In the News; April 15, 2008

It's April 15th. One of the most dreaded days of the year. Procrastinators will be coming out of the woodwork today to file their taxes. Your tax return must be postmarked no later than midnight tonight. Is your post office going to be open that late?

According to the IRS;

To locate a post office, you can call 1-800-275-8777 or you can visit the United States Postal Service (USPS) Post Office Locator web page. After you have located a post office, please click on the 'More Info' link for that office's phone number.

A postmaster refers to the head of an individual post office. To find a postmaster, please visit the USPS's Postmaster Finders web page.

In the news....
OMG! Oil has hit a new record high at $112/ barrel. Experts are predicting that you will be paying, if not already, $3.50/gallon. This summer, we will be paying around $4/ gallon.

The Pope speaks out. Pope Benedict XVI said Tuesday he was "deeply ashamed" of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that stained the Catholic church and will work to make sure pedophiles don't become priests. The Pope is visiting the US, the first trip by a pontiff to the United States since the sex abuse scandal rocked U.S. dioceses in the early 2000s and triggered lawsuits that have cost the church hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.

They returned to their polygamist ranch home and now they want the children back. Mothers separated from their children as part of a wide-ranging abuse investigation within a polygamist retreat accuse state officials of misleading them before taking their children into custody. The state is accusing the sect of physically and sexually abusing the youngsters and wants to strip their parents of custody and place the children in foster care or put them up for adoption. The sheer size of the case was an obstacle. They practice polygamy in arranged marriages, sometimes between underage girls and older men.

It's getting more expensive to eat.

The U.S. is wrestling with the worst food inflation in 17 years, and analysts expect new data due on Wednesday to show it's getting worse. That's putting the squeeze on poor families and forcing bakeries, bagel shops and delis to explain price increases to their customers.
U.S. food prices rose 4 percent in 2007, compared with an average 2.5 percent annual rise for the last 15 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the agency says 2008 could be worse, with a rise of as much as 4.5 percent. Analysts are forecasting that Wednesday's Department of Labor report will show the Consumer Price Index rose at a 4 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, up from last year's overall rise of 2.8 percent.

According to a new study out of Cambridge, the hormone that drives male aggression and sexual interest also seems able to boost short term success at finance. But what seems to start out well can turn bad, with elevated testosterone levels over several days possibly leading to irrational risk-taking, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge in England

In BLAINE, Wash. - A 13-year-old boy hopes to win a balloon-blowing record by a nose. Blowing through one nostril at a time, the boy inflated 213 balloons within an hour Friday — a feat that has been submitted for review by Guinness World Records..

How do you lose a violin? In London, a retired shipping consultant said he lost a 17th-century violin worth nearly $400,000 after leaving it on a train.He did not realize the instrument — made by master Venetian craftsman Matteo Goffriller in 1698 — was still on the train's luggage rack until it began pulling out of the station.

Photo of the day;

In this photo provided by the San Francisco Zoo, a 6-week-old, 12 pound baby Sumatran tiger sits in the outdoor exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo, Monday, April 14, 2008 in San Francisco. His mom delivered triplet male cubs on March 7. She debuted them today, one at a time, in the outdoor public exhibit.
(AP Photo/San Francisco Zoo, George Nikitin)