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Melancon: IRS pushes Direct File despite problems

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:00:25 GMT

Some members of Congress recently voiced their disappointment with how the IRS will begin preparing and filing our tax returns — a process that accountants, private companies and taxpayers have typically serviced — under false pretenses. I, too, feel the urge to add my two cents.To advance its tax preparation pilot program, which it calls Direct File, the IRS used a study demonstrating more than 70% of the public approved the idea. However, according to a report from the Treasury’s inspector general, the strategic framing of this study may have been wholly dishonest. The IRS’ embracing and promoting of it may enable the agency to completely take over assessing the American people’s taxes. That is troubling for many reasons and potentially exacerbating racial wealth disparities is top among them.A recent Stanford University study found “that Black taxpayers are audited at three to five times the rate of non-Black taxpayers” despite race-blind audit selection. This is an issue that ev...

‘Concrete Utopia’ a tale of class & chaos

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:00:25 GMT

While South Korea’s “Concrete Utopia” solidly stands as an epic disaster film, it couldn’t be farther from Hollywood’s ‘70s cycle of escapist hits like “The Poseidon Adventure” and “The Towering Inferno.”“Concrete,” South Korea’s selection for the Best International Feature Academy Award, begins with a nasty earthquake that turns to rubble a city’s many, identical high-rise apartment towers – all except one.It’s winter, the survivors are cold, hungry, desperate – and no rescue teams, no ambulances appear.  The residents of the one surviving building, which is minus water or power, realize that as homeless survivors plea for shelter inside, they must make life or death decisions.They elect a leader (played by “Squid Game” star Lee Byung-hun) whose violent history is only gradually revealed – and who immediately secures control. Death and violence ensue.“I was always interested in Korean apartment buildings,” the director and co-writer Um Tae-hwa explained through an interpreter in a ...

Dear Abby: Friend in need now freeloading pain

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:00:25 GMT

Dear Abby: I let a friend who was going through a hard time stay on my couch when he would get too drunk to drive. Eleven years later, he’s still here. I told him from the beginning not to get hooked or fall in love with me, because I knew I would never feel the same.He has taken over my home with his collections but won’t sell anything. He also doesn’t pay any bills. I do not like his drinking. I am sober. He yells and screams for sex, but I don’t give in. I told him he needs to move on.I’m on disability and a fixed income. Legal eviction? Restraining order? He has threatened to walk away and leave me to deal with all his junk. Help! — Invaded in MissouriDear Invaded: You have been too kind for far too long. Before doing anything, talk with an attorney because of the length of time you have allowed this person to live with you (rent-free). If you can’t afford legal counsel, reach out to your local Legal Aid or Legal Services office.If the f...

Two Imperial County locations to hold free 'Dump Day' events

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:00:25 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Got unwanted items that need to go? The California Department of Transportation is holding free "Dump Day" events in El Centro and Brawley this weekend.Both locations, 1102 Montenegro Way at Caltrans El Centro Maintenance Yard and 200 South Palm Ave at Caltrans Brawley Maintenance Yard, will open Saturday from 8 a.m.- noon, or until capacity is reached at the site, traffic officials said in a news release Monday.On-site staff will accept non-hazardous, unwanted household items, according to Caltrans. Four mattresses and four tires separated from the rims will be taken per household.  52-foot whale washes up on Pacific Beach in San Diego Those attending are advised not to bring hazardous waste like batteries, paint, oils or flammables. Other undesired items include e-waste like televisions, computers, microwaves, stereo equipment and electronics, or construction debris like concrete, dirt, asphalt and asbestos.Motorists should properly secure and tarp all cargo loads a...

Malaysian leader appoints technocrat as his deputy finance minister in Cabinet shuffle

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:00:25 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim appointed a technocrat as his deputy finance minister on Tuesday in a Cabinet shuffle aimed at strengthening his administration and winning public trust a year after taking power.The shuffle was widely expected and expanded the number of portfolios with the appointment of five new ministers. Anwar said the changes were needed to meet current demands and cope with global trends, including the growing impact of artificial intelligence.Anwar, who appointed himself as finance minister after taking office last year, revived the post of second finance minister and named the head of the country’s largest pension fund, Amir Hamzah Azizan, to the portfolio in a move that could ease criticism of the prime minister.While he still heads the Finance Ministry, Anwar said having a professional team will ensure “we are on right track and can focus on the economy.”Several key ministers swapped portfolios. Mohamad Hasan,...

