After more than a decade of mostly losing out, the Internal Revenue Service may finally get the cash infusion it’s long wanted in the economic package that Democrats are working furiously to push through Congress before their August break. Under a deal worked out by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the bill would spend an extra $79.6 billion on the beleaguered agency over the next 10 years. The plan would generate an additional $203.7 billion in revenue for the federal government over that time frame, for a net gain of more than $124 billion, the Congressional Budget Office projects.
Tougher IRS enforcement central to Democrats’ economic package
Maryland, other states post Yellow Alerts to try to nab hit-and-run drivers
Debbie Geneau was on her way to the bank in Bakersfield, California, one afternoon in July 2020, when three cars headed in the opposite direction crashed. One hit the divider and went airborne, landing on top of Geneau’s Dodge Charger, killing the 65-year-old office manager. The driver responsible for the chain-reaction crash fled the scene. It took nine months for police to figure out who she was and arrest her. She was charged with a hit-and-run resulting in death or permanent serious injury and with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. “The biggest thing for me was that I wanted justice for my mom and some type of closure for my family,” said Geneau’s daughter, Dawn Elliott, of Edmond, Oklahoma.
Worker pay is on the rise, but a pivotal group is often missing out
Workers may be making more in the tight labor market, but many small-business owners are forgoing paychecks to survive. About 64% of small-business owners surveyed by Forbes Advisor said they had not paid themselves a salary to keep their business afloat. One-third of respondents say they frequently don’t pay themselves a salary to keep their business operating. The survey found many business owners are indeed worried about the long-term survival of their businesses, with a combined 30% saying they are concerned about their business making it another year. Additionally, about 35% of small-business owners said their revenue is lower than pre-Covid-19 levels.
‘I couldn’t be happier’: Lifetime of service leads Naval Academy graduate to become Anne Arundel priest
Serving others has always been James Bors’ mission in life. Bors attended the Naval Academy in the 1980s, served in the Navy for seven years after that and eventually became a father, husband, teacher and parishioner in Annapolis. When asked what motivates him to give so much of himself, Bors paraphrases Scripture: “And he who receives a lot, is able to give a lot.” On June 18, Bors took the latest step in his lifetime of service. He was ordained by Archbishop William E. Lori at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore and assigned to St. Jane Frances De Chantal Church in Riviera Beach, a stone and brick Catholic parish a short walk from the Patapsco River.
Maryland casinos set a new gaming revenue record in July
Maryland casinos recorded a record-setting July, pulling in $181.5 million in total revenue, a 0.8% increase compared to a year ago. The total revenue from slots and table games at Maryland’s six casinos last month was $1.4 million higher than July 2021’s total, according to the latest numbers released by Maryland Lottery and Gaming. The total surpassed the previous single-month record, setting a new high. MGM National Harbor was one of just two casinos to see year-over-year gains in July and brought in the highest gaming revenue in the state at $77.2 million. The total represents an increase of 6.8% from the same month a year ago.
DNA evidence may link Maryland’s Chincoteague pony origins to Spanish shipwreck
Before beginning his latest research project, Nicolas Delsol had never even heard of Misty of Chincoteague, one of the fabled feral ponies from the barrier island of Assateague, along the Maryland and Virginia coast. Local legend has it that the horses descended from survivors of a Spanish shipwreck 500 years ago, though that has never been proven. But now Delsol, a French-born archaeologist, has evidence that the story may be more than just a myth. Delsol unearthed a genetic connection between the wild breed and horses from 16th-century Spain.
Opinion: Montgomery can do more than spout platitudes on climate and walkability
Many Montgomery County residents pride themselves on living in a progressive place. Our county government has a Climate Action Plan that promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2027 and 100 percent by 2035. Looking around at the ever-bigger SUVs that dominate the roads, you’d think this seems an implausible goal. Because transportation is the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in this country, you’d imagine Montgomery County must be engaged in a massive effort to encourage walking and biking for transportation. And in another ambitious initiative, the county government has promised zero pedestrian and biker fatalities by the end of 2030. But if anything, we seem to be going backward.
Hourly workers still have leverage as hiring booms
Chelsie Church was working as a manager at a Colorado Taco Bell when she found out workers at a nearby Pizza Hut were earning more than $1 an hour more than she was. Her attempts to negotiate a raise were unsuccessful, so she kept hunting for another job, eventually finding one at Laredo’s Tacos, a chain connected to 7-Eleven. “Even my Taco Bell manager said, ‘If they’re gonna offer you $20 an hour — take it,’” Church said. As inflation skyrockets, hourly workers like Church have been seeking different positions with better pay. More than 4 million Americans have quit their jobs every month since June 2021, a level never seen before last year.
Kurtz: Is this Barry Glassman’s moment?
The last Republican state comptroller in Maryland was one Phillips Lee Goldsborough, who served from 1898 to 1900, when William McKinley was president of the United States. So the odds definitely favor Brooke Lierman (D), the Baltimore City delegate, in the general election for comptroller this fall. Not only does Lierman have history and party registration on her side, but she’s an indefatigable campaigner brimming with ideas for the office, who is poised to make history as the first woman elected independently to a statewide position in Maryland government. That fact alone gets a lot of people excited. Lierman’s Republican opponent, Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, is the most solid and qualified GOP nominee in several generations.
Opinion: Alito’s comments undermine the court
Speaking at Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty initiative in Rome, Justice Samuel Alito, the author of Dobbs v. Jackson, used the event to attack foreign leaders who criticized his decision. He did so by mocking them and cracking jokes. Specifically, he said he had the honor of writing a decision that had been lambasted by “a whole string of foreign leaders who felt perfectly fine commenting on American law…” He then cracked, “one of these was former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but he paid the price,” referencing Johnson’s resignation.