GNN will begin a weekly series to help you with your taxes — especially beneficial to folks like me who haven’t done them yet! Today, Julian Block, an expert on tax issues related to freelance artists, writers and photographers, will answer some common questions about how many deductions we can legally claim on our income taxes in the U.S. this year…
Tax Facts For Freelancers (Part 1)
Congress Takes Up Complaints on Credit Cards
"Executives from major U.S. banks were on the hot seat in Congress Wednesday over credit-card fees and penalties. One bank executive apologized to an aggrieved customer at the hearing." And, "as a result of recent hearings, several banks, including Chase and Citigroup, are announcing changes." Chase, regarding extended over-limit fees, and Citigroup, ending penalties for being late on another credit card and the practice of raising rates at any time. (NPR News)
Senior Collects Cans for 30 Years to Build Community Pool
An 83-year-old Kansas woman spent 30 years driving open roads, picking up aluminum cans, in a single-handed effort to raise enough money to build a community swimming pool for the children in her home town of Eskridge. For more than three decades, Maisie DeVore gathered and delivered cans, scrap metal and car parts to a recycling facility. Can by can, year after year, she earned $73,000 and received a matching grant to raise the rest. Says Maisie, “If you really want something and pursue it with all your mind, you’ll get it done one way or another.” Here’s a video featuring her and the pick-up truck, and that Kansas can-do attitude… (1:51)
The pool shimmers across the street from Maisie’s home, having been completed on July 14, 2001. You may have seen the event on CBS’s Sunday Morning featuring a parade that attracted more than 1,000 people. As her dream project was consecrated with a ceremony, Maisie took the first step into the completed pool. Since that day, the summer attendance has averaged about 100 people a day.
Ga. Trucker Claims Half of $390 Million Lottery
A Georgia trucker who lives with his mother is $80 million richer (after taxes) now that he has won the lottery. Ed Nabors, 52, says he will work at least two more days, but then, "Do a lot of fishing." He will also buy a new house for his daughter. (Full story plus video of Ed answering questions – MSNBC)
Bank of America Launches $20 Billion Environmental Initiative
America’s largest retail bank announced this week they will start to spend billions on projects that help sustain the earth, like offering commercial loans to green businesses, trimming its own environmental footprint, donating to green causes and offering incentives to customers and employees to buy energy-efficient homes and cars. (AP)
Ivory Coast: New Peace Agreement
(IRIN) – President Laurent Gbagbo and New Forces rebel leader Guillaume Soro have signed a peace agreement for Côte d’Ivoire aimed at ending a four-year political impasse that has divided the country and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. "It is a peace deal that could succeed where previous foreign-backed ones failed because all parties in the enduring conflict have backed it."…
Turkmenistan Teens Can Now Attend College
Turkmenistan’s new president has scrapped a rule that required high school graduates to work for two years before they enter university. President Gubanguli Berdymukhamedov signed an order dropping work requirements and reinstating university entrance exams.
Five Ways the United Nations is Saving People and the Planet
In 1997, the owner of Cable News Network, Ted Turner, shocked the world when he handed over a billion dollars to the United Nations. At the time, the United States had been delinquent in paying its UN dues and Turner was making up for it. He was passionate about the UN’s humanitarianism, especially their women and children’s health programs and environmental work. If you haven’t heard lately about the good deeds of the United Nations, these are five ways the UN is saving people and our planet, every day — including links so you can make donations to their lifesaving efforts…
30 Minutes After Baby Dies, He Comes Back
"Two-week-old Woody Lander was turning white and struggling to breathe. He was rushed to the hospital and doctors say he died a few minutes later. Then, 30 minutes after being declared dead, he started breathing again." (ABC)
Child’s Birth Inspires King to Pardon 9,000 Prisoners
"King Mohammed VI pardoned nearly 9,000 prisoners to celebrate the birth of his baby girl, the Justice Ministry said." (AP reports) …fascinating!
Jennifer Hudson Grateful for Loss on American Idol
On the Barbara Walters Oscar special last Sunday, Jennifer Hudson said she was grateful for her loss on American Idol. Without that loss, she would not have been available to do Dream Girls, would not have won best supporting actress in the Golden Globes and Academy Awards.
Are you still resentful about old losses and hurts? Want to find a way to be grateful for everything that has happened in your life? Join “gratitude-expert” Harry Tucker and me on a tele-conference call tonight to discuss Gratitude: How to Celebrate the Silver Lining in any Situation.