Suicide bomber attacks police station in northwest Pakistan, killing 3 officers and wounding 16

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:00:25 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at a police station’s main gate in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least three policemen and wounding 16 others, officials said. Some militants also opened fire and a shootout between them and security forces was still ongoing, police officer Kamal Khan said. Khan said the attack happened in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The province is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed a rise in violence with several deadly attacks. In January, at least 101 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a mosque in Peshawar.No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who have stepped up attacks on security forces since 2022. Authorities say the insurgents have become embolde...

Zelenskyy will arrive on Capitol Hill to grim mood as Biden’s aid package for Ukraine risks collapse

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:00:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will arrive on Capitol Hill to a darker mood than when he swooped in last winter for a hero’s welcome, as the Russian invasion is grinding into a third year and U.S. funding hangs in balance.Zelenskyy’s visit Tuesday comes as President Joe Biden’s request for an additional $110 billion U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs is at serious risk of collapse in Congress. Republicans are insisting on strict U.S.-Mexico border security changes that Democrats decry as draconian in exchange for the overseas aid.“It is maddening,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a close ally of Biden, of the stalemate. “A very bad message to the world, to the Ukrainian people.”The White House said the time was right for Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington as Biden pushes lawmakers to approve the aid package before the year-end holidays. But the mood turned grim at the Capitol on the eve of his arrival. Zelen...

Backlash to House testimony shines spotlight on new generation of Ivy League presidents

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:00:25 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The university presidents called before a congressional hearing on antisemitism last week had more in common than strife on their campuses: The leaders of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and MIT were all women who were relatively new in their positions.In that sense, they represented the changing face of leadership at top-tier universities, with a record number of women leading Ivy League schools.Now Penn’s president has resigned over a backlash to comments that she said did not go far enough to condemn hate against Jewish students. And Harvard’s president is facing calls to step down from donors and some lawmakers.While the Israel-Hamas war has deepened rifts at campuses across the country, the three leaders were invited to testify as the public faces of universities embroiled in protest and complaints of antisemitism. The Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce chose the three presidents because their schools “have been at the ...

Battle over creating new court centers on equality in Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:00:25 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The constitutional right of equal treatment under the law is at the center of a monthslong legal fight over a state-run court in part of Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city of Jackson.A federal judge is set to hear arguments Dec. 19 over the Capitol Complex Improvement District Court, which is scheduled to be created Jan. 1.The new court would be led by a state-appointed judge and prosecutors, and it would be the equivalent of a municipal court, handling misdemeanor cases. Municipal judges and prosecutors in Mississippi are typically appointed by local elected officials, but legislators who created the CCID Court said it was part of a package to fight crime.The Justice Department says the new court would continue Mississippi’s long history of trying to suppress Black people’s right to participate in government.“Just like many past efforts to undermine Black political power, (the law) singles out the majority-Black City of Jackson for los...

Hong Kong leader praises election turnout as voter numbers hit record low

Published Sat, 08 Feb 2025 11:00:25 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong leader John Lee on Tuesday praised the 27.5% voter turnout in the city’s weekend election, a record low since the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997.Sunday’s district council election was the first held under new rules introduced under Beijing’s direction that effectively shut out all pro-democracy candidates.“The turnout of 1.2 million voters has indicated that they supported the election, they supported the principles,” Lee said at a news conference.“It is important that we focus our attention on the outcome of the election, and the outcome will mean a constructive district council, rather than what used to be a destructive one,” he said.Sunday’s turnout was significantly less than the record 71.2% of Hong Kong’s 4.3 million registered voters who participated in the last election, held at the height of anti-government protests in 2019, which the pro-democracy camp won by a landslide.Lee said there was resistance to Sunday&...