BUSINESS
April 23, 2014 | By Jim Puzzanghera, This post has been updated with the latest developments.
WASHINGTON -- The IRS paid a total of about $1.1 million in bonuses over about two years to more than 1,100 employees who had been disciplined for failing to pay their own taxes, according to an inspector general's report. Those employees also received awards of more than 10,000 hours of extra time off and 69 faster-than-normal pay grade increases. They were among more than 2,800 IRS employees during that period who got performance awards within one year of disciplinary action, such as suspensions or written reprimands, the report found.
HOME & GARDEN
April 19, 2014 | Chris Erskine
A boy. A dad. A mid-April hike. "Baseball should have bowl games," the fifth-grader says. "I like the way you think," I say. Up the hill we go, like shadows on a wall - first him, then me. We are determined to hike all the way to his elementary school, about a mile up toward the clouds. It is a route we take five times a week by car, there and back, there and back, on the hamster wheel of suburban life. In the Saturday morning sunlight, I see the boyishness in his face - the breakfast in the corners of his mouth.
ENTERTAINMENT
March 20, 2014
A posthumous musical collaboration between Roy Orbison and three of his sons will be included on a 25 th anniversary reissue of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter's final studio album, “Mystery Girl.” The deluxe reissue is due May 20 and in addition to the album's original 10 tracks will include previously unreleased studio tracks and working demo recordings. It also will come with a “making-of” documentary “Mystery Girl: Unraveled” on DVD exploring the creation of that album and the new cross-generational track “The Way of Love” featuring Roy's original vocals accompanied by harmonies and instrumental backing provided by Roy Jr., Alex and Wesley Orbison.
SPORTS
March 17, 2014 | By Dylan Hernandez
PHOENIX -- Sometime in the relatively near future, perhaps even this year, Zach Lee could take the mound for the Dodgers in a regular-season game. Or Joc Pederson could step into the batter's box. If it happens, fans at Dodger Stadium might consider raising their plastic cups in a tribute to the man responsible: Frank McCourt. If not for the team's unpopular former owner, the Dodgers' two top prospects would be somewhere else. Lee might be counting down the days until the NFL draft.
SPORTS
March 14, 2014 | By Mike DiGiovanna
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The benefits of a healthy Albert Pujols shouldn't just be felt at the plate this season. Pujols, relegated to designated hitter for 65 of 99 games in an injury-shortened 2013 season, has started nine of 10 games at first base this spring and has already flashed some of the range, hands, reactions and skills that earned him National League Gold Glove Awards with St. Louis in 2006 and 2010. “I'm really excited and happy with how I'm playing at first base and how I'm moving,” Pujols said.
BUSINESS
March 12, 2014 | By Ricardo Lopez
Wall Street bonuses grew an estimated 15% in 2013, swelling to an average $164,530, the third-highest amount on record, the New York comptroller's office reported Wednesday. Firms will pay out an estimated $26.7 billion in bonuses to their employees for performance in 2013, state officials said. The estimate includes cash bonuses for that year and deferred compensation from previous years. "Wall Street navigated through some rough patches last year and had a profitable year in 2013," said New York Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli . " Although profits were lower than the prior year, the industry still had a good year in 2013 despite costly legal settlements and higher interest rates.