Click here for all the details. We’re giving away two free books to participants.
Photo: David Torcivia (Flickr)
Good News for Engine No. 7 in New Orleans
Thanks go to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Frito-Lay and other contributors who watched a moving segment on NBC-TV’s Nightly News about the New Orleans fire fighters of Engine No. 7, who lost their firehouse in the flooding (and many of them, their homes, while they were out assisting others). Almost $200,000 came flooding in to help construct a new building. (NBC)
New AIDS Drug ‘Incredibly Encouraging’
"Very exciting. A road to hope. An important milestone in HIV treatment history... That’s what AIDS researchers are saying about Isentress, the first of a new class of HIV drugs." (WebMD)
Memphis Church Miracle Changes Single Mom’s Life
Can a single action by one person change a life or perhaps touch others who don’t even know you? It did for a Memphis single mom with a sick child, who was out of a job and a home. Yet she still made a small church offering that resonated with others in a way no one could have expected. (News Channel 3)
$33 Million Donation for Stem Cell Institute
Lorry I. Lokey, the founder of Business Wire and a regular supporter of education and science, will give $33 million to help build a laboratory for Stanford’s Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. "The important thing to me is that stem cells might not only extend life, but also improve the quality of life, as so many people suffer in their later years," said Lokey, who will turn 80 in March.
Ex-Teammate Donates Kidney to Dallas Cowboy
Two NFL football players became the first U.S. professional athletes involved in an organ donation between teammates. Ron Springs calls it "brotherly love" when he thinks of his friend, Everson Walls giving him a kidney. Today they are recovering from the transplant and hoping to have finally tackled Springs’ diabetes, allowing him to walk once again. (AP via MSNBC)
GNN UPDATE: Sunday Call and New Commenting System
EDITOR’S UPDATE:
We installed a new component on the Web site for accepting comments. It was able to import all the old comments, but we may have lost one or two. If you find any missing that you wrote, please re-write them if you’d like… The little icon/photos that go with your comments are all there, yet we might have lost yours (Columbine?). Please upload it again, if needed. ALSO, remember to join Harry, me and GNN readers this Sunday night if you’d like to discuss the subject of GRATITUDE and how to appreciate EVEN the ‘bad’ things in life. Talk to you later!
Blind Kid Uses Echo-Location to See, Live Active Life (Video)
Benjamin Underwood, 14, had cancer in his eyes that stole his sight at age two. But he doesn’t “see” himself as blind. He plays just like other kids — basketball, skating, video gaming, karate — and he uses echo-location to see. His mother taught him there were no impossibilities and led the way to his amazing life. Here he is interviewed on Ellen kicking off a series called People You Should Know. (YouTube Video)
Praising All Great Customer Service and Random Good Deeds
I like this idea very much: In Bradenton, Florida, the local newspaper prints readers’ praise for extra special service received in their community. I’ve always wanted to feature personal reports of excellent customer service. Great service occurs much more often than people think. First these from Bradenton, then, my own…
- The owner of Healthy Home of Sarasota refused to charge Barbara for the needed replacement parts on her vacuum cleaning system and has always given excellent service.
- Dentists and staff at Palmetto Dental Center stayed past their regular office hours to extract a tooth for someone who desperately needed attention before they left on their trip to Germany the next morning.
- “A very nice lady” turned in Susan’s wallet to the waitstaff at a local restaurant after finding it in the restroom. Susan promises to pay forward 10 good deeds in thanks.
I called Hamilton Beach and reported the cover to my Custom Grind coffee grinder had broken, rendering the item useless. Without asking when I purchased the item, she asked me to turn the machine over and give her the number on the bottom. Then, she simply mailed me a new cover free of charge!- Canon was most compassionate to me a few years ago after I purchased an expensive video camera. Even though I had totally forgotten to send in the paperwork in time to receive the rebate — by more than a month — they sent me a check for the total amount of $250.
Now, THAT is what I call customer service! Tell us your story — in a comment below…
Cat Walks 4 Months to Return to Owner
A New Zealand cat traveled 150 kilometres on its own, crossed a river and journeyed for four months to be with her owner after disappearing while on a family holiday last October. “In what was surely an astonishing feat of navigation, Molly (who wore no tags) somehow found her way back to the home in Hamilton she had lived in for only three weeks.” (msn news)
