ultimate freedom.”

Sheriff’s officials said Monday that Arias had been returned to the regular population at the county women’s jail after spending five days on suicide watch in a psychiatric ward, The Arizona Republic reported.

The Arias case, with its lurid details, has been widely followed. Arias dyed her hair, turned off her phone and drove 1,000 miles from California to Alexander’s home in Arizona on June 4, 2008.

Arias and Alexander had broken up after an affair. Arias testified that she had acted out Alexander’s every fantasy and even converted to his Mormon faith, but he nonetheless broke up with her and began dating — chastely, he told her — other women.

According to the testimony of some of Alexander’s friends, Arias did not take the breakup well, and began stalking her former beau and slashed his tires. Her extreme jealousy culminated in Alexander’s gruesome murder, the prosecutor argued.

Alastair Jamieson of NBC News contributed to this report.

Related: Jodi Arias should die, victim's brother and sister tell Phoenix jury

This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 11:48 AM EDT

A television station in Kansas was forced to evacuate during a live broadcast on Sunday afternoon after a massive tornado — one of three that ripped through the Plains States over the weekend — touched down in downtown Wichita.

Dramatic video footage shows J.D. Rudd, a meteorologist for NBC affiliate KSN, rushing out of the camera frame as station staffers frantically flee the set shortly after 4:15 p.m., following nearly two hours of continuous live coverage of the wrathful storm.

“It appears that it is time for all of us to get to shelter,” a man can be heard saying off-camera. “Get to shelter right now! Everybody ... let’s go!”

Station employees scattered and bolted to the basement as warning sirens blared and the cyclone whipped across downtown Wichita, according to KSN producer Kathy Ivy.

“Downtown Wichita was in the target zone,” Ivy said. “We were in the target zone.”

Fortunately, the storm lifted the second it arrived at the KSN studio’s doors, leaving the facility largely unharmed.

Thousands of homes and businesses lost power during the brunt of the tornado’s tear through town, but it missed the most populated areas of the city.

There were no reports of fatalities or injuries in Kansas on Monday morning. Tornadoes killed two people and injured 21 in Oklahoma on Sunday.

As confirmation came on Monday morning that Yahoo! would in fact be acquiring blogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion, employees (and the CEO) of Tumblr celebrated, Yahoo! promised "not to screw it up" and users showed skepticism. 

The clock is ticking for the luckiest person in America.

Whoever bought the winning $590 million Powerball ticket at a Publix supermarket in Florida has two months to come forward, a shorter window than in some other states.

But on Monday, the winner’s identity remained a mystery — and the subject of a guessing game that everybody was playing in Zephyrhills, a city of about 13,000 outside Tampa that is better known for its national brand of bottled water.

“I’m getting text messages and messages from Facebook going, ‘Uh, did you win the lottery?’” Sandra Lewis told The Associated Press. “No, I didn’t win, guys. Sorry.”

We know this much: Whoever bought the ticket beat odds of about 175 million to 1 to choose the winning numbers drawn Saturday night — 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball of 11.

If it’s a single winner — not one ticket held by a pool at the office or among friends — that person will apparently claim the largest jackpot awarded to one person in American history: $370 million if he or she takes a lump-sum payment.

The largest jackpot was a $656 million prize last year in another multi-state drawing, Mega Millions, but that prize was split among three winners in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois.

In some other states, even for the same national Powerball jackpot, the winner would have a year to come forward. In Iowa in 2011, a winner waited 364 days and 22 hours to claim a $14 million state jackpot.

And Florida has no state income tax, so if the winner lives there — and wasn’t just in town for Zephyrhills’ popular skydiving tours — he or she will save millions more.

Lottery officials in Florida did not seem surprised that no one had claimed the prize in the first two days.

“It never happens this quickly,” said David Bishop, a Florida lottery spokesman. “If they know they won, they’re going to contact their attorney or an accountant first so they can get their affairs in order.”

Meanwhile, the jackpot would be enough to fund the city of Zephyrills for 12 years, based on their current budget — but the $148 million in estimated federal income taxes is only enough to power the U.S. government for about a half-hour.

The ticket is also good for an $85,000 bonus commission for the Publix supermarket. For thousands of other people, though, it’s good for nothing.

“I wish it was me,” Cindy Frappier said as she walked out of the Publix on Sunday. “But it wasn’t.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 9:00 AM EDT

Heavy traffic was reported in southwestern Connecticut on Monday morning after thousands of New York City-bound workers from the suburbs took to the roads because a train crash last week wrecked a section of commuter-rail track.

But fears that roads in the area could turn into one giant “parking lot” -- with the addition of some 30,000 commuters who normally take the Metro-North commuter rail line -- did not appear to have been realized.

