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IRS will test a free e-filing system next year

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:36:10 GMT

Most taxpayers are interested in filing their taxes directly to the IRS for free, a new report says, and that option will be tested next year.The IRS has spent the past nine months studying whether U.S. taxpayers want to see a free, e-filing system run by the government — and is now preparing to launch a pilot program.The prospect of a free, government-run, online tax filing system has been debated for a long time. Supporters argue that the option would make tax return services more equitable and accessible for taxpayers nationwide. But there's also been pushback from some big tax-prep companies.Now, the IRS plans to launch a pilot program for the 2024 filing season to test a “direct file” system and help the federal government decide whether to move forward with potentially implementing it in the future, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel and the Treasury’s Chief Implementation Officer Laurel Blatchford said Tuesday.There are still few details available about the pilot as the agency det...

Ontario International Airport reports busiest international travel month ever

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:36:10 GMT

One of the nation's fastest growing airports broke new records this past April, recording the highest number of international travelers for a single month in its history.Ontario International Airport (ONT), welcomed 34,000 international travelers in April, a 138% increase over the previous year. The airport also saw a half-million domestic fliers in April — a 7.5% increase from the previous April. Ontario Airport visitors can now say goodbye to loved ones at the boarding gate Officials for the airport say passenger traffic in April rose 11.6% from the previous year, extending the airport's streak of double-digit travel increases.Atif Elkadi, chief executive officer of the Ontario International Airport Authority, said the airport's remained steadily busy, while still offering "hassle-free" experiences, including easy access to terminals, quick security screenings and affordable parking prices.“At a time when many California airports are struggling to restore international services...

How much does Peptide Therapy cost?

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:36:10 GMT

Peptide therapy has been making the headlines as a means to make life a lot easier. Wanna lose fat? Build muscle? Reduce the signs of aging? Hell, do you want to improve your cognitive function? Depending on the peptide you take you could do any of those and more. But what about the costs? Peptide therapy doesn’t come cheap – depending on where you go. Let’s compare some of the available options and what they’ll run you.What exactly is Peptide Therapy?Before we delve into the brass tax of Peptide Therapy and how much it’ll cost you we need to discuss what peptide therapy actually classifies at. Legally, the definition reads as “Therapeutic peptides are a unique class of pharmaceutical agents composed of a series of well-ordered amino acids”.Between us, peptide therapy is simply the use of certain peptides to alleviate symptoms or fix a dysfunction. Peptides can be described as amino acids that are bound with peptide bonds – hence the name.Depending on the amino acids use...

New Mexico authorities ID gunman who killed 3 women

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:36:10 GMT

By Susan Montoya Bryan, Ken Ritter and Morgan Lee | Associated PressFARMINGTON, N.M. — The gunman who killed three people and wounded six others while roaming through his northwestern New Mexico neighborhood and apparently firing at random targets was a local 18-year-old high school student, authorities said Tuesday, noting they were still trying to determine a motive for the attack.Beau Wilson lived in the Farmington neighborhood where he opened fire Monday, killing three women, authorities said at a news conference. The three were 97-year-old Gwendolyn Schofield, her 73-year-old daughter, Melody Ivie, and 79-year-old Shirley Voita, police said.Witnesses and police say Wilson walked through the neighborhood a short drive from downtown Farmington spraying bullets until police arrived at the scene within minutes and shot and killed him.Deputy Police Chief Baric Crum said Wilson was indiscriminately shooting at vehicles, but that some rounds also hit homes.Authorities are still trying...

Pallesen affordable housing project inches along in San Jose

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:36:10 GMT

Two years ago, I was among the hundreds of people who watched as the historic Pallesen apartment building was trucked from Reed and South First streets to a new location on Fourth and Reed. Applauded as a huge victory for preservation and affordable housing, the move was made possible by key donors and then-Councilmember Raul Peralez’s office, the Preservation Action Council, and Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley.To casual observers, not much has appeared to have happened since with the 1910 Italianate two-story building. But that should be changing very soon.The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to allocate $1 million in Measure A funds to Habitat for Humanity to get the ball rolling on bringing the building up to code and making the building’s four units available for purchase by low-income buyers. Kevin Elliott, Habitat for Humanity’s chief real estate officer, said a number of delays pushed back the work — not an uncommon st...

