Year: 2024

The I.R.S.’s Taxpayer Experience Officer Says Open Your Mail Already
03
Mar
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By Benjamin Hall
Investments and Business

The I.R.S.’s Taxpayer Experience Officer Says Open Your Mail Already

The Internal Revenue Service is on a charm offensive, as long as you don’t earn too much money.After a multiyear pandemic pause, the agency is rebooting its collection efforts, hammering home its intent to chase down high earners who owe the most. On Thursday, the I.R.S. said it was sending letters to over 25,000 people with more than $1 million in income who had not filed tax returns since 2017.Everyone else, the agency insists, is going to benefit from the $80 billion that the agency won via the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in 2022. The year before that,…
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U.S. Makes First Airdrop of Aid Into Gaza
02
Mar
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By Benjamin Hall
New miscellaneous

U.S. Makes First Airdrop of Aid Into Gaza

The United States made its first airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza on Saturday in partnership with Jordan, as the Biden administration tries to prevent a greater humanitarian disaster amid frustration with Israel.U.S. planes conducted the airdrop along with the Jordanian Air Force, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Saturday.The airdrops contribute “to ongoing U.S. government efforts to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza,” the statement said. “We are conducting planning for potential follow-on airborne aid delivery missions.”Three U.S. Air Force cargo planes airdropped 66 pallets over southwest Gaza, according to a U.S. official.…
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C.D.C. Shortens Isolation Period for People With Covid
02
Mar
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By Benjamin Hall
Health

C.D.C. Shortens Isolation Period for People With Covid

Americans with Covid or other respiratory infections need not isolate for five days before returning to work or school, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday, a striking sign of changing attitudes toward the coronavirus.People with respiratory illnesses may resume daily activities if they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without the aid of medications and if their symptoms are improving, agency officials said. Acknowledging that people can be contagious even without symptoms, the C.D.C. urged those who end isolation to limit close contact with others, wear well-fitted masks, improve indoor air quality and practice…
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The business of Sarah Nurse: She’s one of the faces of hockey, but her sights are set on more
02
Mar
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By Benjamin Hall
New miscellaneous

The business of Sarah Nurse: She’s one of the faces of hockey, but her sights are set on more

TORONTO — Sarah Nurse was driving home from a recent PWHL Toronto practice when she got a bit of sage advice.It wasn’t from a podcast or a friend on the phone. The advice came courtesy of a billboard on the side of the road in Canada’s most populous city, featuring her own face with the Adidas slogan “You got this.”“I was like, yeah, I do,” Nurse said with a laugh.The billboard she drove past is one of many across the country, including a massive advertisement at Yonge-Dundas Square — Toronto’s closest approximation to Times Square in New York City —…
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Elon Musk Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for Violating the Company’s Principles
02
Mar
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By Benjamin Hall
Science and Technology

Elon Musk Sues OpenAI and Sam Altman for Violating the Company’s Principles

OpenAI, the influential artificial intelligence company that ousted and then reinstated its high-profile chief executive three months ago, faces a new drama: a lawsuit from Elon Musk, one of the richest men in the world and a co-founder of the A.I. lab.Mr. Musk sued OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, accusing them of breaching a contract by putting profits and commercial interests in developing artificial intelligence ahead of the public good. A multibillion-dollar partnership that OpenAI developed with Microsoft, Mr. Musk said, represented an abandonment of a founding pledge to carefully develop A.I. and make the technology publicly available.“OpenAI…
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California’s Economy Pinched by Unemployment
02
Mar
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By Benjamin Hall
Investments and Business

California’s Economy Pinched by Unemployment

For decades, California’s behemoth economy has outpaced those of most nations, holding an outsize role in shaping global trends in tech, entertainment and agriculture.While that reputation remains, the state has a less enviable distinction: one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates.Nationwide, the rate is 3.7 percent, and in January, the country added 353,000 jobs. California’s job growth has been slower than the nationwide average over the last year, and the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high — 5.1 percent in the latest data, a percentage point higher than a year earlier and outpaced only by Nevada’s 5.4 percent.With layoffs in the…
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