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Phone tax refund goes largely unclaimed

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 24, 2007

Can't anybody get the telephone tax refund right? The IRS says about 30 percent of early filers are failing to claim the refund, available on 2006 returns as a result of the repeal of the federal excise tax on long-distance service. It's worth $30 to $60, depending on family size, or even more if you had big phone bills and saved your records. While some people aren't claiming the refund, others are trying to claim too much. Earlier this week the IRS said exaggerated refund claims are this year's top tax scam.

DAYTONA BEACH

Daytona paper locked in fight

The head of the family that owns Daytona Beach's News-Journal died last month, but the family's fight with minority shareholder Cox Enterprises lives on. Cox had sued the Davidson family for wasting corporate money on pet cultural projects in town. The Davidsons said they'd buy Cox out but disagreed with the price set by a federal judge: $129.2-million. The News-Journal filed an appeal for a new trial this week saying the judge based his figure on the newspaper seeking optimum profits, rather than the way the Davidson family has run the News-Journal for decades, seeking "long-term sustainability."

TALLAHASSEE

Nineteen line up for two PSC jobs

The Florida Public Service Commission, the five-person board that regulates utilities, is considering 19 candidates for two vacant positions. Gov. Charlie Crist removed Jeb Bush appointees Isilio Arriaga and Ken Littlefield from the PSC last month. A nominating council will interview the potential replacements March 9. Crist wants the jobs to go to Philip Nowicki, former head of the state's Lemon Law division, and Jeremy Susac, a PSC staffer. Others competing for the jobs, which pay $132,690 a year, include former state Sen. Les Miller of Tampa.

ATLANTA

Worker sues Home Depot, ex-chief

A former Home Depot employee has sued the company and also Bob Nardelli, claiming she was forced to work off the clock for free on personal projects at the ex-CEO's Buckhead estate and elsewhere. Rebecca Beck-Johnson, who worked at Home Depot Landscape Supply, alleges that she worked a "substantial" amount of unpaid overtime during a one-year period designing and landscaping Nardelli's yard, in addition to performing similar services at a private school in Dunwoody on behalf of Nardelli's family, according to a complaint filed Friday in Atlanta Federal Court.

DETROIT

Chrysler rolls out buyout offers

DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler will offer some older employees three months' pay if they leave the company by May 31, in the first round of incentives to trim the U.S. unit's salaried workforce. A second group of younger workers will be offered full medical coverage and no additional benefits if they leave by June 30, the unit told employees Friday. Chrysler wants to trim 1,000 salaried positions by June 30 and another 1,000 by the end of next year. They are part of a reduction of 13,000 jobs, or 16 percent of its total.

[Last modified February 24, 2007, 01:55:45]