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IRS is ending unannounced visits to taxpayers

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:01:33 GMT

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service said Monday it is ending its decades-old policy of making unannounced home and business visits, in an effort to help keep its workers safe and to combat scammers who pose as IRS agents.Effective immediately, revenue agents will no longer make unplanned visits to taxpayers’ homes and businesses “except in a few unique circumstances,” the Treasury Department said in a statement. The agency will instead mail letters to people to schedule meetings.“Today’s announcement is the right thing to do, at the right time,” new IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel told reporters on a call Monday.The change ends “an era at the IRS,” he said, reversing a practice by revenue officers whose duties include visiting homes and firms to resolve taxpayers’ liabilities by collecting unpaid taxes and unfiled tax returns.The agency in recent years has experienced more threats, in part tied to conspiracy theories that ag...

Dolphin moms use baby talk to call to their young

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:01:33 GMT

WASHINGTON — You know instantly when someone is speaking to an infant or small child. It turns out that dolphin mothers also use a kind of high-pitched baby talk.A recent study found that female bottlenose dolphins change their tone when addressing their calves. Researchers recorded the signature whistles of 19 mother dolphins in Florida, when accompanied by their young offspring and when swimming alone or with other adults.The dolphin signature whistle is a unique and important signal — akin to calling out their own name.“They use these whistles to keep track of each other. They’re periodically saying, ‘I’m here, I’m here’,” said study co-author Laela Sayigh, a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution marine biologist.When directing the signal to their calves, the mother’s whistle pitch is higher and her pitch range is greater than usual, according to the study published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.R...

Cape Cod shark sightings light up Sharktivity app, ocean sunfish confused for great whites

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:01:33 GMT

Several Cape Cod great white shark sightings lit up the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app during a busy weekend, while many spotters are also confusing ocean sunfish for the apex predators.A flurry of shark activity was reported close to shore on Sunday, including a shark alert off of Chatham in the middle of the afternoon.“!! SHARK ALERT !! White shark spotted 400 yards off North Beach Island,” tweeted MA Sharks, which is run by shark researcher John Chisholm, who confirms shark sightings for the Sharktivity app.Shark alerts are issued when a white shark sighting is confirmed close to a public beach. A notification goes out with each alert.Chatham is a hotspot for sharks this time of year, as they prowl the shoreline for seals.Other Outer Cape shark sightings on Sunday included a great white spotted near Chatham’s Monomoy Island, and a 10- to 12-foot great white spotted off of Nauset Outer Cut in Orleans.In Cape Cod Bay off of Eastham, peopl...

US to send up to $400 million in military aid to Ukraine, officials say

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:01:33 GMT

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is sending up to $400 million in additional military aid to Ukraine, including a variety of munitions for advanced air defense systems and a number of small, surveillance Hornet drones, U.S. officials said Monday, as attacks in the war escalated to include strikes in Moscow and Crimea.The package includes an array of ammunition — ranging from missiles for the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) to Stingers and Javelins. The weapons are being provided through presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon to quickly take items from its own stocks and deliver them to Ukraine, often within days.Officials said the U.S. is also sending howitzer artillery rounds and 32 Stryker armored vehicles, along with demolition equipment, mortars, Hydra-70 rockets and 28 million rounds of small arms ammunit...

Patriots sign WR Jalen Hurd, ex-Navy LB Diego Fagot to fill out roster

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:01:33 GMT

Two days out from training camp, the Patriots filled their last remaining roster spots Monday by reaching terms with former 49ers wide receiver Jalen Hurd and ex-Navy linebacker Diego Fagot.Veterans are expected to report to the team facility Tuesday, and the Patriots will hold their first training camp practice Wednesday.The 49ers selected Hurd in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He never took an NFL snap due to injuries and has been out of the league since 2021. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound pass-catcher was a versatile chess piece in college with Tennessee and Baylor, rushing for 2,844 yards with 23 touchdowns while posting 1,438 receiving yards and 10 scores.Hurd played running back early in his college career, then converted to wideout in 2018. He entered the league as a high-upside prospect because of his athleticism and natural skill with the ball in his hands.Fagot, who also worked out for the team Monday, went undrafted out of Navy last year. The 6-foot-3, 238-pound linebac...