The train crash -- just outside Bridgeport on Friday -- injured 72 people. Nine people remained hospitalized on Sunday, with one critical, according to the AP. A 2,000-foot stretch of track was damaged and repair crews are expected to have to work around-the-clock for several days.

Full coverage from NBCConnecticut.com

Connecticut Metro- North Rail Commuter Council, which was set up by the Connecticut state legislature, said in a message on Twitter that traffic was “not bad.” “Buses from stations shuttling half full but slow. Carmagedon avoided?” it tweeted.

And Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia told the Connecticut Post that traffic was calm around the city Monday morning. On Sunday night, a reverse 911 call was made to city residents asking for them to carpool.

"It is better than I thought it would be. People are heeding my advice and the governor's message to either work from home or carpool to work,” Moccia said.

Get more on travel disruptions, replacement services from NBCConnecticut.com

Sandra Dria, of Waterbury, told the paper that her journey down Route 8 was just like "a normal day.”

However heavy congestion was reported along Interstate 95 and the Merritt Parkway, NBCConnecticut.com said Monday morning.

Jennifer Pascucci and Lisa Zarny, of Orange, who work in food service at Stamford Hospital, told the Post they tried to drive to work, but found the Merritt Parkway was choked at Exit 49, so they parked the car and planned to catch a bus-train. "We can't exactly work at home,'' Zarny said.

Gary Maddin, of Milford, Conn., told The Associated Press that it took him an hour to make what is normally a 20-minute drive from his home to the Bridgeport train station. From there, he planned to board a shuttle bus to Stamford where he could catch a train to Grand Central Station in New York.

"It's a lot," he said. "It's a nightmare just to get into the city today."

A spokeswoman for Connecticut State Police, citing Lt. J. Paul Vance, said just after 9 a.m. Monday that traffic on the relevant stretch of I-95 was “light,” as people appeared to have made other arrangements or avoided the area.

On Sunday, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy warned that he expected the commute to be "extremely challenging."

At a news conference in Hartford Sunday, Malloy said that "residents should plan for a week's worth of disruptions."

He said that if all 30,000 affected commuters took to the highways to get to work, "we would literally have a parking lot," according to the Associated Press. And if a substantial number of affected consumers hit the roads, traffic would be "greatly slowed."

"If you are going to New York and you get to New York or you're transporting yourself to New York you may decide that perhaps you should stay there for the duration of this disturbance," Malloy added.

About 700 people were on board the trains Friday evening when one heading east from New York City's Grand Central Terminal to New Haven derailed just outside Bridgeport. It was hit by a train heading west from New Haven. Both trains were traveling at about 70 mph.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Conn. train outage expected for days following crash that injured 72
• 'Absolutely staggering': Dozens injured in Connecticut train crash

This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 6:14 AM EDT

Las Vegas Police via AP

18-year-old Jacob Dismont, left, and 21-year-old Michael Solid were booked into the Clark County jail on charges related to the killing of a teenage boy over an iPad.

Two men have been arrested in the killing of a teenage boy over an iPad in Las Vegas, police said Sunday.

Jacob Dismont, 18, and Michael Solid, 21, were booked Saturday into the Clark County jail on charges of open murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.

According to investigators, Marcos Arenas, 15, was walking down a street with the iPad on Thursday when a passenger got out of a vehicle and tried to steal the device from him.

Dismont is accused of trying to wrest the tablet away and dragging Arenas toward the SUV when the youth wouldn't let go of the device. After Dismont re-entered the vehicle and Solid sped away, the teen was dragged until he fell, police said. The vehicle ran over Arenas and he died at a hospital.

"I think both the public and police department share the same sentiment that this was a senseless act of violence," police spokesman Bill Cassell told The Associated Press.

The suspects succeeded in making off with the device, officers said.

Ivan Arenas said he bought the iPad for his son less than two months ago. The family has never had a lot, the father said, and his son valued everything he had.

"For him to lose his life over an iPad, it's just not fair," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Never in my life would I imagine that me buying my kid an iPad for his birthday would end up with him getting run over."

Similar thefts of iPads, IPhones and other Apple devices have become so widespread nationwide that the crime has earned the nickname, "Apple picking," Cassell said.

"This is a nationwide phenomenon where thieves are targeting individuals who are carrying them," he said.

Police urge victims of such crimes to always let go of the devices.

Brian Blanco / EPA

Clutching the Powerball tickets that she estimates she won $8 on, Denise Godsey looks over at a gaggle of gathered television news trucks at a Publix in Zephyrhills, Fla.

The residents of a small Florida town known for its bottled water are now thirsty to know if one of their neighbors is the sole winner of the largest Powerball jackpot in history.

