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Missouri AG sues H&R Block, other tax preparers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:42 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is suing three popular tax preparation companies.The lawsuit claims Kansas City-based H&R Block, along with Taxslayer LLC and TaxAct, Inc. illegally shared information belonging to millions of Missouri taxpayers with Meta, Google, and other tech companies.The lawsuit comes a day after a group of congressional Democrats reported the same tax preparation companies sent the tech companies personal information on tens of millions of taxpayers over the past two years. Lawmaker to review law ‘in-depth’ after cars with expired tags towed from driveways The three companies are accused of using specific computer code to send personal, financial, and tax return information to tech companies even after explicitly promising the information wouldn't be shared.This is what the lawsuit claims the tax preparation companies may have shared about you, if you were a customer:names;health savings account contributions;college tuition g...

Suspect in Carlinville, Illinois murder remains at large

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:42 GMT

CARLINVILLE, Ill. - Investigators have identified a person suspected of killing a man in Carlinville, Illinois, Wednesday evening. However, the suspect is still on the loose.Police responded to a shooting call in the 1000 block of Johnson Street around 7:20 p.m., and found the victim, identified as Dana Morgan Jr., suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.Morgan was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was 37. Lawmaker to review law ‘in-depth’ after cars with expired tags towed from driveways Authorities were able to identify a person of interest in the murder and, by Thursday, presented the case to the Macoupin County State's Attorney's Office.Prosecutors charged Shawn Evans, 36, with first-degree murder. A judge set his bond at $2 million.Anyone with knowledge of Evans' whereabouts is asked to contact the Carlinville Police Department at 217-854-3221 or [email protected], or call the Macoupin and Montgomery Counties CrimeStoppers at 800-352-0136.

St. Louis Fed president Jim Bullard, one of the central bank's most hawkish members, stepping down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:42 GMT

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard, one of the most hawkish members of the central bank since it started it aggressive rate-hiking campaign, is stepping down.Bullard is leaving his position as president and CEO of the St. Louis Fed to become the inaugural dean of the Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. School of Business at Purdue University next month, the bank announced Thursday.While he'll be available in an “advisory capacity” to the Fed until Aug. 14, Bullard has recused himself from his role on the central bank's committee that determines the direction of interest rates and other monetary policy. Lawmaker to review law ‘in-depth’ after cars with expired tags towed from driveways “It has been both a privilege and an honor to be part of the St. Louis Fed for the last 33 years, including serving as its president for the last 15 years,” Bullard said in a statement. “This is an outstanding organization with staff in every area of the Bank bringing their passion, integrity...

Cillian Murphy, playing Oppenheimer, finally gets to lead a Christopher Nolan film

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:42 GMT

By LINDSEY BAHR (AP Film Writer)The day Christopher Nolan called Cillian Murphy about his new film, “Oppenheimer,” Murphy hung up the phone in disbelief.The Irish actor, though a regular presence in Nolan films going back almost two decades, had always been a supporting player. This time, Nolan wanted him to lead.“He’s so understated and self-deprecating and, in his very English manner, just said, ‘Listen, I’ve written this script, it’s about Oppenheimer. I’d like you to be my Oppenheimer,’” Murphy, 46, told The Associated Press earlier this year. “It was a great day.”For Murphy, it is never not exciting to get a call from Nolan. It’s just hard to predict if he’s going to. He knows there are some movies he’s right for and some movies he isn’t.“I have always said publicly and privately, to Chris, that if I’m available and you want me to be in a movie, I’m there. I donR...

Smash-and-grab burglars hit five gun stores in the metro area

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:42 GMT

A group of nine perpetrators burglarized five gun stores in Centennial, Denver and Englewood recently in overnight smash-and-grab incidents and investigators on Thursday released video clips of the suspects.The incidents happened Sunday and Monday and authorities are asking for the public’s help in identifying a suspect or suspects seen in the surveillance videos, according to an Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office news release.The businesses targeted were:Centennial Gun Club, 11800 E. Peakview Ave., CentennialBowers Tactical, 6931 S. Yosemite St., CentennialBighorn Firearms, 2175 S. Jasmine St., DenverThe Shootist, 2980 S. Galapago St., EnglewoodMile High Armory, 785 S. Vallejo St., DenverThe burglaries happened in the early morning hours, the sheriff’s office said. The burglars, who wore hooded jackets and had their faces covered with masks, smashed glass doors and windows to gain, or attempt to gain, entry to the businesses. In one instance a metal door cover was d...

