With tax season looming, more than 40 million low-income American families will not be getting their tax refunds as soon as expected. Read Full Article

This will reach up into Northern Idaho as well.  The wind speeds forecast would be Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, possibly Cat 5. The National Weather Service in Reno issued their forecast discussion today for California’s Sierra Nevada, and the forecast of 150 mile per hour plus winds is confirmed, along with 4-8

“An absolute record in the history of measurements available to the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute.” The temperature in Dudince fell to -30,3C, an absolute low from start of measuring in 1977. In Liesek,the thermometer dropped to -30.2 degrees Celsius, the second lowest temperature ever measured in Lieskelovakia. It was extremely cold all day yesterday, ranging ranged

Another counterexample.  http://www.news.com.au/national/western-australia/weather-2016-perths-coldest-year-in-a-decade/news-story/95e9c052e51166c48279176606a0b780

Coldest Orthodox Christian Christmas Eve in 120 years, Bosporus Straight closed due to sea ice and high winds, Istanbul slammed with 2+ feet of snow. Eastern Europe’s roads impassable and the Danube River freezes over.

As I said previously: the Dems must have thought that Obama was ushering in the messianic presidency. Why would they have ever trumpeted his executive power grab? They must have known that Democrats wouldn’t be in power forever. Or did they?  President Obama once promised to “turn the page on the imperial presidency” and lead

Your tattoo may be as innocuous as an flower on your ankle or a barbed wire around your bicep. But it may also be a cultural, religious or political symbol that you’d be reluctant for the cops to know about. Although law enforcement has long been interested in tattoos, especially in gang investigations, they have

A New York judge accepted Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss a libel lawsuit brought against him by Cheryl Jacobus, a political strategist Trump said on Twitter had “begged” him for a job and was only criticizing him because she was rebuffed. The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the dismissal and which posted the decision on

Somebody let California Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra (D-San Fernando Valley) know that the current criminal justice reform trend is supposed to be about helping released criminals who have served their time and done their penance re-establish stable lives in their community and get jobs. We’re not supposed to be finding ways to make their lives even

I really don’t want to follow this story. But it’s making such headlines that you should know about it.  If you’ve ever wondered why the news media is treated with derision and distrust, today is your lucky day. Buzzfeed has published a “dossier” of unclear provenance that says President-elect Donald Trump is a pervert who

An Alberta judge has ruled that the city of Grande Prairie did not violate the free speech rights of an anti-abortion group when it banned their ads from transit buses. The ads featured photos of fetuses and read “Abortion kills children. End the killing.” The judge said the ads could traumatize women who have had

Six months after a Democratic National Committee staffer was gunned down on a Washington, D.C., street, suspicion that he may have been the source who passed incriminating DNC emails on to WikiLeaks persists despite his own parents’ strong doubts. Seth Rich, who was killed July 10 and would have turned 28 earlier this month, worked

Paul Krugman has a new post entitled “Deficits Matter Again”: Not long ago prominent Republicans like Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, liked to warn in apocalyptic terms about the dangers of budget deficits, declaring that a Greek-style crisis was just around the corner. But now, suddenly, those very same politicians are perfectly happy

This may not be of interest to most of you. But as a Navy retiree, I find this fascinating.  The US military is no stranger to drone development. Over the past few years we’ve seen everything from unhackable robot helicopters to harbor-defending pontoon platoons — including the the means to combat them — come out

Twice the flakes and little melting With more snow, bans on street parking might be necessary With continued snowfall and cold temperatures, snow is piling up and here to stay in Moscow. The city recorded 26.2 inches of snow in December, exactly twice the December average of 13.1 inches, Tyler Palmer, deputy director of operations

Science is never settled. Anyone who says that is not a scientist.  The medical community has provided no reasonable answer for the precipitous rise in autism and other conditions.  Research is good, even when there are negative results. Via the AP:  President-elect Donald Trump is reviving long debunked attempts to link vaccines to autism, meeting with

The FBI sought a warrant from the FISA court to spy on members of the Trump Campaign over the summer. The FISA Court rejected the request. Senator John McCain passed documents to the FBI director, James Comey, last month alleging secret contacts between the Trump campaign and Moscow and that Russian intelligence had personally compromising

A Georgia woman is sentenced to 120 days in jail for a code violation on her property. The woman built a larger than approved structure in her backyard to house her sick mother. When she refused to tear down the structure she was jailed. What started as an eyesore has landed one Augusta woman behind

In Tampa Bay, seven people were arrested for providing free food to the homeless. They violated a law that prevents them from feeding the homeless without an insurance policy. Temperatures were dipping into unfriendly territory Saturday afternoon as sports fans flocked to the events at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. At nearby Lykes Gaslight Park, members