At least three people are dead following twin explosions in Boston, Massachusetts where thousands of runners were participating in the annual Boston Marathon. Local media report over 100 people have been injured as well.
Two explosions occurred near the finish line of the 26.2-mile event at 2:50pm local time, and the Boston Globe is reporting three deaths and more than 100 injuries.
The FBI confirmed that the blasts were a terror attack, according to federal sources cited by CNN.
Federal aviation authorities have declared a no-fly zone over the area and authorities including the US Air Force continue to attempt to secure the scene. The aviation restrictions have reportedly extended to an order that all flights out of Boston’s Logan Airport be grounded until further notice.
An intelligence official working on the scene told the Associated Press that two additional explosive devices were found inside garbage cans near the site. Other reports say there were a total of five unexploded devices found following the blasts.
As law enforcement look for further explosives, they have reportedly told people in the area to stay off of mobile phones in fears that the signal could detonate another undiscovered device.
A source at Boston’s Mass General hospital claimed that at least 10 patients have been admitted to the facility’s emergency room with missing limbs after the accident.
The United States Supreme Court. (Image from wikipedia.org)
The United States Supreme Court will avoid weighing in for now on a restrictive gun law in New York state.
The country’s top justices said Monday that they won’t hear the case of Kachalsky v. Cacace, a lawsuit that challenged an Empire State firearm law that critics say makes it difficult to legally carry a concealed handgun in public.
In the state of New York, residents must establish “proper cause” for obtaining a concealed-carry permit and demonstrate a heightened need for self-defense.
A federal Court of Appeals rejected an attempt to overturn that rule late last year, prompting the case to be presented to the US Supreme Court back in February. That request was filed on behalf of five residents of Westchester County with the backing of The Second Amendment Foundation, an organization“dedicated to promoting a better understanding about our Constitutional heritage to privately own and possess firearms.” On Monday, the court declined to consider the appeal without further comment.
When the appeal was rejected in New York last year, a three-judge panel said none of the plaintiffs could adequately prove “a qualifying need for self-protection beyond that of any other member of the public,” Celeste Katz wrote at the time for New York Daily News.
“As the parties agree, New York has substantial, indeed compelling, governmental interests in public safety and crime prevention,” last year’s ruling read in part. “The only question then is whether the proper cause requirement is substantially related to these interests. We conclude that it is.”
When the appeals court rejected the Second Amendment Foundation’s plea, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman called the unanimous decision “a victory for New York State law, the United States Constitution, and families across New York who are rightly concerned about the scourge of gun violence that all too often plagues our communities.”
Meanwhile, a new gun law considered to be even more restrictive went into effect in New York on Monday. That legislation, which limits state gun owners to no more than seven bullets in magazines, is the first of its kind to be passed in the country in the wake of December’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Americans who get paid in cash and own a small business are at high risk of being audited – especially if they live in wealthy suburbs: the IRS is going after those from which the agency thinks they can get more taxes.
“It’s just a matter of them going where they think the money’s at,” Steve Rosansky, president and CEO of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, told AP. “I guess if I were running the IRS I’d probably do the same thing.”
The Internal Revenue Service only audits 1 percent of tax returns each year and can yield greater taxes by targeting wealthy small business owners who might have underreported their earnings. As a result, the IRS is looking closely at small business owners in New Carrollton, Md., College Park, Ga., Beverly Hills, Calif., and Newport Beach, Calif. – suburbs that are home to wealthy and middle-class Americans, many of which are sole proprietors.
These five metropolitan regions are more likely to host tax cheats than other neighborhoods, according to a study conducted by the National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent office within the IRS. And those who own construction companies or real estate rental firms are considered by the IRS to be most likely to cheat on their taxes.
Despite the outcome of the study, which looked at tax cheat clusters from 2009, the IRS denies that a person’s ZIP code or employment status determines their likelihood for an audit.
“The IRS initiates audits based on information the taxpayer includes – or doesn’t include – on a tax return,” the agency told AL.com. “We don’t base audits on geography. City or state location plays no role in the audit process whatsoever.”