Hollywood Halted: Actors to join writers in strike against studios, streamers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:42 GMT

Union leadership representing film and television actors voted to go on strike beginning Friday after negotiations with Hollywood studios and streaming services failed to produce a deal. "We are the victims here," said Fran Drescher, the former "Nanny" star who is now president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, at a news conference Thursday. "We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us."Actors will join members of the Writers Guild of America who have been on strike since early May, essentially bringing all Hollywood production to a halt. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, left, and SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland speak during a press conference announcing a strike by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on Thursday, July, 13, 2023, in Los Angeles. This m...

Bear seen on video roaming Sierra Madre neighborhood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:42 GMT

A bear was seen on video wandering a Sierra Madre neighborhood Thursday morning. The bear was sighted in the Adams Street and Laurel Avenue around 7:45 a.m., according to the Sierra Madre Police Department. The bear eventually moved on to the northern area of the city, police said, but not before police recorded it walking on a lawn and going over a retaining wall. At one point it was up a tree before climbing down and going into a backyard and leaving the area. A bear was caught on video roaming a Sierra Madre neighborhood on July 13, 2023. Homeowner Dan Rose said it was just another morning in the neighborhood. He didn’t even realize what was going on until he saw police showing up at his home, yelling out his address over an intercom and advising him to stay inside.“It’s been probably the last few years, a little bit more common to see them, but it’s not out of the ordinary to even have them in the yard,” Rose said. “It’s the police with their guns out in the front yard that scar...

Boxing champ Devin Haney arrested in Los Angeles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:42 GMT

Boxing star and Oakland native Devin Haney was arrested overnight Thursday, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department records. Haney was arrested in the Hollywood area around 1 a.m. on a felony charge, KTLA sister station KRON reports. The undisputed lightweight champion had a semi-automatic handgun in his car during a traffic stop and was arrested for "felony possession of a concealed weapon," according to TMZ. Although Haney was not behind the wheel, the car registered under his name made an unsafe lane change and failed to use a turn signal, the outlet reported. The boxer was booked into a Los Angeles jail at 3:48 a.m.He was released on $35,000 bail Thursday at 8:12 a.m., according to sheriff's records.Haney, 24, is coming off his biggest win in May over two-time gold medalist Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Dirty Weed Words: Commercial Viability

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:42 GMT

Commercial viability may be the phrase that has changed in cannabis the most over the decades for the industry.During my chat with First Smoke of The Day, which dropped last week, the subject of commercial viability came up. Basically, I said once you got past the lovely people that got screwed by circumstances of licensing or location, there are a lot of people who got eaten up by the times because they wouldn’t change their ways. This received the most positive feedback of anything I said during the hour-and-a-half talk. While I’ve attempted to articulate the idea of people not being able to keep up with the game, it was never with the ethos of how many of the world’s best growers hit me up or tagged me on Instagram over the last week. At its core, the attempt to define commercial viability in cannabis has proven a double-edged sword. On the one side, the meaning represents progress in the game. The bar for commercial viability has risen with the progress of the times across every...

Photos: Webb Space Telescope marks first year making cosmic images

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:42 GMT

What a difference a year makes: The James Webb Space Telescope has provided new photos of the most distant planets in our solar system, refreshed our views on the universe with the sharpest infrared images of it yet and in its latest feat, shown us the star-forming region nearest to our home planet.Related ArticlesScience | NASA’s first new wind tunnel in 40 years will turn science fiction to fact Science | A SpaceX rocket arcs across the California sky, hurling internet satellites to the heavens NASA on Wednesday marked the cosmic instrument’s first year of discovery and scientific operations by releasing a new, detailed view of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex — the closest star-forming area to Earth — exactly one year after broadcasting the first images made using the space telescope.The $10 billion Webb Telescope was named after the man who led NASA’s Apollo program from 1961 to 1968 and it replaced its predecessor, the Hubble Space Tele...