If every tax-exempt religious organization received the same scrutiny as Washington's now famous C Street rowhouse, the IRS would have its hands full. But given the evidence available, it's difficult to see why a boarding house for evangelical Congressmen should be classified as a church -- for the purposes of God or Caesar.Until last fall, the C Street Center paid no property taxes in the District of Columbia because it received an E1, or religious, exemption. After D.C. officials inspected the $1.8 million townhouse near the U.S. Capitol, they declared 66 percent of it to be a taxable residence, not a tax-exempt church. "Portions are being rented to private individuals for residential purposes," a D.C. official told the Post.
More...
The Supreme Court today refused to block the District of Columbia's gay marriage law, freeing the city to issue its first marriage licenses to same-sex couples the following day.
Just 50 miles off the Pacific Northwest coast is an earthquake hotspot that threatens to unleash on Seattle, Portland and Vancouver the kind of damage that has shattered Chile.
Makers and sellers of fish oil supplements were sued in California for not including labeling about PCB contamination, a plaintiff's attorney said Tuesday.
Consumer advocates filed a class-action suit against Anthem Blue Cross on Monday, accusing California's largest for-profit health insurer of illegally using drastic rate hikes to force customers into inferior health plans.
Most people are familiar with traditional weapons of mass destruction such biological weapons, nuclear weapons and chemical weapons. The point of all such weapons of mass destruction is to inflict a large number of casualties on civilian populations as a way to cripple a nation into political or military submission.
Employees at Catholic Charities were told Monday that the social services organization is changing its health coverage to avoid offering benefits to same-sex partners of its workers -- the latest fallout from a bitter debate between District officials trying to legalize same-sex marriage and the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
BAE Systems pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges of conspiring to defraud the federal government, among other things, the U.S. Justice Department said.
