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IRS to invite some taxpayers to try free e-file tax return system

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:24:09 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS plans to invite select taxpayers across 13 states to try out the agency's pilot electronic free file tax return system beginning in January.The agency estimates that hundreds of thousands of taxpayers will participate in the limited rollout of the program for the 2024 filing season.The IRS faces intense blowback from private tax preparation companies that have made billions from charging people to use their software. The introduction of a government-run option could upend the industry and fundamentally change the way taxpayers interact with IRS.All eyes are on the agency to get it right — and avoid a roll-out reminiscent of the disastrous healthcare.gov website rollout a decade ago, when many users encountered challenges accessing and using the website.“The plan is to roll it out in increments that get larger and larger, consistent with how products like this are rolled out in the private sector,” IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said on a...

Council to vote on city manager search next step

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:24:09 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Austin City Council is expected to vote Thursday on whether to move forward with a search firm that will help the City recruit and hire its next city manager. City of Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said Tuesday that the City received 12 applications from search firms but ultimately decided to move forward with Mosaic Public Partners. Council will have final say on whether the City can move forward with that selection. Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk is out, some city council members say Mosaic Public Partners has previously helped the City with executive searches, including the hiring of former Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon, the mayor said. The firm estimated it will take roughly 3-4 months for it to submit an offer to its top candidate after it gets started. A city manager could be named as soon as a month after that, the mayor said. Still, the mayor said they've built flexibility into the timeline to account for holidays, not disrupting the budget process and o...

Mexican, English, German are largest ethnic groups in Texas

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:24:09 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Mexican, English and German are the three largest racial or ethnic groups in Texas, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.The agency reported state- and county-level data based on results from the 2020 Census, which found Texas was home to more than 29.1 million people.The state's population has since passed 30 million, with July 2022 estimates, released in January, showing 30,029,572 people live in the state.For the first time, respondents to the census in 2020 who reported "White" as their race could write in additional detail, such as "English," "Italian" or "Irish." Population estimates show which areas of Texas grew the most in 2022 Nationwide, more than 46.6 million people said they had English ethnicity alone or in combination with another group, while 45 million said German and 38.6 million said Irish.Those three groups also had the highest totals in Texas, when Hispanics or Latinos are excluded. More than 3.5 million people living in Texas said the...

Local teen wins international Fortnite contest, splits $1 million with gaming partner 

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:24:09 GMT

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) – A Round Rock teenager and his gaming partner won an international Fortnite competition in Denmark on Sunday, snagging $1 million in prize money. Cooper Smith, 16, competed with his 19-year-old partner from Michigan, Matthew "Mero" Faitel, in the Fortnite Champion Series 2023 in Copenhagen, Denmark, from Oct. 13 through Oct. 15, beating out dozens of the best Fortnite players from all over the world. “I put in a lot of preparation. I mean, I was playing like six to eight hours a day [and] watching others,” Smith said. “We did not expect to win at all. Like, we went in this tournament, maybe expecting 15th place, to be honest. And I think we just, you know, came out on top.”Cooper Smith, 16, competed with his 19-year-old partner from Michigan, Matthew "Mero" Faitel, in the Fortnite Champion Series 2023 in Copenhagen, Denmark, from Oct. 13 through Oct. 15, beating out dozens of the best Fortnite players from all over the world (Photo Courtesy Lance...

Volunteers, UnitedHealthcare remake Dunning Park Playground in St. Paul

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:24:09 GMT

A partnership with KABOOM!, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that helps establish playgrounds in neighborhoods that need them, is bringing as many as 18 play spaces to the city of St. Paul. The first was unveiled Friday outside the Dunning Recreation Center, where a weathered playground was razed and fully replaced over three days by upwards of 150 city residents, city staff and employees of UnitedHealthcare and Sierra apparel.Located at 1221 Marshall Ave. near Central High School, the new Dunning Park Playground is expected to host some 1,300 kids each year.In August, children in the historically-Black Rondo neighborhood were invited to share drawings of their dream play spaces with project organizers. The ideas were later integrated into the playground design.The playground came together with the financial, technical and advocacy support of St. Paul Parks and Recreation, the St. Paul Parks Conservancy, UnitedHealthcare, Sierra and KABOOM! Through partnerships, St. Paul and KABOO...

