WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today alerted taxpayers to the latest versions of an e-mail scam intended to fool people into believing they are under investigation by the agency’s Criminal Investigation division.

The e-mail purporting to be from IRS Criminal Investigation falsely states that the person is under a criminal probe for submitting a false tax return to the California Franchise Board. The e-mail seeks to entice people to click on a link or open an attachment to learn more information about the complaint against them. The IRS warned people that the e-mail link and attachment is a Trojan Horse that can take over the person’s computer hard drive and allow someone to have remote access to the computer.

The IRS urged people not to click the link in the e-mail or open the attachment.

Similar e-mail variations suggest a customer has filed a complaint against a company and the IRS can act as an arbitrator. The latest versions appear aimed at business taxpayers as well as individual taxpayers.

Review by Emily Trosprel
9th Grade BHHS Senior Entertainment Editor

This week PSBA conducted a news conference to call on the governor and the state legislature to develop a comprehensive, workable plan to address the critical over-reliance on school property taxes to fund public education.

“The results of the Act 1 front-end referenda indicate that voters and property owners of the commonwealth want more comprehensive and meaningful property tax reform,” said William LaCoff, 2007 PSBA president and a member of the Owen J. Roberts School Board.

“PSBA has repeatedly said that high property taxes are a symptom of a larger problem, namely a broken system of financing public education,” said Thomas J. Gentzel, executive director of PSBA. “PSBA believes that a workable solution to local tax reform requires the legislature and the governor to revamp local tax systems, reduce the costs to school districts of providing a public education and increase the level of state funding to adequately meet the needs of all students.”

PSBA also is asking lawmakers to review again the association’s 2005 recommendations for correcting school funding problems. “A Blueprint for Comprehensive Local Tax Reform” outlines the association’s recommendations for achieving significant and lasting property tax relief for the citizens of Pennsylvania. Throughout the 33-page report, PSBA provides suggestions for how the commonwealth can provide property tax relief while becoming a greater participant in funding public education and helping school districts manage their costs. PSBA also is seeking a stronger commitment to funding public schools.

PSBA statistics indicate that the state’s share of funding educational costs has declined over the last 15 years to a statewide average of 38%[BRANDYWINE is under 30%] of all public education costs. The “Blueprint” also recommends school district costs be reviewed and lowered. The report notes that the state can play a major role in helping to reduce costs by adequately funding mandates and requirements that are placed on districts or through repealing, reforming or amending the various laws that cost districts money.

WESLEY CHAPEL - A 6- to 7-foot alligator drew a small crowd of incredulous onlookers Thursday evening in the Morningside neighborhood in Meadow Pointe.

As the reptile attempted to climb the stucco wall of a house, near several electrical boxes, a woman across the street said, "Oh my God."

Pasco County sheriff's Deputy Todd Koenig said his agency was called to a house on Morning Mist Drive about 6:15 p.m.

Rick Skinner, onto whose property the gator crept, said it was the second one he had seen in his yard in five years. Homes on the street were built between at least two ponds.

A quick look at the lengths of children's index and ring fingers can be used to predict how well students will perform on SATs, new research claims.

Kids with longer ring fingers compared to index fingers are likely to have higher math scores than literacy or verbal scores on the college entrance exam, while children with the reverse finger-length ratio are likely to have higher reading and writing, or verbal, scores versus math scores.

Scientists have known that different levels of the hormones testosterone and estrogen in the womb account for the different finger lengths, which are a reflection of areas of the brain that are more highly developed than others, said psychologist Mark Brosnan of the University of Bath, who led the study.

Exposure to testosterone in the womb is said to promote development of areas of the brain often associated with spatial and mathematical skills, he said. That hormone makes the ring finger longer. Estrogen exposure does the same for areas of the brain associated with verbal ability and tends to lengthen the index finger relative to the ring finger.

To test the link to children's scores on the College Board's Scholastic Assessment Test (for which the name has changed a number of times in the past 100 years), Brosnan and his colleagues made photocopies of children's palms and measured the length of their index and ring fingers using calipers accurate to 0.01 millimeters. They used the finger-length ratios as a proxy for the levels of testosterone and estrogen exposure.

A Staten Island mom is blaming her son's injury during a Little League game on a bum education in base-running.

In a new twist on an old rite of passage, Jean Gonzalez is suing a beloved veteran coach for not teaching her son Martin how to slide properly, according to a lawsuit filed on May 4.
...
New Springville league President Luis Mojica expressed dismay that a lawsuit would target a program that introduces youngsters to the national pastime. "All we do is provide a place for kids to play," said Mojica. "We're a community service." More

Parents who are desperate to find out what their children are up to in their spare time are joining networking websites aimed at teenagers.

Almost half of parents snoop around the sites that their children visit to check up on them, according to research. Parentline Plus, a helpline, says that calls from parents trying to keep tabs on their children’s internet activities are “regular and increasing”.

The explosion in popularity of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, along with the messaging service MSN, have given parents a new headache, with many fearing that the sites are a hunting ground for stalkers and paedophiles. Others use the websites to gain an instant insight into their children’s private lives.

Getting kids to learn science can take blackboards and story problems, wood blocks and three-ring binders. The occasional number-munching monster doesn't hurt either.

For adults, just take the science and add beer.

At least that's the theory organizers of Science on Tap wanted to experiment with when they started hosting the monthly science gatherings at Ravenna Third Place Books three years ago. The beer-fueled forums have since garnered a growing following that often fills every seat at the Ravenna neighborhood bar, in the basement of the bookstore.

