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News from 2-23-09

Here are some Front Pages from all over for this day.. February, 23, 20009. See more headlines from many other places at http://www.newseum.com.

Today's pages are from: Florence, AL, Fresno, CA, San Francisco, CA, Washington, DC, Athens, GA, Fort Wayne, IN, Cedar Rapids, IA, Shreveport, LA, Augusta, ME, Kalamazoo, MI and Tupelo, MS.

Enjoy!

APOD: 2004 January 2 - An Apollo 12 Panorama

Credit Crisis Explained via Graphics

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo

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Porn is Looking Good to the Taxman

Joe the Salesman returns to his hotel room in Virginia for the night and clicks on a pay-per-view movie. We know what that movie is about (wink, wink).

Pretty soon that movie may very well cost a little more.
Today, the Virginia House of Delegates sent to the governor's desk a 10% tax on pay-for-view movies watched in hotel rooms. Of course, not all pay-per-view movies are adult entertainment. But it's just one way states are looking to tax porn to fill mounting budget gaps.
According to The Associated Press, the pay-per-view tax revenue would be split between the general fund and another used to attract filmmakers to Virginia. The delegates rejected a suggestion that it fund highways. (One delegate said that would be like "relying on the porn industry to build roads in Virginia," the AP said.)
In New York, Gov. David Patterson is proposing a sales tax on downloaded software, music and other entertainment, which would include the adult variety, the AP reports. The so-called "iPod tax" would amount of 4%, but only if the retailer has a presence in New York state.
In Washington state, which faces a $6 billion shortfall, a legislator is calling for an 18.5% tax on the sale of adult entertainment products and services, like phone sex. Opponents there say the tax would be unconstitutional because it would target a particular type of speech, The Seattle Times reports.
The fact is, taxing porn can raise constitutional issues. As Reese Schonfeld wrote at The Huffington Post, you can't use taxation to censor speech. But, he muses, maybe a tax on the distributors of pay-per-view porn wouldn't be so bad.
"If we could only get the blue-noses to shut up about 'saving our children' and accept a porn tax as a way to save us all from another tax increase, maybe we could actually get it through Congress," he wrote.
Other porn-related tax proposals are expected to surface. CBS4 critic Greg Moody in Denver said that "thanks to this economy and strapped state budgets, it's going to be happening all over."  .

In Oregon and elsewhere, beer tax hikes a-brewing

If you've been drowning your economic sorrows in a pint of ale, that could get more expensive. Beer is being eyed for additional taxation in a number of states facing budget shortfalls.

In Oregon, legislators have proposed raising the beer tax from the current $2.60 per barrel to $49.61, a jump of about 1,800%. Lawmakers say that amounts to 15 cents more per 12-ounce glass. The beer industry says the price jump would more likely be $1.50. The tax hasn't been raised in more than 30 years.
Don't panic yet, you folks in microbrew paradise. An editorial in The Oregonian says, "Excuse our cynicism, but we've sat through this particular barroom discussion enough times to know that it is leading nowhere" (and also notes that state funding for alcohol and drug treatment has been severely cut).
Here's what's going on in some other states:

• A proposal to more than triple the per-gallon tax on beer from 15 to 52 cents has passed its first test in an Idaho legislative committee. A wine tax increase did too, The Associated Press reports. (One barrel holds 31 gallons.)
• In New York, Gov. David Patterson has proposed to raise the state tax from 11 cents to 24 cents per gallon of beer, prompting speculation that Anheuser-Busch would close its Lysander brewery as a result, The Post-Standard of Syracuse said.
• A total of 24 states, including Massachusetts and Virginia, are considering higher alcohol taxes.

All the news for beer drinkers isn't bad. (If you support a tax increase, you'll find plenty of ammunition at BeerSoaksAmerica.org.)

• In Wisconsin, Gov. Jim Doyle is proposing a 75-cent tax increase on cigarettes, on the heels of a $1 hike last year. But remember that Wisconsin is a beer-and-brat state. The beer tax hasn't gone up there in 40 years, The Post-Crescent reports, and that's not likely to change soon.
• Missouri beer drinkers also seem safe. Owen Morris writes in The Pitch that the Show-Me State's beer tax is low and likely to stay that way. Missouri is also the home of Anheuser-Busch. (Wyoming has the lowest beer tax, according to this Tax Foundation map.)
• The beer industry is lobbying for a reduction in the federal beer tax, calling it a sort of economic stimulus.
• In Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota, lawmakers may drop blue laws that ban the sale of alcohol on Sunday. It's believed that will increase state revenue.

Here are two strange items from The Associated Press: A Nebraska legislator says tourism could increase there if people could legally drink beer in state parks. Also, Utah is contemplating changing its unique liquor laws by dropping the club system in bars.
Charlie Papazian, who truly is the king of beer -- he wrote "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing," among other accomplishments -- said at Examiner.com that a higher tax would raise the cost of beer by much higher than the tax's face value by the time you raise that glass or can to your lips.
He added, "Will there be other proposals to raise taxes on beer in your state?  Unfortunately, I fear yes."
Want to see where your state ranks in beer consumption? Check out this Beer Institute .pdf file.

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News from Around the Country- Front Page 2-12-09

A few FRONT PAGES from some of the Big Cities: Birmingham, AL, Anchorage, AK, Phoenix, AZ, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA,Denver, CO, Washington, DC, Miami, FL, Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, Des Moines, IA, New York, NY, Boston, MA & Baltimore, MD.


You can see them all at http://www.newseum.com and more.

Front Pages from 2-11-09

A few front pages from newspapers around the country. If you want your own go look at http://www.newseum.com. Enjoy.

Today's papers: Norfolk, VA, Jakarta, Indonesia, Grenada, MS, Columbus, OH, Beaver, PA, Kerrville, TX, Sydney, Australia, Gilbert, AZ , & Burlington, IA .


Tomorrow I think I will do only international, Friday I may just do the big cities.

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