SPews: March 11, 2011
"UI owes thousands in back taxes to IRS," Daily Illini, March 7
The University owes thousands of dollars in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, after failing to withhold taxes for graduate assistants for seven years.
. . .
Now that the University has begun to correctly tax graduate assistants for 2011, 17 graduate assistants will have no pay left after the withholding and, 56 will have more than 50 percent of their pay withheld. In total, 280 people are affected by the tax change. Graduate assistants were notified of the change Feb. 22.
"Two Champaign projects win architectural design awards from foundation," News-Gazette, March 7
Two projects that transformed the area between downtown Champaign and Campustown won architectural design awards at the Champaign County Design and Conservation Foundation's annual meeting Sunday.
The city of Champaign received an award for the Second Street Reach component of its improvements to Boneyard Creek, and the Champaign Park District got an award for its renovation of Scott Park.
"U of I offers emergency grants to grad assistants," Pantagraph, March 10
The University of Illinois will offer emergency grants to student graduate assistants who recently learned they'd have to go unpaid for some time to cover overdue taxes.
The university says a payroll glitch caused taxes not to be withheld for hundreds of graduate employees.
"UI grad student wins Lemelson-MIT inventor prize," News-Gazette, March 9
University of Illinois graduate student Scott Daigle has won the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Illinois Student Prize, given annually to an outstanding student inventor on campus.
Daigle, a graduate student in mechanical science and engineering, started IntelliWheels Inc. to add automatic gear shifting to wheelchairs.
His product automatically shifts gears by sensing how hard the wheelchair user is pushing, how fast the chair is going and the tilt of the chair.
"Quinn signs law to collect online sales taxes," Pantagraph, March 10
Illinois residents have been avoiding the taxman for years by shopping online, a strategy that will become harder under a new law that requires online merchants to collect sales tax on purchases made through business partner based in the state.
Supporters say the law signed Thursday by Gov. Pat Quinn will help level the playing field between brick-and-mortar stores and online businesses. Critics argue it will drive companies out of Illinois.
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Thank you for discussing Ron Paul’s “successors” - the future of the freedom movement. The movement didn’t begin with Dr. Paul, nor will it end with his exit from the political scene. How many future political leaders were in that audience of nearly 5,000 last night?
I went to the Ron Paul event last night. There was alot of energy & the audience responded to Ron Paul’s ideas which surprised me. I didn’t think most people would be aware of NDAA. Another person, who was there last night, observed that quite a few…
A really well researched article. Great job!
I love the Guitars
Hi my name is Harry Huffman, professional speaker…. keynote humorist and above all story teller. I have also been a ballroom dancer, competitor and instructor over 45 years.I’m looking to get on the story telling circuit or radio. Can you give me some advice. Thank you. My web site http://www.speakdance.com
Man, I cannot wait for these four records to be released by Parasol/Hidden Agenda - seriously great music for them to be working with. Thanks for letting me hang out in the studio and see you at the party…
Rob, I’m slightly confused about the media player you are referring to.
I’ve looked at this page with two different browsers, and four different operating systems. I’ve decided that the embedded media player is just plain busted.
$100K for a toy house? No wonder my taxes are killing me. http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/solar-decathlons-rainy-start_594112.html
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“Smile Politely sports writer announces candidacy for city government.”
I also got to visit Big Grove Tavern during the soft open and definitely enjoyed the pork belly the most of all the dishes I sampled. The cheesy grits and the vinegary pickled vegetables were a perfect compliment to the rich pork belly.
The Alan Partridge lookalike on the right in the first small photo has nothing to condescend to anyone about. AH HA!
Snell and the little Hitlers of the neighborhood association need to chill out. Legitimate businesses should have the freedom to exist without having to endure the slings and arrows of ignorant and misguided opposition.
represent, Matt.
Yeah, I’d agree that Transporter Room 3 is the worst house venue I’ve ever seen.
Food trucks are the start-up, small businesses of the future for those unable to afford real estate. No surprise, that merchants who pay rent, utilities, and maintenance on a property would despise the traveling competition. Or developers who build more empty retail spaces would want to close…
Not so much far-right Tea Party as a balanced, moderate viewpoint between letting businesses succeed and protecting society with reasonable regulations. In spite of what the city reps are saying, the interpretation of policy on this issue certainly has changed. Letting a business start up under one…
I think it’s neat that SP has turned rightward, now espousing a Tea Party-style frustration with government regulations & taxes.
This makes me so sad. (Happy to live in Urbana, though!) Crave Truck has been a GREAT addition to the food choices in C-U, and it’d be a travesty to chase them away. This town should be supporting small businesses. I’m glad to hear that they’ll still…
*slow. clap.* Still offering no threat of intelligence…. I know I said I thought you should just write this whole column yourself next year, Isaac, but now that you’ve gone and taken a “part deux” run at it, I’d like to modify my request: Best Music 2013,…
Actually, it’s kind of nice, the quiet. John Heoffleur’s engaging commentary/dialogue is sorely missed, however. In lieu of someone intelligent saying something, I’ve compiled a list of Honourable Mentions: BEST ROCK BAND: Take Care ::these gentlemen have four completely different sets at their disposal right now (which…
What? Echo! (Echo!) Where’s the dischord and dissent?
This weekend will mark the first appearance of Kayla Brown’s Fire Doll Candle booth at the Market. Check it: http://www.facebook.com/firedollcandles
And without bloodshed. Sounds like the Savoy trustees aren’t as narrow-minded as some of their whiny pants constituents. Do you think quack Snell is already planning an asinine counterattack or is he still laying low after those “threats” against his person?
hey, if hair ain’t gon’ be over your head, my jokes may as well be.
Okay, almost 24 hours later and I finally got Issac’s Summer joke. I’m an idiot.
Excellent. I am glad sometimes American dreams are encouraged, rather than stifled.
Swap the dog for a fire pit and it sounds like you’re writing about my back yard. Very nice.
funny, as your summer begins, another Summer ends.
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What a great job by all the volunteers! This event was really put together fast, and well. What I noticed about the crowd was how many old faces I saw despite occurring on a college campus. I talked to quite a few, including students, who assured me…