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Roberson apologized in court and offered condolences toMiktarian. Turning to speak directly to her she said, "If I could back and change that night, I would. But I had nothing to do with it and I'm sorry it happened." |
After the sentencing, Miktarian told the media she didn't accept Roberson's apology. She also said she was satisfied with the sentence. "It was important for me ... for the public to see no matter what part you play in the murder of a human being or a police officer, it's not going to be taken lightly." |
You can watch Holly Miktarian's entire statement before the court in the player. |
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Breaking Your Child's Thumb Sucking Habit |
En Español (Spanish Version) |
Effects on the Jawbone |
If a child stops thumb sucking before loss of baby front teeth and arrival of adult front teeth, most or all of the damage may disappear. However, if the habit persists, there may be lasting damage. Flared upper teeth, delayed arrival of front teeth, and open bites are all common problems. This can result in chewing di... |
Do Home Remedies Work? |
• Placing gloves on their children before bedtime |
• Painting thumbs and fingers with various foul-tasting substances |
• Wrapping bandages around the offending digits |
Thumb sucking is also a deep-rooted behavior and may need more than these remedies offer. The child's desire to stop will determine the success of any intervention. |
The Dental Solution: A Crib That's Not for Sleeping |
What to Expect |
The child will experience soreness of upper back teeth for a few hours. You may also notice altered speech for 1-2 days. It will be necessary to avoid chewing gum, hard and sticky candy, popcorn, peanuts, and other brace-destroying foods. Thorough tooth brushing after each meal is stressed to prevent food and plaque bu... |
Parents should know that a child with a newly placed crib may initially have trouble sleeping. The device is not painful, but it takes away a comfort that may have helped her to fall asleep. Be sure to offer lots of tender loving care, words of support, and praise to provide a smooth transition. |
After crib placement, the patient is checked in 2-4 weeks, and then seen every 1-2 months until the appliance is removed. These visits are short, and not painful. In cases where hard or sticky foods have loosened the bands, re-cementation may be necessary. Avoidance of the offending foods should eliminate this problem. |
Effectiveness of the Crib |
Once the crib is cemented, there is nothing to adjust and no moving or removable parts. It is one of the simplest, yet most effective dental devices. Why is the crib so effective in stopping thumb sucking? It takes away the habit's pleasure. Crib wires prevent the thumb or finger from touching the gums behind the front... |
What is a good age to begin crib treatment? The ideal time is when upper front baby teeth become loose and before the adult teeth have pushed out. This usually occurs just before or after age six. Ending the habit allows adult teeth to have better positioning. Dental health is certainly important to a child's well-bein... |
What About Thumb Sucking in Older Children? |
• American Dental Association. Thumbsucking. American Dental Association website. Available at: . Accessed June 11, 2012. |
Search Your Health |
As we approach the end of the year, people will be thinking of making charitable donations in order to offset their tax bill. If it is so for you, it is crucial that you know the rules of making tax deductible charity donations. Fortunately, the IRS shows you what is required to do so. |
First off, you must ensure your charitable contributions of money or property are made to qualified organizations i.e. organizations that are recognized as charitable societies under section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. Then you should itemize your deductions when submitting your tax return. Generally, you may ... |
The 50% limit of adjusted gross income is calculated without regard to net operating loss carrybacks. And this applies to all public charities (code PC), all private operating foundations (code POF), certain private foundations that distribute the contributions they receive to public charities and private operating fou... |
The 30% limit applies to private foundations (code PF), other than those previously mentioned that qualify for a 50 percent limitation, and to other organizations described in section 170(c) that do not qualify for the 50 percent limitation, such as domestic fraternal societies (code LODGE). Contributions to certain pr... |
Bear in mind that if you receive a benefit out of donating, you must deduct the value of this benefit and claim the net balance of your deduction. For example, if you buy a charity dinner ticket and attend the event, your cannot claim the full amount of the ticket price because you received the benefit of the dinner. S... |
Donations may be made either in the form of cash or kind i.e. other forms of assets such as properties. If you donation is in cash, it can be deducted at face value subject to the limits stated above. If you donate property, it has to be valued at fair market value and its value deducted. There are special rules that a... |
Finally, regarding cash donations, you must maintain accurate records of your donation showing the name of the organization, the amount and the date of contribution. This can be in the form of official receipts, check buds, payroll slips, bank records etc. |
Filed under IRS Problems by # |
Taxation in the US is largely based on self-assessments of taxes owed, a system that is called voluntary compliance. Intentional non-compliance or tax evasion is a crime and offenders face the possibility of a civil audit or criminal investigation which could lead to expensive tax penalties or prosecution and possibly ... |
