Free Republic

Florida: City to Seize Homes Over a $5 Parking Ticket Brooksville, Florida proposes to foreclose homes and seize cars over less than $20 in parking tickets. The city council in Brooksville, Florida voted this week to advance a proposal granting city officials the authority to place liens and foreclose on the homes of motorists accused of failing to pay a single $5 parking ticket. Non-homeowners face having their vehicles seized if accused of not paying three parking offenses. According to the proposed ordinance, a vehicle owner must pay a parking fine within 72 hours if a meter maid claims his...

Put down the flute and keep your eyes on the road. And forget about sipping that cup of coffee on the way to work, or smoking a cigarette on the way home. In some states, it could soon be illegal _ if it isn't already. Emboldened by the passage of cell phone bans for drivers in some communities, states are turning their attention to other things that drive motorists to distraction. Vermont lawmakers are considering a measure that would ban eating, drinking, smoking, reading, writing, personal grooming, playing an instrument, "interacting with pets or cargo," talking on a cell phone...

OLYMPIA, Wash. State officials say the Yakama Indian Nation has failed to adhere to an agreement on cigarette taxes, so the they intend to terminate the compact. The state Department of Revenue alleges cigarettes are being sold to non-Indians on the tribe's eastern Washington reservation without valid tribal tax stamps. Revenue Director Cindi Holmstrom says that violates terms of the agreement in effect since November 2004. Tribal officials were in meetings today and did not immediately return calls for comment. Holmstrom says that once the Yakama compact is terminated, sales of cigarettes without state stamps to non-Indians will again be...

He says expired gift card money should flow to treasury Incoming freshman Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen, a Las Vegas Democrat, would like to see expiring gift card money flow to the state treasury by defining it as abandoned property. Photo by Jeff Scheid. CARSON CITY -- Incoming freshman Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen went out to dinner with a friend recently, planning to use a $100 gift card he had received last year as a Christmas gift to pay for the meal. To Kihuen's dismay, the gift card had expired, meaning the high-end restaurant that issued the card had received a $100 windfall...

THE E-MAIL did not have an urgent tag on it, but it certainly could have. It was from an upstanding owner, and he had a problem--a big problem. He was being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, which in itself is not big news. It happens to horse people all the time, simply because they are horse people. This owner had followed all the rules to assure that he was an active participant in his horse business, and he went into the audit with confidence. [snip] A call to Stanley Gillman, C.P.A., who writes the "Tax Matters" column in this...

SACRAMENTO Californians who smoke in motor vehicles carrying young children could be slapped with $100 fines under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate. But a measure to force automakers to produce more lower-polluting, alternative-fuel vehicles fell four votes short of passing. The smoking ban, in a bill by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, would cover vehicles carrying children who were required to ride in a child safety seat. Under current law, that would be children who were younger than 6 or who weighed less than 60 pounds. But a bill on the governor's desk would require children younger...

Motorists would be banned from using handheld cell phones - a problem blamed for thousands of vehicle crashes and fatalities - under a bill expected to be approved by the Legislature next week. Modeled after a New York City law, Senate Bill 1613 would fine drivers using handheld cell phones $20 for the first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses beginning Jan. 1, 2008. It would not apply to drivers using hands-free models and would exempt motorists using handheld cell phones in emergencies. And the legislation would remain in effect only until July 1, 2011, unless renewed. "Cell phones are...

For more than three months, police Detective John Botte roamed the ruins of the World Trade Center, snapping photographs with his Leica Rangefinder camera and capturing hundreds of images of people at work on the monumental cleanup. His pictures soon appeared in a trio of books, most notably the best-selling autobiography of the city's police commissioner. But now the city is threatening to sue over the publication of a new volume containing more than 200 pages of the detective's work, claiming the photographs are police department property. City officials say that Botte was on duty when he took the photographs...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Rhode Island could become the first state to require cat owners to spay or neuter their pets under legislation passed Wednesday by the General Assembly. The measure would require pets older than 6 months to be spayed or neutered unless owners pay $100 for a breeder's license or special permit. Violators would be fined $75 a month. The Senate previously passed the bill, and with House approval, it now goes to Gov. Don Carcieri. The governor was reviewing the legislation, spokesman Jeff Neal said. Democratic Rep. Charlene Lima, the legislation's main sponsor in the House, said she...

Last weekend’s public intoxication sting operation at Progreso drew together several important — but, at times, conflicting — values for Rio Grande Valley residents to consider. About 160 young Valley residents — many of them minors and nearly all of them younger than 21 — were arrested late Saturday night or early Sunday morning after they crossed the international bridge while returning from Nuevo Progreso, Mexico. Under Operation Stronghold, they were detained by Progreso police officers, who were joined by Hidalgo County constable’s deputies and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents, and then were jailed until they or their parents paid...

