Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/52085
8A Daily News – Friday, January 6, 2012 WORLD BRIEFING IRS contacts one in eight millionaires seeking taxes WASHINGTON (AP) — One in eight people earning at least $1 million annually were audited by the Internal Revenue Ser- vice last year, making them far likelier to be examined than those mak- ing below $200,000, according to IRS data released Thursday. Just 1 in 100 individu- als earning less than $200,000 had their income tax returns exam- ined, the IRS said. The 12 percent of mil- lionaire earners audited in 2010 was appreciably higher than the 8 percent who were audited in 2009. IRS officials said the high ratio was part of an effort to demonstrate that tax laws are applied fairly. ''That has been some- thing we've concentrated on to assure that there's equity in the system, to assure that those at the lower end of the spectrum know that those at the higher end of the spec- trum are subject to the same rules and enforce- ment as everyone else,'' Steven Miller, deputy IRS commissioner for services and enforcement, said in an interview. The IRS said its overall effort to collect all taxes owed netted $55 billion. That is nearly $3 billion less than the previous year, which Miller attrib- uted to a falloff in estate taxes and corporations writing off their losses. Police use execute warrants in search for toddler COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Cadaver dogs looking for a South Car- olina boy searched his mother's car and home as she sat in jail on charges of lying to police about what she did with her son, though authorities were not saying whether they found any evidence the toddler was dead. Despite the grim search, authorities tried to stay optimistic about find- ing Amir Jennings alive, but the case was getting harder to solve as time goes by. Amir's grand- Police seek motive for woman's attack on painting DENVER (AP) — mother said she hasn't seen him since Thanks- giving. The boy's mother has told police conflicting stories about her son, say- ing he was with friends and family in the Caroli- nas and also Georgia, authorities said. ''I'm really just focused on making sure that Amir is OK, or has some harm come to him?'' Columbia Police Chief Randy Scott said. ''That's what we don't know. That's what we cannot find out.'' Amir's grandmother contacted police in early December, saying she was worried about the boy and her daughter, a former Winthrop University stu- dent who struggled with depression and had begun acting erratically since her son's birth. Drop in claims, faster growth point to stronger job gains WASHINGTON (AP) — The job market is look- ing a little brighter at the start of the new year. Weekly unemployment benefit applications have fallen to levels last seen more than three years ago. Holiday sales were solid. Service companies grew a little faster in December. And many small business- es say they plan to add jobs over the next three months. The mix of private and government data released Thursday sketched a pic- ture of an economy that is slowly strengthening, stoking optimism one day ahead of the government's important read on Decem- ber job growth. ''Businesses have increased hiring to meet the underlying pick-up in (consumer) demand,'' said Neil Dutta, an econo- mist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The encouraging reports on the U.S. econo- my gave Wall Street a late-day lift, offsetting renewed concerns over Europe's debt crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had fallen by as much as 134 points at one point in the day, closed down just 3 points. Broader indexes posted modest gains. Dog feared caught up in avalanche found alive 4 days later BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A dog that was feared dead after he was swept away in a weekend avalanche that killed his owner showed up four days later at the Montana motel where his owners had stayed the night before going backcountry skiing. Search and rescue team member Bill Whittle said he was ''positive'' that the Welsh corgi — named Ole — had been buried in Saturday's avalanche. ''The avalanche guys were up there on Monday investigating and they were looking for the dog too and never seen any signs,'' he said. But on Wednesday, Ole showed up exhausted and hungry back at the motel, four miles from where the slide occurred, the Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/zNaSeK) reported. ''When I first saw the dog, it was sitting in front of their room staring at the door,'' Cooke City Alpine Motel owner Robert Weinstein said in an email to The Associat- ed Press on Thursday. Investigators are trying to determine why a woman caused $10,000 worth of damage to a large expres- sionist painting at the Clyfford Still Museum by punching and scratching it, then removing her pants and sliding down the artwork. Carmen Tisch, 36, faces charges of criminal mischief in the Dec. 29 attack on the painting, said district attorney spokeswoman Lynn Kim- brough. The painting, referred to as 1957-J-No. 2, is val- ued at more than $30 mil- lion. The large montage of black, white and burnt orange swaths with a sliv- er of yellow is from Still's middle period. Museum officials said they believe security is adequate for the facility and that they regularly evaluate security to pro- tect the collection and vis- itors. Museum spokes- woman Regan Petersen said in a statement that its guards ''acted swiftly and appropriately; the police were summoned immedi- ately and the offender was taken into custody.'' Denver acquired the collection in stiff compe- tition by promising to build a facility for the paintings and sculptures. Still, who died in 1980, specified in his will that his estate had to go to an American city willing to establish a permanent museum for his work. He was one of the first abstract expressionist artists following World War II. Fines pending for Ind. House Dems in labor battle INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Growing tension among defiant House Democrats facing stiff fines and sparse resources threatens to disrupt a no- show effort aimed at blocking a bill that would make Indiana the first state in more than a