How does the IRS investigate cases of tax evasion? There is an IRS department that specially carries out these tasks and it’s called the Criminal Investigation department. The Criminal Investigation department comprises of nearly 4,200 employees, among whom about 2,800 are special agents who investigate tax evasion, mo... |
As part of their jobs, CI special agents are highly trained to recover computer evidence, using specialized equipment to recover financial data that may have been encrypted, password protected, or hidden by other electronic means. |
The role of the Criminal Investigation department falls under 3 basic categories of criminal activities: |
1. Legal Source Tax Crimes |
2. Illegal Source Financial Crimes |
3. Narcotics-related Financial Crimes and Counterterrorism Financing |
Legal source tax crimes |
This type of crime is commonly known as "white collar" crime and it means income tax evasion, failure to file or filing a false tax return. The crimes often include employment tax fraud, false claims for tax refunds, abusive trust schemes, actions of unscrupulous tax return preparers and frivolous filers/non-filers who... |
Illegal source financial crimes |
This type of crime involves money drawn from illegal sources such as embezzlement, kickbacks, health care fraud or telemarketing fraud. It refers to all tax and tax-related violations, as well as money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act/currency violations. The crimes may also include over-billing of Medicare, kickbacks t... |
Narcotics-related financial crimes and counterterrorism financing |
When investigating narcotics- related crimes, the CI department fights against those involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. In counterterrorism financing cases, the goal for IRS is to eliminate the funding for any further terrorist activities. Often this task is carried out in collaboration with the federal... |
Filed under IRS Problems by # |
If you are running a business you will incur expenses, some of which are tax deductible. Naturally, the IRS would not allow just any type of expenses to be tax deductible. The most difficult type of expense to be approved for tax deduction is entertainment expenses. |
According to the IRS website (, generally only 50% of food and beverage and entertainment expenses are allowed as a deduction. So that means when you use tax software to prepare your tax returns, you should enter the full amount of expenses incurred and your software will cut it down by half. The exception to this 50% ... |
There are a few conditions that the IRS sets for you to successfully claim tax deduction on entertainment expenses. If you are an employee (i.e. you do not run the business) who is reimbursed by your company for entertaining clients, you should not claim this expense from your taxes, neither should your reimbursement b... |
If you are the owner of your business, generally to be deductible your entertainment expense must be to close the sale or bring some form of benefit to your business. Most people assume that just because the expense involves potential customers it qualifies as tax-deductible expense. This is not necessarily so. If you ... |
Bear in mind that expenses for employees is considered 100% tax-deductible. For example, if you throw an office party at the end of the year or if you buy dinner for your staff because you want them to work after office hours to finish a project, this is allowable entertainment expenses. |
Also, entertainment facilities such as timeshares, cabins, yachts, swimming pools, etc are also not deductible business entertainment expenses. And if your expense is less than $75, you do not require a receipt except that you need to provide full details of the expense – time, date, venue, names of persons entertained... |
Filed under IRS Problems by # |
On June 8th, 2011, the IRS revoked the tax exempt status of 275,000 organizations effective as of May 15th, 2010. Many of these organizations affected are ministries. These ministries were given due notice that their tax-exempt status would be revoked because they failed to file 990 tax returns for three consecutive ye... |
In the past, tax-exempt ministries did not have to file tax returns if their gross income was less than $25,000 each. Now regardless of income, every organization (except churches) have to file either a 990N, 990 EZ, 990 (long form) or a 990PF. |
The consequences of this new ruling are two-fold. Firstly, the ministries that have their tax-exempt status revoked would have to pay taxes for the last 3 years. More specifically, the ministries now have to file federal income tax return Form 1120, state income tax returns and pay taxes on its net income, with penalti... |
Secondly, the contributions these ministries receive from donors would not entitle the donors to deduct their giving from income taxes. This would inevitably reduce the amount of contributions they receive. In addition, donors may file civil lawsuits against the ministries and office bearers (such as the pastors) perso... |
If you wish to check if the ministry you support is still currently a tax-exempt one, go to the IRS website at and search by state. Please click the state where your ministry is located or was located at the time that you received your tax exempt approval. |
It is possible to have the tax-exempt status reinstated. To do so, the ministries must file a new Form 1023. For many ministries, this may be a better alternative than having to explain to donors that their contributions were not tax deductible. |
Filed under IRS Problems by # |
Police officers are entitled to a special set of tax deductions related to their profession. For instance, police officers are allowed to deduct out-of-pocket work-related expenses that exceed 2% of their income. These deductions can be claimed as miscellaneous itemized deductions on Schedule A of Form 1040. |
