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Worker dies in snow-blower accident
Hunter Mountain - A ski resort employee was killed Monday night when he was sucked into a snow blower, state police said.
Walter Rion, 63, who worked at Hunter Mountain Ski Resort, was pulled into a running 6-foot-wide snow blower after his clothes got caught in its blades, state police in Catskill said.
He was standing next to the machine while trying to close an overhead garage door when the accident happened about 8:30 p.m.
Rion, of Prattsville in Greene County, died at the scene.
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City reinstates gas leaf blower ban
Palo Alto will once again crack down on gas-powered leaf blowers - at least for now. City Manager Frank Benest announced Monday that the police department had found a "creative solution," enabling it to enforce the ban on gas-powered leaf blowers. The City Council instituted the ban in residential areas in July 2005 following years of debate, but enforcement of it was scrubbed last week due to budget cuts. Police Chief Lynne Johnson said that starting next week, a parking enforcement officer will respond to leaf blower complaints. A part-time temporary officer will be hired to cover the parking enforcement position, she said. The officer taking leaf blower calls will respond first to areas with the most complaints. "We are still not responding to anything unless we get three independent complaints," Johnson said.
New measure encourages telling IRS of tax cheats
The Internal Revenue Service estimates that the difference between what Americans owe in federal taxes and what they actually pay every year is about $345 billion annually. To close this huge "tax gap," Congress and President Bush enacted a measure in December designed to give people more motivation to tattle on dishonest employers, employees, co-workers, acquaintances and former spouses. But the enhanced incentives -- higher cash rewards to those who blow the whistle on tax cheats -- will go only to those informants who provide specific, useful information. "Evidence and analysis is what we are looking for rather than hearsay and speculation," said Stephen Whitlock, director of the IRS' new Whistleblower Office. "People who come in with hearsay, speculation and a motive tend to be less reliable.
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