decade to enact right-to- work legislation. Democrats stalled business Wednesday, the first day of the 2012 ses- sion, when they did not report to the House floor. They continued Thursday to block action on a right- to-work measure that would make Indiana the first state in more than a decade to bar private unions from collecting mandatory fees. Inside the 40-member caucus, lawmakers are split over how much they can afford to keep stalling in order to block the bill. Some strode out of Thurs- day's caucus meeting say- ing that if they suffered through last year's five- week stay in Urbana, Ill., they can stand on princi- ple now. But others said new $1,000-a-day fines estab- lished by Republicans after last year's walkout have raised the stakes much higher than some can afford. ''Last year they were taking my bank account, this year they're taking my home,'' said Rep. David Cheatham, D- North Vernon. Cheatham was one of three Democ- rats who has joined Republicans in the House chamber each day. They say they oppose the right- to-work measure but don't agree with the stall tactics. House Democratic Leader Patrick Bauer said Thursday that Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma told him in a pri- vate meeting he would begin fining Democrats on Friday. ''It's a significant issue. We think it's anoth- er assault against free speech,'' Bauer said as he walked into the House Democratic caucus meet- ing. Holiday discounts crimp retailers' profits NEW YORK (AP) — The 2011 holiday shop- ping season will go down in the record books as the year the Grinch stole stores' profits. Many retailers sacri- ficed their bottom lines by pushing heavy discounts to shoppers bent on get- ting a good deal in a chal- lenging economy. That created a sharp divide between stores that won the battle for wallets, and those that didn't. The big winners? Shoppers who held out for deals late in the sea- son. Retailers collectively reported a 3.5 percent increase in revenue at stores open at least a year for December, according to a tally of 25 merchants compiled by the Interna- tional Council of Shop- ping Centers. For Novem- ber and December com- bined, the figure rose 3.3 percent, a solid increase but still behind last year's 3.8 percent pace. The figures are based redbluffdailynews.com/jobs D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY on revenue at stores open at least a year. That is considered a key indicator of a retailer's health because it excludes results from stores recent- ly opened or closed. Retailers depend on the holidays, when they bring in as much as 40 percent of their annual revenue. The season also gives give valuable insights into what it takes to get Amer- icans to spend in the weak economy. Clearly, the rich kept spending, but for everyone else, it took a hot item like Apple's iPad or right-on exclusive fash- ions — or a lot of ''50 percent'' off signs. Winners included Lim- ited Brands Inc., Macy's Inc., TJX Cos. and Nord- strom Inc., which posted strong revenue gains that beat analysts' estimates. Macy's, Ross and Limited even boosted their earn- ings outlooks. On the losing side, Tar- get Corp., Kohl's Corp., and J.C. Penney Co. cut their fourth-quarter earn- ings projections after reporting weaker-than- expected sales. Gap had a big sales decline. ''There's no question that the divide is getting wider, and will get even wider this year as the win- ners continue to take share away from rivals,'' said Joel Bines, managing director in the retail prac- tice of AlixPartners. ''Consumers have limited time, money and atten- tion, and they're investing in a smaller subset of retailers.'' Retailers will report fourth-quarter earnings next month. The fullest picture of holiday spend- ing will come in next week's government retail sales report, which cap- tures more categories like home improvement and electronics. GM to add more steel to Volt to protect battery DETROIT (AP) — Gen- eral Motors is advising Volt owners to return their elec- tric cars to dealers for repairs that will lower the risk of battery fires. The company hopes that the repairs, which will add steel to the plates protecting the batteries, will ease wor- ries about the car's safety. Three Volt batteries caught fire after government crash tests last year, prompting a federal investigation and sending GM engineers scrambling to find a fix. The free repairs, announced Thursday, will fix 8,000 Volts on U.S. roads and another 4,400 still for sale. The cars are cov- ered by a ''customer service campaign'' run by GM, which is similar to a safety recall but allows the car- maker to avoid the bad pub- licity and federal monitor- ing that come with a recall. GM and federal safety officials believe last year's fires were caused by coolant leaking from damaged plas- tic casing around the batter- ies after side-impact colli- sions. That coolant caused an electrical short, which sparked battery fires seven days to three weeks after the crashes. GM has a huge incentive to fix the problem and pro- tect the Volt's image. Although the car isn't a big seller — it's fallen short of sales goals — it burnishes GM's image as a greener, more innovative carmaker. The safety stumble could make it even harder for the Chevrolet Volt to compete with rival electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf. To contain the bad publicity after the fires, GM last year offered to buy back Volts from worried owners. Still, no owners have reported fires after crashes. Starting in February, dealers will add steel to a plate that protects the Volt battery, spreading the force of a crash over a larger area, says Mary Barra, GM's product development chief. Tests by the GM and the government have shown that the repairs prevent bat- tery damage and coolant leaks. ''We have made the Volt even safer,'' says Mark Reuss, GM's North Ameri- can president. GM has done crash tests on four reinforced Volts and found that the fix worked. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — the fed- eral safety agency — has also crashed a Volt with the added steel. ''The prelimi- nary results of the crash test indicate the remedy pro- posed by General Motors today should address the issue,'' the agency says.