DEC: 10 hiking essentials every traveler should know

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:24:09 GMT

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) - As days get shorter, a higher number of Forest Ranger incidents involve hikers staying out on trails later than is safe, stuck in diminishing daylight without proper light sources. On Thursday, rangers rescued a group of hikers on Crane Mountain, near Johnstown in the Adirondacks, under those circumstances. Last weekend, a group of 12 was rescued after getting lost on Owl's Head Mountain with minimal clothing and food, at a scene that did not clear until midnight. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! With incidents like those in mind, this week the Department of Environmental Conservation sent out a reminder: If you need a checklist, they've got one. The DEC's "10 Hiking Essentials" list is a roster of items that can make a difference on any hike. Even if one is planned as a short excursion, a wrong turn or burst of unexpected weather can change everything.The DEC's list actually offers a lot more than 1...

Want to buy a house? Here's how much you need to earn in St. Louis

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:24:09 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA/NEXSTAR) — Buying a house in the U.S. isn't cheap, and according to a report from Redfin, it is now harder than ever to afford one.Sky-high mortgage rates and rising home prices have made it more difficult than ever, especially for first-time home buyers, Redfin said in the report, which was released Tuesday.The average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan rose to 7.57% from 7.49% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said earlier this month. It's the highest level in more than two decades.To afford a median-priced U.S. home now, Redfin said buyers must earn $114,627, up 15% ($15,285) from a year ago and up more than 50% since the start of the pandemic. The real estate website said a typical household earns about $40,000 less than that.St. Louis stats:Annual income required to afford median-priced home: $70,912Median home-sale price: $260,000 This is the wealthiest person in your state, new Forbes report shows "Hourly wages have risen in 2023, but not nearly a...

Eric DeValkenaere loses conviction appeal for extrajudicial killing, judge orders him arrested

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:24:09 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A white former detective in Missouri who shot and killed a Black man in 2019 has lost an appeal of his conviction despite unusual support from the state’s Republican attorney general, with judges on Tuesday ordering the ex-officer placed under arrest.Eric J. DeValkenaere was found guilty in 2021 of second-degree manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb. Lamb was parking a pickup truck in his Kansas City backyard when the officer shot him after reports Lamb was in a car chase with his girlfriend. The judge who found DeValkenaere guilty in a bench trial said police were the initial aggressors and had a duty to retreat, but DeValkenaere illegally used deadly force instead.Prosecutors and Lamb’s family have alleged a handgun was planted after the shooting, but that issue was not addressed by Jackson County Circuit Court Presiding Judge J. Dale Youngs when he convicted the detective.On Tuesday, a three-judge panel ruled unani...

Local control returns for Normandy and Riverview Gardens school districts

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:24:09 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - Missouri's education board voted Tuesday to relinquish state control of two provisionally-accredited school districts, Normandy and Riverview Gardens, in north St. Louis County. The decision will allow local governance of both school districts for the first time in several years and creates an opportunity for full-elected school boards in 2024, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Under Missouri DESE standards, both districts are considered provisionally accredited, not quite meeting the bar for academic performances and other standards of accreditation. DoorDash driver caught on doorbell camera swiping delivery Normandy Schools Collaborative Superintendent Dr. Michael Triplett says the district is encouraged by the decision as it seeks improvement. 'We look forward to the hard work continuing as we move the district towards full accreditation,” said Triplett. “Although we do not have the preliminary data from the s...

Expansion St. Louis City makes a splash in its first MLS season

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:24:09 GMT

It's not enough for St. Louis City to secure the top spot in its conference and charge into the Major League Soccer playoffs with more wins than any previous expansion club.City wants more.An MLS Cup title would sure be nice. But even beyond that, St. Louis' aim is success beyond Season 1.As the regular season draws to a close and the playoffs loom, St. Louis is the top team in the Western Conference, becoming the first MLS club to win its conference in a debut season.The team is also the first expansion club since the shootout era to win 17 or more games in the regular season. City currently sits at 17 with one game remaining, a match at home against the Seattle Sounders this Saturday on Decision Day.With 56 points, they're a point away from LAFC's single-season record of 57 points in an inaugural year.“This proves to everyone that if we have big dreams, we can accomplish big things. So we won’t give up on anything," said Diego Gigliani, team president and general manager. “We will...