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Editorial: IRS dropped the ball on millions of tax records: report

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:06 GMT

The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles may be a lot of things, but who knew it was a management model for the Internal Revenue Service.In a move reminiscent of the RMV’s mishandling of out-of-state violations – some 10,000 of which were found before a Massachusetts trucker who should have been off the road was charged in a deadly 2019 New Hampshire crash, a watchdog report says the IRS lost track of millions of sensitive individual and business tax records.As Politico reported, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Thursday that it found significant deficiencies in safeguarding and accounting for millions of tax records that contain sensitive taxpayer information.They should have been transferred from a closed agency facility in California. The IRS is also unable to locate thousands of records that were stored at a facility in Utah.It’s mandatory that the IRS’ store old tax records in microfilm backup cartridges, but the watchdog said it ...

Franks: Imagine if we had an age-limit amendment in 2010

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:06 GMT

One of my favorite movies is “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The story questions what local banker George Bailey’s hometown would have been like had he never lived.Well, let’s imagine what America would be like if we had adopted an age-limit constitutional amendment in 2010.After all, in nearly every occupation, there is an established age limit. Nearly all major labor contracts have an age-limit clause. But, if you are a federal employee there are exceptions to this rule, and at the highest levels – president, vice president, senators, congressmen, and justices on the Supreme Court.Yes, the most powerful have exempted themselves from age limits, much like kings and queens. Royalty and the political elite can stay in power until their deaths.We need an age-limit constitutional amendment. We do not need term-limits instead of age-limits unless we want 10,000 anonymous folks, known as staffers, controlling America. With the elected officials term-limited out, the staffers would be the kings ...

Despite all the sex, ‘Passages’ lags

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:06 GMT

Think of all the crazy things you did for love. The French call it “amour fou,” and we’ve all had the sickness once of twice (or more). Directed by Ira Sachs and written by Sachs (“Keep the Lights On”), previous collaborator Mauricio Zacharias and Arlette Landmann (“Germinal”), “Passages” tells the not very gripping tale of a love triangle involving meticulous film director Thomas (Franz Rogowski, “Undine”), his gay husband Martin (Ben Wishaw, “No Time to Die”) and a young woman named Agathe (Adele Exarchopoulos, “Blue Is the Warmest Color”) who inadvertently sweeps Thomas off his feet with her beauty and youthful sexuality. It seems Thomas is gay, but not quite entirely gay. Thomas and Agathe meet at a party and cannot keep their hands off one another. The next day, together again, Thomas and Agathe have more sex. At first, Thomas tells Martin about his unfaithfulness with a woman in a way that suggests he cannot believe that he did it, and that it is some sort of grand eroti...

Dear Abby: Rude guests mock woman’s treasured items

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:06 GMT

Dear Abby: How do I deal with guests and friends who make unfortunate comments about personal belongings in my home? For example, I have a favorite print of a woman seated at a table. A friend commented, “Oh, we used to call her Mrs. Potato Head.” About my beautiful handwoven table runner depicting sliced fruit, a guest said, “Oh, those look like women’s private parts!” I also display a beautiful statue of the three Graces, which I inherited from my beloved mother. Another friend piped up, “Oh, the three lesbians!” They have stolen the joy I had about the pieces. I can no longer look at these treasures without being reminded of those stupid, thoughtless remarks, and so I had to get rid of them. What do I do if this happens again, or how do I prevent it? — Proud of Possessions in MaineDear Proud:  No one should feel forced to get rid of objects they love because someone makes a thoughtless remark. If you get rid of anything, consider di...

Judge Chutkan to hear arguments in protective order fight in Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy case

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge overseeing the 2020 election conspiracy case against Donald Trump will hear arguments Friday over a request by prosecutors for a protective order seeking to bar the former president from publicly disclosing evidence shared by the government.The protective order sought by special counsel Jack Smith’s team has become an early flashpoint in the case accusing the Republican of illegally scheming to subvert the will of voters and cling to power after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Protective orders aren’t unusual in criminal cases, and they’re different from “gag orders” that bar parties from talking publicly about an ongoing case outside the courtroom. But lawyers for Trump — who has railed against prosecutors and U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on social media and during campaign events — say the proposed protective order goes too far and would restrict Trump’s free speech rights. In seeking the protective order, prosecutors...

