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The National Transportation Safety Board's proposed plan to toughen drunk driving laws has restaurateurs alarmed, NBC News reported. Social drinkers are likely to cut back when they dine out if the NTSB's new blood-alcohol level limit of 0.05 becomes law, according to Sarah Longwell, a spokesperson for the American Beverage Institute. "You basically take away a part of the experience of dining out. When you take that element away, you take away some of the magic, the ambiance of a night out," Longwell said. The new proposal announced on Tuesday is based on research that shows impairment begins with the first drink. “The research clearly shows that drivers with a BAC above 0.05 are impaired and at a significantly greater risk of being involved in a crash where someone is killed or injured,” NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman said Tuesday. Click through to read more.
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A man at Cannes film festival was arrested after firing a starting pistol while a live TV broadcast was taking place, according to NBC News. French TV station Canal+ had been conducting an interview with actors Christoph Waltz and Daniel Auteuil in front of a crowd when the man fired two shots into the air. The actors ran for cover. "The bodyguards jumped over the barriers into the crowd and pulled him to the ground. The police arrived and told everyone to run because there was a grenade in his hand," spectator Arthur Laiguesse told Reuters. Police then arrested the man who had a knife and a dummy grenade. The festival has already seen a breach of security. Police claim that $1.4 million worth of Chopard jewelry intended for movie stars during the 12-day event had been stolen from a room at the Suite Novotel hotel overnight on Thursday.
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The jackpot for Saturday’s Powerball drawing has risen to $600 million, a Powerball record and the second-largest pot in U.S. lottery history, NBC News reported. The record for the largest ever lottery jackpot is $656 million for a Mega Millions drawing in March 2012. That pot was split among holders of three winning tickets. The estimated lump sum cash prize for Saturday's Powerball drawing is $376.9 million before taxes. Powerball tickets are sold for $2 each in 43 states, Washington, DC, and the Virgin Islands. The big reveal is set for 10:59 p.m. ET on Saturday.
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Outgoing IRS chief Steven Miller Friday blamed "foolish mistakes" for the agency's targeting of conservative and Tea Party groups for additional scrutiny over an 18-month period beginning in March 2010, and he said that he did not believe partisanship played any role in the controversy. "As acting commissioner I want to apologize on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service for the mistakes that we made and the poor service that we provided," Miller said at the outset of a House Ways and Means Committee hearing. J. Russell George, the Treasury Department inspector general whose report unearthed the IRS controversy, also testified that there was no evidence government workers targeted conservatives for partisan reasons. The answers did not satisfy Republicans, who spent much of the hearing trying to advance a narrative of a "culture of intimidation" of Obama administration ideological opponents. More congressional hearings are planned for next week.
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Not so fast, Arkansas. That was effectively what a federal judge told the state Friday, two months after its legislature enacted one of the toughest abortion bans in the nation. At the hearing in Little Rock, U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright deemed the law, which would ban abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, "more than likely unconstitutional" and barred its implementation while a lawsuit challenging it wends its way through the judicial process. That conclusion mirrored the one drawn by Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, who had called the measure "blatantly unconstitutional" and had said it would be "very costly to the taxpayers of our state" to adopt and defend it in court. The GOP-led Legislature had overruled his veto to pass the bill anyway, however. On Friday, Judge Wright said that the new law would abortions before generally accepted fetal viability, usually around 24 weeks — a standard the Supreme Court has adopted as its guideline, too.
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Are you self employed, a millionaire or someone who would claim a deduction for donating a car or large quantity of clothing to charity? If so be prepared that you may draw the attention of the Internal Revenue Service, CNBC reported. In 2010, about one in 100 Americans were audited, according to IRS data. But those making $1 million or more were more than 12 times more likely to draw scrutiny, perhaps because the IRS has a greater chance of recovery from wealthier taxpayers. Lately, the IRS has scoured social media to look for discussions about underpayment or nonpayment of taxes. Click through for more on what draws IRS attention.
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