When it comes to the IRS tax code, there’s no denying the fact that it’s complex. And for that reason, the IRS realizes that people can and will make mistakes on their tax returns. However, the IRS also draws a line between fraud and negligence. Income tax fraud comes...
Movies can have powerful impacts on their audiences. Some movies make people laugh, some movies entertain people, and some movies frighten people. Two teenagers in Scranton recently confused the fictional world in the movie "The Purge" with real life and are now...
Police in Lackawanna County recently arrested a woman who had been accused of selling a controlled substance in Cortland, N.Y. According to news reports, the woman was extradited from Pennsylvania to New York to stand trial. Such occurrences are common - a person is...
The proliferation of credit cards and debit cards has, not surprisingly, led to the proliferation of crimes involving these cash substitutes. Police in South Abington Township in Lackawanna County recently arrested three men who are alleged to have operated a...
Pennsylvania has long been unique as one of only four states whose drunk driving laws did not make any form of DUI violation a felony. The legislature has now shed that questionable distinction by passing a bill that makes certain repeat offenders guilty of a felony....
Most insurance agents who deal with residents of Lackawanna County are willing to help their customers submit claims to their insurers, and some even act as advocates for the customer if the claim is rejected. Rarely, however, do these agents attempt to persuade their...
The line between expressing forbidden criminal intent and aberrant mental health can be quite vague. The case of a man currently in the Lackawanna County Prison demonstrates the difficulties of distinguishing between expressions of intent to commit hate crimes and...
Many residents of Lackawanna County have heard of "Breathalyzer tests" or "implied consent," but few understand the law behind the names. The Pennsylvania Legislature, like legislatures in the other 49 states, has passed a law that requires all persons driving on the...
As the Pennsylvania legislative session nears adjournment, people who consider themselves victims of drunk drivers are pushing for stronger penalties. The draft legislation is aimed at repeat drunk drivers, and its principal goal is to make a third DUI offense a...
Police investigations of major crimes often lead to the discovery of other crimes involving the same suspects. The two-year investigation of a suspected arson in Weatherly, has led local police to other crimes as well, including crimes related to drugs and explosives....