But data collected by the National Taxpayer Advocate did find that audits were more likely to occur in specific regions and target small business owners – even if the IRS denies using regional information as an auditing factor.
The agency runs all of its tax returns through a program that gives each return a score called the Discriminant Inventory Function (DIF). Higher scores indicate that there are higher chances for the IRS to collect more money from conducting an audit.
“If your return is selected because of a high score under the DIF system, the potential is high that an examination of your return will result in a change to your income tax liability,” states an IRS publication, according to AP.
Sole proprietors, many of whom have cash businesses, need to be particularly careful about reporting large charitable contributions or home-office expenses if they want to avoid an audit.
“If you’re reporting $8,000 of charitable contributions when you’re only making $50,000, that’s a red flag,” Bob Meighan, vice president of TurboTax, told AP.“Likewise if you’re reporting business or employee expenses that are out of the ordinary for your income range, that would attract the interest of the IRS as well.”
Elizabeth Maresca, a former IRS lawyer and professor at Fordham University, told the newswire that claiming unusually high employment-related expenses is another red flag that could increase a taxpayer’s DIF score.
“I had a case here where the person made about $40,000 and they claimed $25,000 of employment-related expenses,” she said. “Most people don’t spend $25,000 to earn $40,000. That’s an unusual number.”
The IRS says it conducts audits primarily to minimize the “tax gap”, which is the difference between what the federal agency is owed and what is actually paid. The National Taxpayer Advocate study found that this gap is largest among small business owners.
In 2006 – the most recent year for which the IRS provides an estimate – the tax gap was $345 billion. The study pointed out 350 neighborhood communities whose residents face higher risks of being audited as the IRS attempts to collect more money, particularly from those it believes are well-off.
Coachella Fest 2013 finally arrived on April 14-16 with a lot of anticipation by all the fans. Tickets sold out in hours and hotel rooms were filled all over the Valley. Concerts like this are also a big camping experience and people keep coming back year after year. The concert grows bigger each year with more space and close to 90,000 people attending.
Those who make it for the first time are so excited with the whole venue. There are 6 stages for the bands and singers. There is a group of diverse music for everyone and a place to see them. Everywhere you go there is music coming from one stage or another. There was about 100 groups performing.
Fans walk around with food from the vendors and refreshments. The weather remained high in the 90’s but fans didn’t seem to mind. They could bring in an empty water bottle and get it filled at water stations. There is a station for charging cell phones , etc. Artwork abounds throughout the grounds. There is a Ferris wheel for those wanting an extra thrill.
Fans can get pretty close to the stage and there are 2 large video screens on the stages so even the people in the back can see the artist. All the stages are filled with performers all day long. There is even a place for autographs during the day where you can meet the artist up close.
Fridays performers included some top names like the Blur, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tegan and Sara, Jurassic 5 and so many more throughout the day starting at noon and the last band goes on stage at midnight. No wonder people and bands come from all over the world for this concert.
Passion Pit lead singer ~photo Pat Krause
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Lead Singer Karen O ~photo Pat Krause
Crowd ~photo Pat Krause
Passion Pit lead singer Michael Angelakos ~photo Pat Krause
Tegan and Sara ~photo Pat Krause
Ferris Wheel ~photo Pat Krause
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Lead Singer Karen O ~photo Pat Krause
Venezuelan acting president and presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro waves at sympathizers after casting his vote in Caracas on April 14, 2013 (AFP Photo / Luis Acosta)
With the vote split almost equally acting President Nicolas Maduro has won Venezuelan presidential election to replace Hugo Chavez. The opposition leader Henrique Capriles however claimed fraud on the part of the ruling party.
Venezuelan election authorities have announced that with 99.12% of votes counted Maduro is leading with 50.66 per cent of the votes cast. Capriles is dragging behind with 49.07 per cent.
Around 77 per cent of the eligible voters cast their ballots, officials said.
