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A last-minute guide to filing your 2022 return: EV credits, shrinking refunds and the end of pandemic tax relief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:24 GMT

Robert Channick | (TNS) Chicago TribuneWith less than one month to go before the April 18 deadline, the majority of the nation’s 168 million tax filers are once again scrambling to download software, organize receipts and call their accountants for last-minute help.Procrastinators may find what early filers already know: Tax year 2022 is not producing as many happy returns as in previous years due to a number of changes, including the expiration of some pandemic-era tax breaks.“People will be getting smaller refunds on average because of that,” said Dan Rahill, a longtime Chicago tax partner and past chairman of the Illinois CPA Society, who now serves as a wealth strategist at Wintrust Wealth Management.From a reduced child tax credit to the end of a charitable tax break that allowed for an above-the-line deduction last year, the changes are most likely to erode refunds that have become the norm during the pandemic.For the 63 million people who had already filed their tax returns a...

SDSU vs. Alabama: Watch the Sweet 16 game at these watch parties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:24 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State University Men’s Basketball team will faceoff with Alabama in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.Tipoff for the Sweet 16 game is set for 3:30 p.m. PT. The competition will be held at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. At home in San Diego, fans are riveting and ready to cheer on their team from afar. How to watch San Diego State take on Alabama in Sweet 16 There are a variety of watch parties being held throughout the city, offering those rooting on the Aztecs' a place to rev up their team spirit as they watch college basketball history prevail. Here's a breakdown of SDSU vs. Alabama watch parties near you. -- Viejas Arena: The home arena of the Aztecs, which can seat up to 12,414 fans, will be putting the game up on their big screens. SDSU pride is sure to be felt from home court. Plus, admission to the watch party is free. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. -- Chula Vista Golf Course: Located at 4475 Bonita Road, this South Bay watch party at the golf...

Alpine community calling attention to damage done by draining of Loveland Reservoir

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:24 GMT

ALPINE, Calif. -- East County residents are fired up and passionate about the loss of resources and damage to the environment after the Loveland Reservoir was completely drained last November.On Thursday evening representatives from the Sweetwater Authority came to an Alpine Planning Group meeting to address the concerns in person.The authority serves South Bay communities, however the Loveland Reservoir is located in East County, where it has provided recreation as well as fishing for decades.Since the reservoir was drained, residents expressed the damage that’s been done. San Diego water reservoirs levels at 128% “They’ve taken away a real precious resource. Those fish will never be back, and you killed them,” said one man during public comment.“With the draining to dead pool, that just destroyed much of the surrounding area to erosion,” said field biologist Kim Hales.Sweetwater Authority says the action was taken during drought conditions to provide drinking water and other wat...

Police say it’s ‘improbable’ there are more than seven victims of Old Montreal fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:24 GMT

Montreal police said Friday they didn’t think they would find more than seven bodies in the rubble of an Old Montreal building that caught fire eight days ago.Searchers had left open the possibility that unaccounted for tourists or isolated people without family could still be in the burnt-out structure. But Insp. David Shane said police hadn’t received more reports of people missing, adding that it’s “improbable” there were more than seven victims.“It’s always a possibility that we find somebody else, but what we wanted to share with you in total transparency is that we have no information indicating that there could be somebody else,” Shane told reporters.“It’s not impossible, but we feel that it’s improbable at this point.”Searchers have pulled four bodies from the rubble, and only one victim has been identified: 76-year-old Camille Maheux, a renowned photographer whose relatives said had lived in the buildin...

Reports: Islamic State kidnaps dozens in Syria, dead found

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:24 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Members of the Islamic State group have kidnapped dozens of people in a central province and the bodies of some have been found with their throats slits, an opposition war monitor and pro-government media reported Friday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the extremists kidnapped about 40 people Thursday and killed at least 15 people whose bodies were discovered Friday in the central province of Hama. The Observatory said the dead included seven civilians and eight armed tribesmen.The pro-government Sham FM radio station said the extremists attacked farmers who were collecting truffles in the eastern countryside of Hama province. It added that some of the kidnapped “were martyred” while contact was lost with others. Despite their defeat in Syria in March 2019, the militant group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks both in Syria and Iraq where they once declared a “caliphate.”Last month, IS sleeper cells attacked workers collecting tr...