What to stream this weekend: Gal Gadot, ‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ and ‘Only Murders in the Building’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:06 GMT

The return of the mystery-comedy “Only Murders in the Building” and Gal Gadot getting her “Mission: Impossible”-style action film with the international espionage thriller “Heart of Stone” are among the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near youAmong the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are “Superfan,” a new one-hour game show that features music superstars crowning their biggest fan, and a royal rom-com adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s bestseller “Red, White and Royal Blue” lands on Prime Video.NEW MOVIES TO STREAM— Gal Gadot gets her “Mission: Impossible”-style action film in the international espionage thriller “Heart of Stone.” The film, debuting Friday on Netflix, stars the “Wonder Woman” actor as a superspy for a shadowy global peacekeeping agency called the Charter. “Heart of Stone,” directed by Tom Harper, boasts plenty of stunt sequences and international locales, with Gadot starring along...

Fast-moving Hawaii fires will take a heavy toll on the state’s environment

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:06 GMT

The fast-moving wildfires that raked Maui this week took a heavy toll on humans and property, killing at least 53 people and devastating the historic town of Lahaina. But their effects on the landscape and environment in Hawaii are also expected to be significant.Experts say the fires are likely to transform the landscape in unwanted ways including hastening erosion, sending sediment into waterways and degrading coral that is critically important to the islands, marine life and the humans who live nearby.A look at some of those potential impacts:CORALThe wildfires struck Hawaii just as Jamison Gove, a Honolulu-based oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was publishing research in Nature on Hawaii coral reefs’ recovering from a 2015 marine heat wave. That work highlighted the threat to coral from land-based contaminants running off into the ocean.Gove said Thursday that burning homes, commercial structures and cars and trucks would make any run...

Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:06 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — When in-person school resumed after pandemic closures, Rousmery Negrón and her 11-year-old son both noticed a change: School seemed less welcoming. Parents were no longer allowed in the building without appointments, she said, and punishments were more severe. Everyone seemed less tolerant, more angry. Negrón’s son told her he overheard a teacher mocking his learning disabilities, calling him an ugly name. Her son didn’t want to go to school anymore. And she didn’t feel he was safe there.He would end up missing more than five months of sixth grade.Across the country, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened during the pandemic. More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year, making them chronically absent, according to the most recent data available. Before the pandemic, only 15% of students missed that much school. All told, an estimated 6.5 million additional students became chronically absent,...

DeSantis is resetting his campaign again. Some Republicans worry his message is getting in the way

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:06 GMT

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Ron DeSantis largely dismissed his own decision to replace his campaign leadership team as he returned to Iowa on Thursday in the midst of a weeks-long reset. The Republican presidential hopeful also made no mention of the two rounds of campaign layoffs he made recently in response to unexpected fundraising troubles.Instead, the Florida governor leaned into his central message — a self-described “war on woke” — and flashed a big smile as he courted an audience of roughly 200 cheering Republicans gathered at a family restaurant for the first of four scheduled stops on his latest bus tour through the first-in-the-nation caucus state. “We’re clicking. We’re doing well,” DeSantis told reporters after a fiery speech, dismissing questions about the turmoil that has plagued his White House bid in recent weeks. He said the average voter is far more focused on his plans for the country than his campaign leadership. “This process stuff, I think, is way overblown.”Wheth...

EPA weighs formal review of vinyl chloride, toxic chemical that burned in Ohio train derailment

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:02:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration says it could soon launch a formal evaluation of risks posed by vinyl chloride, the cancer-causing chemical that burned in a towering plume of toxic black smoke following the fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.The Environmental Protection Agency is set to review risks posed by a handful of chemicals later this year, and is considering chemicals used for plastic production as a key benchmark. Vinyl chloride is among a range of chemicals eligible for review, and “EPA could begin a risk evaluation on vinyl chloride in the near future,” the agency said in a statement to The Associated Press.If selected, EPA would study vinyl chloride to determine whether it poses an “unreasonable risk to human health or the environment,” a process that would take at least three years.Environmental and public health activists cheered the development, saying EPA should have banned vinyl chloride years ago.“If one positive thing can c...