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Can anyone explain what sort of questions are asked at property tax protests? I understand I need proof why I'm being charged too much but what all can I use? I'm guessing research between the county appraisal listings for similar square footage and such. My house isn't similar to others in the area so maybe take pictures of inside and out? Perhaps go on a real estate site to see other homes' improvements as opposed to mine? I'm doing this on my own because the legal help fell through. Neighbors were supposed to get together with legal help on this...

The driver called his boss, and the police, and reported the truck stolen. A short time later, after leaving the supermarket with his boss, the driver spotted his truck being driven along Harry Hines Boulevard. The driver again called the police, who were able to stop the driver and take him into custody. A quick search of the truck revealed that, according to the driver's statement in the police report, 100 boxes, or more likely cases, worth an estimated $5,000, were missing from the truck.

The animal-welfare group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says Austin ranks first on its list of most vegan-friendly cities in the United States. Paul McCartney presented the award to Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell while in town for a concert two weeks ago. Los Angeles, New York and Chicago round out the top five. Seattle is No. 6.

Too short to excerpt. This is a must watch video. Dzhokhar and mama both saying to each other not to say anything. The brothers were supposed to fly to Dagestan on the day the FBI released their pictures.

There is a beach in Fort Bragg, California, that’s famous for the iridescent sea glass that shimmers on its shores. A dump until the 1960s, Glass Beach underwent massive cleanup projects in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but the glass from bottles and other items remained, worn smooth over time as it tumbled through the ocean... In fact, even though removing sea glass from the beach is prohibited, rangers from California State Parks, which owns the beach, see people taking the smooth, pebble-like glass pieces home in Ziploc bags and buckets all the time

Convicted killer Joran van der Sloot is planning to wed a Peruvian woman in the prison where he is serving a 28-year sentence... The couple hopes to be able to marry within the next two weeks, Altez said. They reportedly met while she was visiting another inmate at Miguel Castro Castro prison in San Juan de Lurigancho.

Military law allows defendants to represent themselves. But the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, is expected to ask Hasan's attorneys to stay throughout the trial in case he asks for their help.

Billie Sol Estes, a flamboyant Texas huckster who became one of the most notorious men in America in 1962 when he was accused of looting a federal crop subsidy program, has died. He was 88... One of the strangest episodes in his life involved the death of a U.S. Department of Agriculture official who was investigating Estes just before he was accused in the fertilizer tank case. Henry Marshall's 1961 death was initially ruled a suicide even though he had five bullet wounds. But in 1984, Estes told a grand jury that Johnson had ordered the official killed to prevent...

Just three weeks before he's to stand trial for the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage, an Army psychiatrist wants his trial delayed until this fall. Maj. Nidal Hasan's attorneys are to ask a judge Thursday to delay the court-martial from late May until Sept. 1

At 105-YEARS-OLD, Pearl Cantrell most definitely wants bacon with that. "I love bacon, I could eat it for every meal - and I do!", the Texas granny told a local TV station... News of her faith in bacon reached a local producer, Oscar Mayer. They organised a special treat via fast food outlet Weinermobile.

The dinosaur was seized by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after it was sold at auction in New York for over $1 million last year. The government said the skeleton was mislabeled as reptile bones from Great Britain. By law, any dinosaur fossils found in Mongolia belong to the country and its people. "It's really important that as nations, we recognize there's a difference between art sold in the regular course of business, and then there are things that are truly national heritage," said ICE director John Morton.

Robel Phillipos, 19, was charged last week with lying to investigators looking into the April 15 bombings. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student faces a maximum of eight years in prison if convicted. Both sides said in the court motion that they agree to allow Phillipos to be released under strict conditions, including home confinement and monitoring with an electronic bracelet, along with a $100,000 bond.

On April 18, 2012, the BNA released the first batch of thousands of “lost” colonial-era files believed to have been destroyed, including files on Britain’s former colony of Kenya. Reporters at the UK’s The Guardian were among the first who looked at some of the newly released colonial files. They found that the name of Barack Obama (henceforth, Obama Sr.), the father of the POS in the White House, is on the top of a list of names revealed in a hitherto secret British colonial file of Kenyans studying in the United States.

Two more people have been arrested in Seattle and New York, FBI officials said yesterday, as investigators tried to break up a suspected terrorist network they believe was plotting a bomb attack against a US target .... Graham Fuller, a specialist on Islamic extremism and a former CIA analyst, said: "I'm a little sceptical about the possibility that the GIA is now targeting us because it would have been accompanied by some kind of rhetoric. Therefore I would speculate that these guys are working on their own or hired by someone else." And Mr Fuller argued that Mr Ressam's Afghan...

Both recalled little from their ordeal, beyond hallucinations. Jack said that she had wild thoughts her parents had been sentenced to prison time, a python was eating her and that Cendoya, 19, had told her he was having visions of a tiger. The search to find them required 1,900 man-hours and cost taxpayers an estimated $160,000. A deputy was injured while trying to rescue Cendoya. He faces up to three years in jail if convicted, reports The Orange County Register.

Kadyrbayev attended a high school in Almaty, the business capital of Kazakhstan, for students gifted in mathematics. "He wasn't a star student, but he wasn't a hooligan; he was a normal teenager," teacher and deputy principal Yuri Dovgal said. The schoolwork proved too much for Kadyrbayev, however, and he flunked out after his first year. "He had no aptitude for physics or mathematics, but that doesn't mean he was bad," Dovgal said, adding that Kadyrbayev later graduated from an elite private school.

Tazhayakov was allowed to return to the U.S. from Kazakhstan in January despite not having a valid student visa, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press. His student visa status had been terminated because he was academically dismissed from the university, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity... Kadyrbayev, an engineering major

Court records with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office reveal that a civil forfeiture case was filed in March against Bella Tsarnaeva and her boyfriend, Ahmad Khalil. According to the filing, Fairview police went to the residence on Dec. 11 to follow up on a domestic violence report claiming Bella had scratched Khalil. NJ reports that while inside the apartment, police said they smelled marijuana, and found drug paraphernalia and $537 in cash in a clear plastic bag. Ailina Tsarnaeva reportedly admitted to slapping Khalil, and was, according to court records, subsequently arrested for domestic violence and simple assault. Khalil, meanwhile...

Nadine also said Tamerlan tried to brainwashed her, he made her wear an Islamic hijab and pray to Allah and slapped her when she wore her regular clothes, but because she adored him, she did everything he asked her just to made him happy... He once ripped a pair of my jeans and hit me in the face with them. Tamerlan told me I should only talk to Muslim girls, not other ‘slutty’ girls... He wouldn’t let me watch TV or listen to the radio. He’d say, ‘TV is the project of Satan’ and claimed Satan sent us messages through...

In U.S. hospitals, an estimated 1 in 20 patients pick up infections they didn't have when they arrived, some caused by dangerous 'superbugs' that are hard to treat... Machines that resemble "Star Wars" robots and emit ultraviolet light or hydrogen peroxide vapors. Germ-resistant copper bed rails, call buttons and IV poles. Antimicrobial linens, curtains and wall paint. While these products can help get a room clean, their true impact is still debatable. There is no widely-accepted evidence that these inventions have prevented infections or deaths.