Texas jury deliberates punishment for student in school shooting that wounded three

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:01:33 GMT

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A jury on Monday began deliberating the sentence for a 19-year-old who was found guilty of attempted capital murder in a 2021 shooting at a Dallas-area high school that wounded two other students and a teacher. Timothy Simpkins faces up to life in prison following his conviction last week by the Tarrant County jury. Simpson was 18 when he opened fire on Oct. 6, 2021, inside Timberview High School in Arlington during a fight with Zaccheaus Selby, who was 15 at the time and was among those wounded.Taking the witness stand during the trial’s punishment phase, he said that he understood what he did was wrong. Simpkins repeatedly told jurors that he carried the gun to defend himself.“I’m truly sorry. I’m just asking for another chance,” Simpkins said. “I wish every day I could take it back. But I can’t.”According to testimony, Selby went straight to Simpkins when he entered the classroom late that morning and began beating Simpkins. After the two were...

B.C. announces new programs and police standards for sexual assault investigations

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:01:33 GMT

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia government is updating sexual assault policing standards to ensure more effective investigations and improved outcomes for survivors. The province announced Monday that it’s committing to providing stable annual funding to 68 sexual assault programs across B.C., while it sets new standards for police to collaborate with victims services workers during investigations. Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said survivors deserve to be treated fairly after going through trauma and shielded from further harm, and the new standards and programs will “empower” those people. “The standards promote police co-ordination with health services and community supports,” Farnworth said. “They require supervisory oversight to make sure investigations are responsive and impartial, and a review of closed cases to improve future investigations or informed training moving forward.”The province said the fund...

US Forest Service burn started wildfire that nearly reached Los Alamos, New Mexico, agency says

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:01:33 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service says its own prescribed burn started a 2022 wildfire that nearly burned into Los Alamos, New Mexico. The Cerro Pelado fire burned across more than 60 square miles (155 square kilometers) and crept within a few miles of the city of Los Alamos and its companion U.S. national security lab. Investigations traced the outbreak of the wildfire in April 2022 under extremely dry conditions to hidden, smoldering remains of a prescribed burn of forest debris commissioned by the Forest Service earlier in the winter.The revelation prompted immediate rebukes against the Forest Service by New Mexico political leaders. The federal government already has acknowledged that it started the largest wildfire in state history that charred more than 530 square miles (1,373 square kilometers) of the Rocky Mountain foothills east of Santa Fe, New Mexico, destroying homes and livelihoods.Southwestern Regional Forester Michiko Martin said the Cerro Pelado fire west...

Mental health minister puts $156M toward launch of 988 crisis hotline in November

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:01:33 GMT

OTTAWA — The government is putting $156 million over three years toward a new three-digit suicide-prevention hotline, Mental Health Minister Carolyn Bennett announced Monday.Starting on Nov. 30, people in crisis will be able to dial 988 anywhere in Canada to be connected with trained responders 24 hours a day by phone or text message.The free service will be offered in English and French.The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health will receive the money to launch and operate the hotline.The minister is also giving the organization $21 million to bolster the capacity of distress centres as they prepare for the increased demand for services. The hotline won’t be able to help people in crisis unless they can connect with local mental health services, the Canadian Mental Health Association said in a statement Monday. Current wait-lists are overwhelming, CAMH said in a statement Monday, and the centre expects a four- to sixfold increase in demand when the new hotline launches.Withou...

Former Louisiana police officer accused of shooting unarmed Black man faces second criminal charge

Published Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:01:33 GMT

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — State prosecutors have added a second felony charge against a former Louisiana police officer accused of fatally shooting an unarmed Black man earlier this year.The second criminal charge of felony malfeasance was added Monday as former Shreveport officer Alexander Tyler, who is white, was arraigned on charges of shooting Alonzo Bagley at an apartment complex in February. Tyler and another officer were responding to a report by Bagley’s wife of a domestic disturbance.Tyler pleaded not guilty to first-degree negligent homicide and felony malfeasance.Body camera footage shows officers knocking on Bagley’s door, Bagley retreating into his apartment, and then jumping off a second-floor balcony. The video shows Tyler catching Bagley and shooting him once in the chest, and then officers begging him to stay alive while trying to administer first aid.Tyler was charged with negligent homicide on Feb. 16 by the Louisiana State Police, about two weeks after the sho...