Another tax deductible claim is the cost of purchasing and maintaining police officers’ uniforms. This includes the costs of purchase, dry cleaning, shoe polish and tailoring repairs to clothes. Police officers are also entitled to deduct the cost of buying uniform accessories – emblems, hats, ties and the like. |
Police officers are often required to undergo continuous education. As such the tuition fees for this education and college courses directly related to law enforcement, as well as training expenses such as firearms instruction and advanced skills training are all tax deductible. These can include specialized courses, w... |
There are professional bodies for police officers that they can become a member of, such as the Fraternal Order of Police. The membership fees for these professional bodies are tax deductible. Union fees can also be deducted from taxes. In the same way, subscription fees to journals and other periodicals related to pol... |
Another expense that police officers can deduct from their taxes is the cost of purchasing equipment used for work such as flashlights, specialized clothing, bullet-proof vests, special shoes and body armor. Likewise the expenses related to the use of such equipment may also be deducted from tax. These expenses include... |
Filed under IRS Problems by # |
Dear Miss Manners: We had a dinner with our nephew, who was bringing his fiancee to meet us for the first time. He also brought her mother and younger brother (6 years old) to our home. |
My husband had four beers during their 3½-hour visit. I was quite aware of this because no one else was drinking, and he was setting his empty bottles on the kitchen counter. After the dinner, I told him since no one else was drinking, it was more socially acceptable to have had only two beers. |
We are quite at odds about this situation -- he is upset that I am correcting his social etiquette. What do you say? |
Gentle Reader: Miss Manners is unable to locate a two-beer cutoff rule in the annals of etiquette. |
Can you get your husband on some other charge? Disorderly behavior? Un-hostly behavior in not offering beer to guests? If not, your husband is right that you are the one who overdid it. |
Dear Miss Manners: My favorite nonprofit group holds many social and fundraising events. One regular attendee is a major donor who makes his money publishing pornography that I find racist and sexist. |
Other people treat him as a welcome guest, and I can't tell whether they approve of him or just of his cash. Notwithstanding our shared support for the group, I think he's evil, partly because he has bought his way into polite society. |
So far, I have dodged him, but what to do if someone introduces us? Is this the appropriate circumstance for a "cut," and how do I do it: Just turn on my heel and walk off? I'd really love to say, "You, sir, are an insult to the good name of pornography," but that would offend etiquette as much as he offends me. Still,... |
How does polite society treat such people? Must we end up taking tea with drug dealers and gun runners? |
Gentle Reader: If polite society allows itself to be bought, it strikes Miss Manners as only fair for it to deliver the goods. |
You can keep your hands busy (holding a drink, fishing for a handkerchief, or whatever is at hand) if he tries to shake hands. Subsequently, you can deliver a demi-cut, which means cold and curt, but not denunciations, dramatic gestures or anything that would lead to a scene. |
Dear Miss Manners: Is it true that you recently changed your official stance on meat cutting? Now it is proper to cut the whole piece of meat up at once? |
Gentle Reader: Now, really. What on earth would make you think Miss Manners would do that? Defeatism at seeing so many adults eating like children? Nothing better to do with her time? |
Sorry. You underestimate Miss Manners. |
Miss Manners appears Mondays and Fridays. Email her at |
Lady Gaga and Katy Perry: banned in China for 'being vulgar' |
Chinese censors are once again waging war on pop music. But their criteria for banning songs show little understanding of the art form |
Guns N'Roses, Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. |
Guns N'Roses, Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. Photograph: |
Pity the poor censors at the Chinese ministry of culture, for they have set themselves a Sisyphean task. Two years ago, amid a wider crackdown on illegal downloading, the ministry vowed to keep "poor taste and vulgar content" from the ears of the nation's youth. This week it handed music websites its latest blacklist o... |
Like any authoritarian regime, China has a history of censoring songs with political content. In May, the government banned a Mongolian hip-hop protest song and arrested the rapper behind it. Last year Tibetan singer Tashi Dhondup spent 10 months in prison for recording "subversive songs". And Guns N' Roses' 2008 album... |
Pop music censorship tends to be unwittingly comical because censors show so little understanding of the art form. For every song that is banned, hundreds more explicit ones go unmolested. The accusation of "poor taste and vulgar content" has been levelled at rock'n'roll since its inception – Jerry Lee Lewis wasn't sin... |
Even by its own expansive criteria, the Chinese blacklist defies logic. Why, for example, target six songs from Lady Gaga's Born This Way album yet not the title track's LGBT anthem? You can see why the censors might balk at Katy Perry's Last Friday Night (TGIF) , which rhymes "streaking in the park" with "ménage a tro... |
But this risible detour isn't the censorship that matters. Amusing though it is to see a regime getting flustered about a 12-year-old Backstreet Boys song, China's real war on free speech, as Tashi Dondhup and the Mongolian rapper can testify, is no joke. |
The writer is author of 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs |
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What Is Bread Proofing? |
Article Details |
• Written By: Henry Gaudet |
• Edited By: A. Joseph |
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