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Florida House Bill 0537: Relating to Elections [LPCC] Revises fines applicable to violations of requirements re third-party voter registrations; revises dates re presidential preference primary; authorizes municipalities to move their election date by ordinance to coincide with said primary; exempts persons seeking federal office from resign-to-run law; requires that all write-in candidates reside within district of office sought at time of qualification, etc. Amends FS. APPROPRIATION: $27,861,850. EFFECTIVE DATE: 01/01/2008 except as otherwise provided. 05/03/07 HOUSE Amendment(s) to Senate amendment(s) failed -HJ 01064; Concurred -HJ 01050; CS passed as amended; YEAS 118 NAYS 0-HJ 01064; Ordered engrossed, then enrolled -HJ...

Sorry for posting this in the main area, but I need some advice quickly. Over the past few weeks I've been having a real coyote problem. We're in the San Joaquin Valley and have always had issues with the coyotes, but this year seems to be expecially bad (even traveling in small packs, which I've never seen before). I need some recommendations on the proper weapon to deal with these varmints.

IR-2007-113, June 6, 2007 WASHINGTON — Internal Revenue Service officials today announced plans to launch a new National Research Program (NRP) reporting compliance study for individual taxpayers that will provide updated and more accurate audit selection tools and support efforts to reduce the nation’s tax gap.The latest NRP study will be the first of an ongoing series of annual individual studies using an innovative multi-year rolling methodology. The study will start in October 2007 and examine about 13,000 randomly selected tax year 2006 individual returns. Similar sample sizes will be used in subsequent tax years. An advantage of using this...

DISCLAIMER: Following is an early and unofficial account of the resolutions and vote totals as they occurred at the annual convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin.  For the official results please consult the Diocese of San Joaquin.  Note also that much business was conducted at this convention, however, only the resolutions regarding our constitution and affiliations with the global Anglican community are listed here.  Any differences between this record and the official record are my inaccuracies. PROCEDURAL NOTE:  In the case of changes to the Constitution, there must be two votes (or readings) of the amendments by the...

FRESNO, CA--An Episcopal diocese in California overwhelmingly passed a series of resolutions yesterday that position it to secede from the Episcopal Church and affiliate with conservatives in the global Anglican Communion. If the Diocese of San Joaquin affirms the move in a second vote next year, the small diocese, with 48 parishes and 7,000 members, would be the first to try to break from the Episcopal Church, which has been torn by conflict since the consecration of a gay bishop in 2003. Until now, only individual parishes have severed ties. The vote by the diocese is one more step in...

Politicians, analysts and ordinary citizens across much of the world welcomed the electoral rebuke given President Bush's Republican Party and the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Wednesday. Against the broad mood of satisfaction, however, there were voices of concern that a power split between Democrats and Republicans in Washington might mean uncertainty in crucial areas like global trade talks. On Iraq, some worried that Democrats could force a too-rapid retreat, leaving the country and the region in chaos. Others said they doubted the congressional turnover would have a dramatic impact on Iraq policy any time soon, largely...

NASCAR fans sent a loud message to WKYC (Channel 3) -- one that still will be echoing in October. The station pre-empted NBC's coverage of the NASCAR Nextel Cup race in Watkins Glen, N.Y., on Sunday to air an Indians game (Ed - Indians game?!?). Racing fans promptly filled up the voice mail and the e-mail baskets at the TV station. As a result, the station is in discussions about swapping another Indians game for the one it planned to air Oct. 1, which again would conflict with a NASCAR telecast on NBC. The station did not intend to anger...

WASHINGTON (Creators Syndicate) -- Darn, I missed the Oscars again. I adore gory spectacles. If cockfights were legal I would be there. Even bear-baiting would not be too gruesome for me. Yet somehow I always miss Oscar night. The evening sounds fascinating. Primitive forms of life are gathered under one roof to strut and to preen. They whoop. They giggle. They sob. Occasionally one of the more cerebral intones a metaphysical ponderosity -- generally lifted from a bumper sticker. America's Hollywood animals may be vulgar, but they are humanitarians too. During Oscar night they espouse more humanitarian blah than can...

The New York Times plans to cut 250 jobs and shrink the size of its pages in 2008, making them 3.8 centimetres narrower, the newspaper reported in yesterday's edition. The newspaper's plans include closing a printing plant in Edison, N.J.The moves were estimated to save the company $42 million per year. The reduction in the size of its pages would mean a loss of 11 per cent of the space devoted to news, but the newspaper plans to add pages to make up for about half of that loss.

