U.S. POOCH COMES DOWN WITH H1N1
Veterinarians in White Plains, N.Y., have identified the first known U.S. case of H1N1 flu in a dog -- a 13-year-old mixed-breed male that is now recovering. The dog was tested because his owner had had the swine flu.
The virus has been found before in other pets, including at least three ferrets, several cats and pigs and a cheetah at a California wildlife preserve. A couple of the cats died, but most of the animals recovered.
In each case, the virus is thought to have been transmitted to the animal by its owner or handler, and there is no evidence of the virus being passed back to a human.
CHECKING THE ODDS OF AN IRS AUDIT
Want to keep IRS auditors away? Keep your earnings under $200,000, and they won't bother you 99 percent of the time.
IRS enforcement numbers, released Tuesday, show that returns under that amount have a 1 percent chance of getting audited.
Returns showing income of $200,000 and above have nearly a 3 percent chance of being audited. The percentage jumps to more than 6 percent for returns with earnings of $1 million or more. The percentages apply to both individual and joint returns.
The IRS conducted 1.4 million audits of individual returns in the financial year ended Sept. 30, with more than 1 million conducted through correspondence with the taxpayer.
NO STARS, ANGELS ON THESE TREES
The acting administrator of Sonoma County, Calif., has ordered the removal of stars, angels and other religious symbols from Christmas trees in county buildings after a complaint that they violate the constitutional principle of separation of church and state, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported.