A Science on Tap evening usually starts with a brief lecture by the night's presenter, who then takes questions from the crowd. The topics are wide-ranging across fields. Past speakers have discussed fuel cells, nanotechnology and stem cells.

On a rainy Tuesday evening last month, University of Washington psychiatry professor Peter Vitaliano held court for a capacity crowd. As participants consumed pub fare and microbrews, Vitaliano discussed recent findings on the health impact facing caregivers. More

The next thing you know we will have the Toad Creek Science Center.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard. - H.L. Mencken

Since tomorrow is election day a good time to look at how special interest manage to make harmful policies appeal to the majority. Calling Act 1 property tax relief, appeals to seniors and everyone that doesn't want to kick grandma out in the snow. Who could oppose a bill with such good intentions. If you called it what it really was Politician Relief From Reformers bill it wouldn't have near the appeal. Voting Yes for Act 1 ensures that it will be a long time before any real relief from property tax, while putting even more burdens on school districts to comply with state and federal mandates. This act is terrible for wage earners, parents, renters and in a short time for the very people it is designed to help. Property taxes will continue to rise wiping out any small gains from this bad legislation.

Tomorrow vote NO and send a message to Harrisburg to do it right.

Bryan Caplan explains in the Wall Street Journal.

When special interests talk, politicians listen and the rest of us suffer. But why do politicians listen? Social scientists' favorite explanation is that special interests pay close attention to their pet issues and the rest of us do not. So when politicians decide where to stand, the safer path is to satisfy knowledgeable insiders at the expense of the oblivious public.

This explanation is appealing, but it neglects one glaring fact. "Special-interest" legislation is popular.

Keeping foreign products out is popular. Since 1976, ... Americans who "sympathize more with those who want to eliminate tariffs" are seriously outnumbered by "those who think such tariffs are necessary." Handouts for farmers are popular. A 2004 ... Poll found that 58% agree that "government needs to subsidize farming to make sure there will always be a good supply of food." In 2006, ... over 80% of Americans want to raise the minimum wage. ... These results are not isolated. It is hard to find any "special interest" policies that most Americans oppose.

Clearly, there is something very wrong with the view that the steel industry, farm lobby and labor unions thwart the will of the majority. The public does not pay close attention to politics, but that hardly seems to be the problem. The policies that prevail are basically the policies that the public approves. ... To succeed, special interests only need to persuade politicians to swim with the current of public opinion.

Why would the majority favor policies that hurt the majority? ... The majority favors these policies because the average person underestimates the social benefits of the free market, especially for international and labor markets. In a phrase, the public suffers from anti-market bias. From Marginal Revolution

Review by Emily Trosprel
9th Grade BHHS Senior Entertainment Editor

A quarter of a billion dollars. Where exactly does a quarter of a billion dollar budget go in a movie? Apparently not into a decent script, and as Spider-Man 3 proves, money can't buy critical acclaim. What the story is suffering from is a bad case of overkill; too many villains, too many action scenes, and too many plot developments. Things are going great for Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire), aka "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man," at the beginning. He's got his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) whom he wants to propose to, has success as a photographer with the Daily Bugle, and his alter ego is finally celebrated as a hero throughout New York City. However, things begin to change for Peter as he is lying with Mary Jane watching the stars, and a meteor crashes to Earth nearby. Riding on the rock is a black, squirming goo, a "symbiote" as is later said (Why did it crash there and where is it from? Don't ask the screenwriters.) Hold off on that plotline for a while as here comes into play the "new" Green Goblin who is Harry Osborn (James Franco) looking to avenge his father's death on Spider-Man. Of course, there's also Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church), an escaped convict who as Peter/Spider-Man learns is the man actually suspected of murdering Peter's Uncle Ben. While on the run, Flint falls into a sort of molecular sand test and turned into, you guessed it, Sandman. Back to the goo, it attaches itself to Peter, creating out of him a vengeful, black-suited Spider-Man who's soon out to get Sandman, and later the substance drops onto another bitter soul who turns into the fanged nemesis Venom. Follow all of that? For those counting that makes four villains including Spidey's dark side in a movie that should have drawn the limit at two.

Apparently there are nearly one thousand CG shots in Spider-Man 3. Now we know where all of that money went. Whether they were worth it or not can be debated, but one thing that's clear is that the visual effects are magnificent. Flint's "rebirthing" as Sandman particularly stood out as a staggering technical achievement not only because of the authentic textures and movements but because of the emotion churned out of the computer-generated character. It could be said that the emotion rivals any put out by the actual actors, but that wouldn't be saying much as most of their performances are best described as lackluster. Maguire, Dunst, and Franco's styles may be impaired by the cheesy dialogue, but expertise can overcome even bad writing. The trio lacks that expertise. The blame could also be placed on sheer scale of the picture which had as many as seven working sets at a time. Director Sam Raimi spent much of his time zipping between them, never being able to truly work things out with his actors. No wonder the movie has a sprawling feel. However, in the end does the studio really care if the film is cinematic genius? Of course not. They're going to make a billion dollars on it in any case, because what movie-goers want in a summer blockbuster is some loud, action-packed entertainment. On that count, you can be sure Spider-Man 3 delivers.

Skywalkers in Korea cross Han solo

"Discussions have been going on because I would like them to pay me some money as compensation ... I always have headaches following that fall," Cheruiyot told Reuters.
However, Cheruiyot added that he would defend his title in Chicago.
"I will run because they want me back, being the title holder, but I will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion," said the 28-year-old, who last month won the Boston Marathon for a third time.