Judge slams lawyers for slowing jailed 1/6 defendant’s case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:24 GMT

A federal judge in Washington is threatening to report two attorneys for possible disciplinary action for delaying the trial of a man waiting in jail on charges that he assaulted police officers during the Capitol riot.U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, questioned in court papers filed Thursday whether attorney Joseph McBride was being sincere when he said last summer that he needed to push Christopher Quaglin’s October trial; McBride said he has chronic Lyme disease and treatment and recovery would take two to three months. At the same time, the judge noted that McBride — who represents several Jan. 6 defendants — continued to do media interviews and spoke in October to a Republican county committee about his fight for the “January 6 political prisoners.” In November, McBride tweeted a picture of himself on the beach at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and another photo inside Trump’s 2024 campaign announcement party...

King Charles’ state visit deflated as France leg canceled

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:24 GMT

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III’s international debut was deflated Friday when his trip to France was postponed indefinitely because of protests that threatened to mar events at high profile venues such as the Arc de Triomphe and the Palace of Versailles.While Charles will still travel to Germany on Wednesday, the decision to bypass France removes some of the sparkle from his first overseas trip as monarch, originally planned as a six-day, celebration of Britain’s links with its biggest European allies.But with protesters promising to target royal events as they demonstrate against French President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to raise the retirement age, planners had little choice but to cancel a visit that could have embarrassed the king.“It is a great shame because it was the first state visit of the king’s reign and much thought would have been given as to who should have that honor,” said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine.Macron said Friday that he had asked for the vis...

Darcelle, world’s oldest working drag queen, dies at 92

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:24 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Walter C. Cole, better known as the iconic drag queen who performed for decades as Darcelle XV, has died of natural causes in Portland, Oregon. Cole was 92.Darcelle, who died Thursday, was crowned the world’s oldest working drag performer in 2016 by the Guinness Book of World Records and was regaling audiences until the very end.As a performer, Darcelle was known for hosting the longest-running drag show on the U.S. West Coast. Off stage, Cole championed LGBTQ+ rights and charitable work in the Portland community.The nightclub that Darcelle opened more than 50 years ago in downtown Portland, Darcelle XV Showplace, said it was heartbroken in a Facebook post.“We ask for privacy and patience as everyone processes and grieves in their own way and at their own pace,” the club said. They also said that details of a public memorial will be announced and all shows at the Showplace will go on as scheduled, per Darcelle’s wishes.“Please join us and celebrate her le...

Airbnb to pull illegal listings in Quebec days after fatal Montreal fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:24 GMT

MONTREAL — Short-term rental company Airbnb said Friday it would pull listings in Quebec that don’t have a permit from the provincial government, eight days after a fatal fire destroyed a historic Old Montreal building that housed illegal rentals.Four bodies have so far been pulled from the building and three people remain missing in the rubble of Édifice William-Watson-Ogilvie, constructed in 1890. Some of those missing had rented their accommodations on Airbnb. In 2018, Airbnb-style short-term rentals were made illegal in the area where the building is located.In a letter Friday to Quebec Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx, Airbnb said that it would remove listings across the province that don’t have a permit from the agency that manages the province’s tourist accommodation act. It also said that in the coming days it will require new listings to include the permit number. The company also promised to give the provincial government access to the Airbnb City Portal ...

ConocoPhillips details gas leak cause, remedies at hearing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:50:24 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — ConocoPhillips, which last week received U.S. government approval for the massive Willow oil drilling project in Alaska, detailed reasons for a natural gas leak at another North Slope field that prompted the evacuation of 300 employees last year.Officials with the company said that pumping 170 barrels (27,028 litres) of diesel fuel, a freeze-prevention fluid, into a disposal well caused a component to fail and led to the subsequent leak, the Anchorage Daily News reported.ConocoPhillips officials spoke Thursday at an Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission hearing in Anchorage about the 2022 leak at the Alpine field in northern Alaska. Delayed recognition allowed the leak to continue for days, and the company had not anticipated the shallow underground zone to contain significant amounts of gas.Erica Livingston, a wells chief engineer for ConocoPhillips Alaska, said the well design has been used many times previously without issues. However, it was not cem...