The new Nina Raines comedy/drama raises some interesting communication issues concerning the Deaf community. The debate whether to downplay the role of American Sign Language (ASL), and those who lip-read or do both, versus the intervention of science and cochlear implementation surgery into their “silent world”, is not only a thorny issue for both proponents, it’s a game-changing threat to long standing social and familial relationships.
“Tribes”, currently onstage at the Mark Taper Forum in LA, is insightfully directed by David Cromer and brings into much sharper focus the issue and the debate of how one copes within a family of hearing parents along with hearing and non-hearing siblings. This is not the first play to address and/or grapple with the issue. “Children of a Lesser God” for example, was a splendid play that saw Marlee Matlin performing in both the stage and movie versions. The Oscar-winning deaf actor somewhat championed the cause for maintaining the status quo (signing as her communication mode of choice). To sign, or not to sign, might become a new rallying cry for future deaf communities to consider. Raines, Cromer and the very talented cast of “Tribes”, passionately examine this loaded subject.
The story pivots around a dysfunctional family of writers and artists: Billy, the deaf older son (the sensational real-life deaf actor Russell, Harvard) of hearing parents Christopher (Jeff Still) and Beth (Lee Roy Rogers), and Billy’s two hearing siblings Ruth (Meghan Mae O’Neill) and Daniel (a caring firebrand Will Brill). Chris and Beth have raised Billy, not as a deaf child, but as a hearing son. One night, after dinner, Billy, goes to a local bar where he literally bumps into Sylvia (Susan Pourfar). Sylvia is an independent, deaf woman who reads lips, signs, and speaks, and is fully functional in the business world and society. As two kindred spirits Billy and Sylvia are attracted to one another. Their accidental meeting sets in motion a budding romance. They are both deaf, and also sign, read lips and speak. One evening Billy invites Sylvia home for dinner with his family. Naturally, the dinner table conversation drifts to deaf people and their place in a society that can restore hearing to many. Chris is brutally frank in his opinions, which Sylvia tactfully challenges. At first, Daniel sides with his father only to switch later on. Ruth leans toward supporting the opinions of Sylvia and Billy, while their mother Beth is non-commital. It’s an evening of disputation conversations worthy of Talmudic scholars.
It’s also an evening that suggests there are new ways of assimilating the deaf community into the larger fabric of society. That might appear as a positive to a hearing society, but such a move to the deaf community is viewed as a solution that is fraught with danger and a loss of something they hold very dear – the safety and comfort zone of exclusivity. The position, although not the same, sort of reminded me of the plight of French speaking Quebecois and their desire not to lose their language and their culture to their more numerous English-speaking brethren.
Harvard is compelling as Billy, a man on the brink of a breakout from one comfortable zone to a life he may one day regret. Still and Rogers portray sympathetic and caring parents who believe they took the correct path in their decision to raise Billy as a hearing son. Speaking of hearing and understanding words as a means of communicating, parents might want to leave grandma and the kiddies at home for this one. There are at least 50 f-bombs hurled from the stage, and they’re all adjectives. Then again, repetitive f-bombs may just lose their power to shock, forcing playwrights to go back to writing dialogue and expanding their vocabulary choices.
Brill, O’Neill, and Pourfar are also solid in this well acted and well paced ensemble drama. Cromer infuses his play with many clever directorial touches and creative traffic management solutions for the six actors when it comes to the multi-level set on the Taper’s thrust stage.
The technical credits are always a strong element at The Taper, and this production is no exception. This passionate production led by director Cromer and his creative team, serve up a functional one set, multi-level space by Scenic Designer Scott Pask, that is creatively lighted by designer Keith Parham.
The debate concerning technology vs. tradition when it comes to the deaf community, however, is still with us. Join the debate, but first make sure you see “Tribes” at the Mark Taper Forum. It runs through April 14, 2013.
At least three people are dead following twin explosions in Boston, Massachusetts where thousands of runners were participating in the annual Boston Marathon. Local media report over 100 people have been injured as well.
Federal aviation authorities have declared a no-fly zone over the area and authorities including the US Air Force continue to attempt to secure the scene. The aviation restrictions have reportedly extended to an order that all flights out of Boston’s Logan Airport be grounded until further notice.