Steve Kerr, with one year left on contract, downplays extension talks with Warriors

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:36:10 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Whether Bob Myers will be resigned to navigate the waning years of a dynasty is the most pressing offseason matter following the Warriors’ early playoff exit. Head coach Steve Kerr’s future is also up for discussion as he comes into the final year of his contract for the 2023-24 season.That final contract year is when two sides typically start discussing extensions. But Kerr said on Tuesday that those talks are on the backburner while the organization sorts through the president of basketball operations potential exit and Draymond Green’s future with the team.Kerr signed an extension at the end of the 2018 championship season and is going into his ninth season as Warriors head coach.“Our organization has a lot to sort through this summer,” he said at an end-of-season press conference on Tuesday. “My contract situation is not, nor should it be, at the top of the list. Right now Bob’s contract situation is number one beca...

Three-bedroom home sells for $3.9 million in Saratoga

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:36:10 GMT

20575 Reid Lane – Google Street ViewThe spacious property located in the 20500 block of Reid Lane in Saratoga was sold on April 28, 2023. The $3,850,000 purchase price works out to $1,492 per square foot. The house, built in 1962, has an interior space of 2,580 square feet. The property features three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a garage as well as two parking spaces. The unit sits on a 10,005-square-foot lot.Additional houses have recently been sold nearby:In August 2022, a 3,475-square-foot home on Marion Road in Saratoga sold for $5,075,000, a price per square foot of $1,460. The home has 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.A 2,819-square-foot home on the 20700 block of Seaton Avenue in Saratoga sold in December 2022, for $4,531,000, a price per square foot of $1,607. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.On Marion Road, Saratoga, in April 2023, a 3,324-square-foot home was sold for $4,575,000, a price per square foot of $1,376. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. 

ChatGPT chief says AI should be regulated by US, global agency

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:36:10 GMT

By Matt O’Brien | Associated PressThe head of the artificial intelligence company that makes ChatGPT told Congress on Tuesday that government intervention will be critical to mitigating the risks of increasingly powerful AI systems.“As this technology advances, we understand that people are anxious about how it could change the way we live. We are too,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at a Senate hearing.Altman proposed the formation of a U.S. or global agency that would license the most powerful AI systems and have the authority to “take that license away and ensure compliance with safety standards.”His San Francisco-based startup rocketed to public attention after it released ChatGPT late last year. ChatGPT is a free chatbot tool that answers questions with convincingly human-like responses.What started out as a panic among educators about ChatGPT’s use to cheat on homework assignments has expanded to broader concerns about the ability of the latest ...

Brentwood: Manslaughter charge filed in Thanksgiving 2021 fatal crash

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:36:10 GMT

MARTINEZ — A 38-year-old man has been arrested and charged with killing a Vallejo resident in a crash that occurred on Thanksgiving 2021, court records show.Austin Landers was charged in late March with one count of vehicular manslaughter involving gross negligence, a felony. He is accused of killing 22-year-old Bryan Lopez-Islas, the driver of a vehicle that was struck head-on after Landers’ car allegedly swerved into oncoming traffic.Landers pleaded not guilty in April. Earlier this month, he posted $50,000 bail and was released from jail, court records show. He is next due in court on June 16 for a preliminary hearing, where a judge will review evidence against him and determine whether there is enough to send the case to trial.Lopez-Islas was killed a little before 6 a.m. on Nov. 25, 2021. The crash occurred in unincorporated Contra Costa County, near Brentwood, at Vasco Road and Walnut Boulevard, police said at the time. Lopez-Islas was driving a Toyota Corolla that...

‘Abysmal’: Lies, neglect led to costly Santa Clara County jail injury, new report says

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 10:36:10 GMT

A new report on a high-profile jail injury case in Santa Clara County details how deputies and medical staff let a mentally ill man lay paralyzed in his cell for more than 24 hours, then lied about the care they gave him to cover up their neglect — all of which led to a $7 million county payout.The report on the treatment of Juan Martin Nuñez in a Main Jail psychiatric unit, which was heard by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, coincided with a unanimous board vote to require the county to publicly report, on a quarterly basis, large tort settlements.At the top of the report, the county’s Office of Correction and Law Enforcement Monitoring — a civilian police auditing arm — called the way jail staff handled Nuñez “abysmal,” particularly with how they dismissed his repeated cries that he was paralyzed and needed medical attention, and called out how deputies and jail nurses refused to believe him.“It cannot be underestimated or understated how ho...