Lottery officials confirmed early Sunday that the one winning ticket for the estimated $590.5 million prize was sold at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla.

But so far, only the losers have come forward.  

“I wish it was it was me. But it wasn’t,” said Cindy Frappier as she exited the lucky Publix on Sunday.  

“I’m happy for whoever did win,” said Roberta Cutting as she made her way into the store.

Zephyrhills is about 30 miles northeast of Tampa, and is where the popular bottled water that bears its name is produced.

It is also a hotbed for skydiving, and attracts thrill seekers from around the world — which increases the possibility that the lotto winner is not from the area, but an out-of-towner who just happened to drop in on the supermarket on while visiting.

Many of the shoppers on Sunday wondered aloud whether or not they know the soon-to-be millionaire, and many hoped some of the winnings would go back into the town with a population of 13,337. 

Joan Albertson drove to the Publix early Sunday morning with her camera in hand, in case the winner emerged. She said she had bought a ticket at a store across the street, and the idea of winning that much money was still something of a shock.

"Oh, there's so much good that you could do with that amount of money," Albertson said. "I don't even know where to begin."

Others, like local Danny Rike, are still holding out hope that they've actually won. Rike participated in a Powerball office pool, and though none of his co-workers have alerted him that they’ve won — no one has said they lost, either.

“It could be a good surprise for tomorrow when I go into work,” he said.

Crunching the numbers reveals that the enormous jackpot could fund the city of Zephyrhills government for 12 years. The $148 million in taxes on the gargantuan purse could fund the federal government for almost 27 minutes.

If the winner takes the lump sum, it will be a $370 million payday, the second largest ever in the U.S.

It traditionally takes days or weeks for big winners like the one on Saturday to come forward. "It never happens this quickly," Florida Lottery spokesman David Bishop told the Associated Press. "If they know they won, they're going to contact their attorney or an accountant first so they can get their affairs in order."

The winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball of 11. The chances of winning were 1 in 175.2 million.

The country's largest ever jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012. But that prize was split between winners in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois.

The store where the winning ticket was sold will receive an $85,000 bonus commission, according to Shelly Gerteisen, a spokeswoman for the Florida Lottery.

Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous said that there are a lot of rumors about who won, but the store doesn't know. "We're excited for the winner or winners," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

President Barack Obama on Sunday stressed the importance of personal responsibility and “what it means to be a man” in his commencement address at historically-black Morehouse College in Atlanta.

In the midst of a driving rain, Obama told graduates at the all-male private college that they have obligations to “those still left behind” to be role models for the entire African-American community, both personally and professionally.  

“My whole life, I’ve tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father wasn’t for my mother and me,” Obama said, referring to his own dad who left his family when the president was just a baby. “I want to break that cycle where a father’s not at home, where a father’s not helping to raise that son and daughter. I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man.”

The speech was strikingly more personal than the commencement he delivered two weeks early at The Ohio State University when he called on graduates to be engaged citizens. On Sunday, Obama emphasized to the some 500 graduating men of Moreouse to “keep setting an example for what it means to be a man,” praising students who worked multiple jobs to earn a degree while also supporting a family.

He celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Morehouse alumnus, whose legacy has opened doors for graduates that have never before existed.

“Laws and hearts and minds have been changed to the point where someone who looks just like you can somehow come to serve as president of these Unites States of America,” he said.

Though opportunities exist now that never have before for black men, the president warned that the legacy of discrimination is still an issue the college graduates will need to overcome.

“Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. I had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing the right thing,” Obama said.

“But there is no longer any room for excuses,” he added.

The day before, First Lady Michelle Obama took to the commencement circuit, speaking to outgoing seniors at Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School in Tennessee on Saturday.

“Do not waste a minute living someone else’s dream…It takes a lot of work, a lot of real work to discover what brings you joy,” she told graduates.  “It just doesn’t happen; it requires you spending some time.  And you won’t find what you love simply by checking boxes or padding your GPA.”

A week earlier she told graduates at Eastern Kentucky University to get outside their comfort zones and spend time with those who have opposing views.

The president has one more upcoming commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy on Saturday.

The president and CEO of The Associated Press said Sunday that the government's seizure of AP journalists' phone records was "unconstitutional" and already has had a chilling effect on newsgathering.

Gary Pruitt says the Justice Department's secret subpoena of reporters' phone records has made sources less willing to talk to AP journalists.

The Justice Department disclosed the seizure of two months of phone records in a letter the AP received May 10. The letter did not state a reason, but prosecutors had said they were conducting a leaks investigation into how the AP learned about an al-Qaeda bomb plot in Yemen before it was made public last year. Pruitt said the AP story contradicted the government's claim at the time there was no terrorist plot.

Pruitt spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation."