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Supreme Court strikes down Maryland double-tax law, other states could feel revenue pinch

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Maryland tax that effectively double-taxes residents for income earned in other states -- a decision that could cost Maryland and other states with similar policies hundreds of millions of dollars.
In a 5-4 ruling, the justices agreed with a lower court that the tax is unconstitutional because it discourages Maryland residents from earning money outside the state.
"Maryland's tax scheme is inherently discriminatory," the justices wrote in the majority opinion. They wrote that the policy effectively discourages "interstate commerce."
The ruling said: "If every State adopted Maryland's tax structure, interstate commerce would be taxed at a higher rate than intrastate commerce."
The ruling could have far-reaching consequences beyond just Maryland. It also could affect similar laws in other states, including New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
At issue in this case is Maryland's treatment of money earned out of state.
Most states give residents a full credit for income taxes paid on money earned out of state. Yet Maryland, while allowing residents to deduct income taxes paid to other states from their state tax, did not apply that deduction to a local "piggy back" tax collected for counties and some city governments.
Maryland claimed it had authority to tax all the income its residents earn to pay for local services like public schools.
The challenge to the policy was brought by a Maryland businessman who earned money in multiple states, and complained about the double-tax.
In the near-term, the court decision could cost Maryland hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Duke rebuke: Professor defiant after school condemns racially charged remarks

A Duke University professor was defiant after the school last week condemned his "noxious" and "offensive" words in a letter published in The New York Times in which he compared African-Americans unfavorably to Asian-Americans.
The school's rebuke came after a student backlash against Political Science Professor Jerry Hough, 80, whose May 9 letter sought to address racism and the Baltimore riots. Hough said African-Americans don't try to integrate into society, while Asians “worked doubly hard” to overcome racism instead of blaming it.

“Virtually every black has a strange new name that symbolizes their lack of desire for integration.”
- Duke University Prof. Jerry Hough

“Every Asian student has a very simple old American first name that symbolizes their desire for integration,” he wrote on May 10. “Virtually every black has a strange new name that symbolizes their lack of desire for integration.”
Duke students and faculty blasted Hough last week, and the school told The News & Observer of Raleigh that he was placed on leave and that 2016 will be his last year at the school.
“The comments were noxious, offensive, and have no place in civil discourse,” said Duke spokesman Michael Schoenfeld. “Duke University has a deeply held commitment to inclusiveness grounded in respect for all, and we encourage our community to speak out when they feel that those ideals are challenged or undermined, as they were in this case.”
But Hough, in an e-mail to an ABC affiliate, said political correctness is getting in the way of thoughtful and frank debate.
“I am strongly against the obsession with ‘sensitivity,'" Hough wrote. "The more we have emphasized sensitivity in recent years, the worse race relations have become. I think that is not an accident. I know that the 60 years since the Montgomery bus boycott is a long time, and things must be changed. The Japanese and other Asians did not obsess with the concentration camps and the fact they were linked with blacks as ‘colored.’"
Hough even played the "Coach K" card, referencing beloved and legendary Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski in his email.
"Coach K did not obsess with all the Polish jokes about Polish stupidity," Hough wrote. "He pushed ahead and achieved. And by his achievement and visibility, he has played a huge role in destroying stereotypes about Poles. Many blacks have done that too, but no one says they have done as well on the average as the Asians.”
Citing privacy, the university would not comment on the professor’s future at the school, the station reported. University officials say Hough has been on a standard academic leave for the 2014-15 school year.

State Department plans January 2016 deadline for release of Hillary Clinton emails

The State Department is planning to release 55,000 pages of emails stored on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server by January of next year, according to a court filing.
The department has asked a federal judge to approve a plan requiring the release of all of Clinton's emails by January 15, 2016. The request is related to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed this past January by Vice News and was first reported by POLITICO.
If the request is approved, the complete set of emails could be released just over two weeks before the Iowa caucus. Clinton is the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In the document, the State Department's acting director of the Office of Information Programs and Services, John Hackett, cited the "voluminous" collection of correspondence as the reason for the late proposed release date.
"Given the breadth and importance of the many foreign policy issues on which the Secretary of State and the Department work, the review of these materials will likely require consultation with a broad range of subject matter experts within the Department and other agencies, as well as potentially with foreign governments," Hackett continued. The department's filing claimed that 12 staffers had been assigned to review Clinton's emails and redact sensitive information.
The contents of Clinton's messages have been a topic of interest since The New York Times first reported in March that Clinton conducted all of her correspondence from a private e-mail account set up when she was nominated to become Secretary of State in late 2008. Subsequent reports revealed that the account was located on a server operating out of her New York home.
The reports raised questions about whether Clinton had attempted to circumvent federal recordkeeping laws in an effort to head off requests for official communications from government watchdogs and the news media. The use of a so-called "homebrew" server caused cybersecurity experts to question how much sensitive diplomatic correspondence was vulnerable to foreign hackers.
Clinton has said that she turned over the 55,000 pages to the State Department last year after her attorneys reviewed them and deemed them relevant public records. She added that she has since deleted all her emails from her personal server.
Earlier this year, Clinton turned over 300 pages of emails to the House select committee investigating the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. There was no immediate comment late Monday from Republicans on the committee about the State Department's plan.
The Department has said it is planning a separate release of 850 pages of emails related to the Benghazi attack in the coming weeks.

Dispute over parking space may have ignited deadly Texas biker gang brawl, report claims

Authorities in Texas reportedly are investigating whether a dispute over a parking space set off a deadly brawl and shootout between motorcycle gangs outside a Waco restaurant Sunday afternoon.
The Dallas Morning News reported that police were pursuing the parking space theory after interviewing several witnesses to the violent melee that left 9 gang members dead and injured 18 others. 170 gang members were charged with organized crime activity Monday, and investigators left open the possibility that capital murder charges may be filed. Bond was set at $1 million for each suspect, and the Morning News reported that members of each gang being kept separate from the other gangs at the local jail.
It’s like the Wild West,” McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara told the paper. “These guys become very violent to each other very quickly over nothing."
Authorities remained on high alert Monday after receiving what they called "credible information" that members of other motorcycle gangs might be heading to Waco to attack law enforcement officers in retaliation for Sunday's violence. Members of tactical units from various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, stood guard over the crime scene outside the Twin Peaks restaurant, while snipers stood on the roof.
Waco Police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said that bikers had been spotted traveling into Waco, but no further violence had been reported Monday.
 "We have a contingency plan to deal with those individuals if they try to cause trouble here," Swanton said.
Earlier Monday, Dallas TV station WFAA reported that the Texas Department of Public Safety's Joint Information Center issued a bulletin May 1 that cautioned authorities about increasing violence between the Bandidos and the Cossacks. McNamara has said all nine people who were killed in the melee Sunday were part of those two groups.
  The bulletin said the tension could stem from Cossacks refusing to pay Bandidos dues for operating in Texas and for wearing a patch on their vest that claimed Texas as their turf without the Bandidos' approval.
  "Traditionally, the Bandidos have been the dominant motorcycle club in Texas, and no other club is allowed to wear the Texas bar without their consent," the bulletin said, according to WFAA.
  The bulletin said the FBI had received information that Bandidos had discussed "going to war with Cossacks." It also outlined several recent incidents between the two groups, including one instance in March when about 10 Cossacks forced a Bandido to pull over along Interstate 35 near Waco and attacked him with "chains, batons and metal pipes before stealing his motorcycle," WFAA reported.
  That same day, a group of Bandidos confronted a Cossack member fueling up at a truck stop in Palo Pinto County, west of Fort Worth, the bulletin said. When the Cossack member refused to remove the Texas patch from his vest, the Bandidos hit him in the head with a hammer and stole it.
The Bandidos "constitute a growing criminal threat to the U.S. law enforcement authorities," the Justice Department said in a report on outlaw motorcycle gangs. According to the report, the Bandidos are involved in transporting and distributing cocaine and marijuana and in the production and distribution of methamphetamine.
Five gangs from across Texas had gathered at Twin Peaks to in part settle differences over turf, Swanton has said.
Police and the restaurant operators were aware of Sunday's meeting in advance, and 18 Waco officers in addition to state troopers were outside the restaurant when the fight began, Swanton said. Police have acknowledged firing on armed bikers, but it was unclear how many of the dead were shot by gang members and how many were shot by officers.