RICHMOND -- Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and General Assembly lawmakers want lousy drivers to help balance the state's budget and ease congested roads. Mr. Kaine, a Democrat, and the Republican-controlled House and Senate are each pushing "abuser-fee" programs that annually fine drivers for the number of points on their driving record or if they have been convicted of a serious offense such as drunken driving. The fines would be in addition to court fees and insurance surcharges. "People who abuse the roads are the ones who should pay for them," said Delegate David B. Albo, Fairfax County Republican. "It...

Chicago dog owners who tether their pets for hours on end without food or water would be reined in -- with a two-hour limit -- under a crackdown proposed Wednesday by the City Council's most powerful alderman. "If dogs are tethered in this way, it makes them more likely to bite humans and makes them mean," said Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th). "It's a question of cruelty to the animals. It's a question of responsible care of animals. If people own pets, they ought to treat them responsibly." The Burke-championed ordinance introduced at Wednesday's City Council meeting would...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Lawyers representing thousands of motorists who sued the cities of San Francisco and San Diego after they were caught on camera running red lights agreed today to dismiss their litigation. The agreement caps a 2½-year legal battle in which the plaintiffs tried to recover millions in fines, traffic school costs and attorney fees after being cited thanks to the automatic traffic cameras. "We're very pleased that plaintiffs have agreed to dismiss their cases -- not merely because it saves taxpayer dollars, but because it ensures the continued viability of programs that are saving lives throughout California," San...

Some state lawmakers have been dialing for seven years on a bill to prevent drivers from using one hand to talk on a cell phone. But the crusade kept reaching a busy signal. Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, who says that motorists holding phones to their ears while driving has become "an epidemic," hopes this year will be different. By a vote of 28-19, the Senate on Friday passed Eide's bill, SB 5160, which would allow law enforcement to ticket multitaskers as a secondary offense. That means you have to do something wrong first, like swerve over a line, speed...

Chief Assistant Corporation Counsel Wes Hanscom told a City Council panel that City Hall is preparing to sue ticket resellers who make a killing on the Internet but leave taxpayers in the lurch. The crackdown can't come soon enough for Finance Committee Chairman Edward M. Burke (14th). He believes that as much as $16 million in amusement taxes is slipping through the city's fingers because of growing Internet purchases. $4.2 mil. loss on Sox postseason? "One registered ticket broker paid $140,000 in amusement tax on White Sox postseason. EBay, it is estimated, is 20 times the size of that broker....

Speeders, look out. Mayor Bloomberg backs new technology that shines a light on drivers in the fast lane. On his weekly WABC-AM radio show yesterday, Bloomberg voiced support for placing devices atop taxis and private vehicles that would light up when motorists exceed the speed limit, making speeders easy prey for cops. He mentioned seeing such alarms in Singapore. "We all want the laws enforced. And when we have technology [that] can let us enforce the law and save us money in doing so, what's the argument against that?" Bloomberg mused. "If I have a police officer watching to see...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Federal court decisions could mean $9 billion in tax refunds and a 3 percent cut in wireless phone and long-distance bills for some phone customers. Nine federal courts have ruled a 3 percent federal tax doesn't apply to phone calls that are priced only by how long a person talks -- not by how far the call travels. That means cellular phones, Internet phone service and about one-third of long distance calls would be exempt from the tax, USA Today said Tuesday. The wireless industry estimates consumers would save about $4.5 billion a year. Taxpayers...

Nearly 40% of offenders caught in Copley Road area; fines near $500,000 Nestor Traffic Systems photographed more than 2,600 alleged speeders this fall -- snapping as many as seven cars a minute -- in and around Akron school zones. The take in fines in that 19-day period: nearly half a million dollars. The tripod-mounted mobile cameras nailed the most drivers in the 1400 and 1500 blocks of Copley Road, near Erie Island Elementary School in West Akron. Nestor nabbed more than 1,000 drivers there and issued $182,000 in fines, nearly 40 percent of the total. The second-busiest stakeout was in...

HARRISBURG -- Mary Molinaro loves bingo, but it's been ages since she's played. "They smoke up a storm in those bingos. It gives me a headache," said Mrs. Molinaro, 72, of Glassport. That's why she's hoping for the passage of legislation that would prohibit smoking in all public workplaces, including restaurants, stores, sports arenas, bars and, yes, bingo halls. Violators would be subject to fines of up to $100 for the first violation, $200 for the second violation within one year and $500 for subsequent violations in the same year. Similar bills have been proposed over the last several years,...

STATE TAXES are justified only to pay for essential state services. In New York, the state levies income taxes on people who never receive any state services — because they live and work outside the state. Since the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed this practice to continue — deciding on Halloween not to take a case challenging it — Congress must act to ban it. Thomas Huckaby lives in Tennessee, but works for the National Organization of Industrial Trade Unions, based in New York. He telecommutes, doing computer programming from his home in Tennessee. Because he did travel to New...