Israel Air Force aircraft early Friday struck the Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza City, Palestinian witnesses said, setting it on fire. There was no word of casualties as smoke and flames rose from the building in downtown Gaza City. The Interior Ministry is nominally in charge of Palestinian security forces, though Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas removed most of its authority. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed its planes hit the office of Interior Minister Said Siyam, which it called "a meeting place to plan and direct terror activity." The government decided Thursday evening to put off a fresh IDF military...

Israel has expanded its military operation against the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian Authority by embarking on mass arrests of senior Hamas officials before dawn Thursday. Israel Defense Forces troops launched early Thursday a major arrest operation against Hamas officials, detaining 64 of the ruling militant group's ministers and parliamentarians in the West Bank and 23 military operatives. The arrests took place in Ramallah, Qalqilyah, Hebron, Jenin and East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian reports. Soldiers carried arrest warrants signed by judges that were issued following cooperative preparatory work by the state prosecution and police. A Hamas official called the arrests...

Eighteen-year-old Eliyahu Asheri, from the settlement of Itamar, was found dead by Israel Defense Forces late Wednesday night in the A-Tira neighborhood of Ramallah. The location of Asheri's body was tipped off to the IDF by a Palestinian militant arrested on Tuesday. Security forces found the body buried in a field, and determined that he was shot in the head soon after he was kidnapped on Sunday. Soldiers arrested a militant in connection with the murder early Thursday morning. Palestinian militants from the Popular Resistance Committees said they executed the teenager. On Wednesday morning, a PRC spokesman, displaying Asheri's Israeli...

Military prosecutors want to start hearings as soon as this Wednesday to determine whether to move forward with charges of premeditated murder against two local Marines, five others and a Navy corpsman. But several of the attorneys told media last week that they didn't expect the hearings to take place that soon because they haven't received all of the government's evidence and will need time to review the information. Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, a Camp Pendleton spokesman, confirmed the so-called Article 32 hearings, the equivalent of a grand jury proceeding, are tentatively slated for next week. “It will be good...

It's almost a full time job for our crack editorial team here at Blackfive just to report on each instance of Rep. Murtha making a WTF? statement. Froggy got him from Meet the Press this morning proving he is either astonishingly stupid regarding the capabilities of our military or just willing to say anything. He got Matty O' bangin' on him here, and the king of running away gets a little Uncle J love for all his foolishness. Video Here: Click Here For the YouTube Video

Ex-Marine Colonel and current leader of the Cowardice Caucus in the House of Representatives, John Murtha has now made the transition from gutless Congressional peace activist to outright laughingstock. He began his atmospheric rise to liberal icon status by breathlessly intoning the President to immediately withdraw troops from Iraq so that they can be extracted from an Iraqi "civil war". Not content to merely serve as Defeatist in Chief, Murtha doubled down to be come one of the biggest Blue Falcons in Marine Corps history by prematurely condemning as guilty several of his ex-comrades- Semper Backstabis. Now from the NRO...

The United Nations appears to have postponed a financial crisis that threatened to dim the lights at the end of June, as the United States and other key governments have agreed to extend its spending authority. Washington had imposed a spending cap, set to expire at the end of the month, in an effort to ensure that difficult management reforms were not delayed until the end of the usual two-year budget cycle. But U.N. officials and diplomats say that the United States, Japan and other nations are not willing to see the lights go out -- yet. "The cap on...

An artist's sculpture has been rejected by the Royal Academy of Arts which has instead opted to display the wooden support it was put on. David Hensel, 64, from East Grinstead, West Sussex, was told his 'Laughing Head' sculpture would be part of the summer exhibition. But at a preview he found that just a piece of wood intended to support the head was on display on the plinth. The Academy said the judging panel assumed the two pieces were separate and decided the support was better.

The reasons for Porter Goss’s abrupt departure as CIA director are shrouded in mystery. But its effect is not. It gives the impression that there has been a coup by the CIA insiders who have waged a covert policy war against the Bush administration for five years. The White House must act quickly to correct the impression that the renegades have won. The CIA is supposed to work for the president. It was created in 1948 to be the president’s civilian, non-partisan, non-policy intelligence arm. Its job is to provide an accurate picture of facts and trends so that decision...

The three Dunkin' Brand chains -- Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin-Robbins and Togo’s -- will be acquired from French-owned Pernod Ricard by a U.S. investment consortium for $2.43 billion, according to the companies.

Court Hears Internet Anonymity Case ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The publisher of a financial newsletter told Maryland's second highest court Wednesday that he should not be forced to disclose his subscriber list and other information sought by an Arizona company seeking those it says made defamatory online comments. The publisher, Timothy M. Mulligan, told the judges "almost everything we publish could potentially be subpoenaed," putting him in the position of constantly appearing for depositions if his request to quash a subpoena by the Arizona drug company, Matrixx Initiatives, is denied. The judges, however, appeared to side with Matrixx, repeatedly asking why...