Currently viewing the tag: "Tickets"
CBC.ca |
Dodgers win — now to order those postseason tickets
Los Angeles Times Opening day yields a victory over the Giants, just as the home team had begun to get that Clippers feel about it. By TJ Simers Golly gee whiz, this is so exciting, the Dodgers already having more wins this season than I thought possible. … Eighth-inning standoff enlivens Torres' opener Dodgers beat World Series champion Giants 2-1 Kershaw dominates World Series champs |
**Written by Doug Powers
New York Rep. Anthony Weiner has made it a personal crusade to crack down on parking ticket scofflaws. So, as is the case with so many members of Congress, he’s become too distracted with policing everybody else to concern himself with the fines he’s been getting for parking the Weiner-mobile unlawfully:
The self-appointed scourge of diplomatic scofflaws in Manhattan, Weiner racked up more than $ 2,000 in parking tickets around Capitol Hill.
From 2007 to March of this year, Weiner’s ticket total was $ 2,180 for violations near the Capitol and at Reagan Washington National Airport, Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, reported Tuesday.
A Weiner spokesman said all of the fines have been paid since the paper first contacted the office.
Members of Congress are traditionally very responsible when it comes to paying what they owe after they’re caught.
Of course, there’s a good reason the tickets weren’t paid: The old “I never got the reminder” excuse:
Aides to the Queens Democrat claim that part of the problem arose because D.C. officials sent notices of the fines to a bad address.
What did Weiner think those dozens and dozens of little pieces of paper stuck under his windshield wipers were? Obamacare waiver requests?
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
Your Member of Congress may very well be a scofflaw:
Members of Congress have immunity from many routine parking tickets in the District of Columbia, but that doesn’t mean they can’t try to rack up fines.
According to a Roll Call survey of vehicles parked on Capitol Hill and at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, as of mid-March, lawmakers were carrying at least $ 15,000 in outstanding tickets — ranging from expired meters to speeding camera violations — and potentially thousands of dollars more.
Three-quarters of those tickets, worth about $ 11,500, were in default at the time of the survey, having gone more than 60 days, and in some cases years, without payment.
Roll Call canvassed Congressional parking facilities, as well as a special Members-only parking lot at the airport, and reviewed about 300 vehicles displaying a House- or Senate-issued Member parking tag.
Information on parking violations was obtained from the District of Columbia’s public ticket database, which is searchable by license plate and includes information on minor violations.
While many vehicles registered a single ticket, valued at as little as $ 20, a handful of automobiles reported several hundred to thousands of dollars in unpaid tickets.
I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised that they’re letting the parking tickets go unpaid given that they’ve become quite expert at not paying any bills when due.
Groupon is launching a smartphone app with two buttons - "I'm hungry" and "I'm bored":
Unlike Groupon’s daily deals, which tend to generate a flood of customers, Groupon Now might lure just a few, but at the right time. Rob Solomon, Groupon’s president, says the true promise of Groupon Now is to help eliminate perishable inventory—food ingredients, labor hours, and anything else that’s wasted if not used immediately. “If we can eliminate 10 percent of perishability, we can change the dynamics for small business owners,” he says. Small businesses would become more like airlines, matching supply against demand to maximize revenues.
Ezra Klein sees the logic.
Note from the SEC:
A limited number of single session tickets to the 2011 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament in Atlanta will be available for purchase by the public on Monday, March 7.
The Club Level tickets can be purchased beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET at the Georgia Dome Box Office, any TicketMaster outlets, by calling (800) 745-3000, or by logging onto www.SECsports.com. Tickets are available for each session of the tournament with prices varying by session.
Broward Clerk of Courts Howard Forman told Broward County commissioners and some city officials earlier this week that red light camera enforcement does have court costs associated with it, that aren’t being paid for by anyone right now.
He said there are 18 intersections in Broward that have the cameras now, and so far there’ve been about 1,400 tickets given, 370 of which were challenged.
By mid-summer, he forecasted, there would be cameras at 64 intersections, there would be 5,200 tickets given, and 1,316 of them would be challenged.
“So far we’re handling them OK,” he said, “because you don’t have a lot of tickets coming in. If they do, we will have a burden.”
The courts are paid for by the state. He said he’d show the statistics to the state in hopes of getting some financial backup. Any support he can get from local politicians he said he’d appreciate. There’s talk of asking that $ 2 of each ticket be given to the court system to pay for the new influx of cases.
A showdown on the red light camera issue is coming to county hall Tuesday.
One Postal Service employee used his government travel card at adult entertainment establishments more than 50 times. Another paid for an Apple computer and his mortgage. Three others purchased airfare tickets (including tickets to Spain and Italy) for family and friends.
That’s all according to a Postal Service Inspector General report issued last week on non-compliance with travel policies.
The report said that Postal Service employees “did not comply with prescribed travel policies resulting in over $ 600,000 in excessive travel costs for lodging and airfare in FYs 2009 and 2010.” If the Postal Service took action to “curtail employee noncompliance with travel polices” it could “realize an additional $ 600,000 in savings over the next 2 years, or $ 300,000 annually.”
According to the report, the Postal Service “did not cancel 2,491 credit cards issued to former employees, including 53 employees listed as deceased in employee records. At the time of our audit, there was more than $ 37 million in open credit associated with cards of former employees.”
It’s poor timing for the Postal Service, which is planning to cut about $ 2 billion in costs this year but still forecasts a $ 7 billion loss after losing a record $ 8.5 billion in fiscal 2010, according to the Washington Post. The Postal Service also warned this week that it is most likely going to run out of money by the end of the fiscal year.
Lawmakers are paying attention to the abuses, according to the Washington Post.
“It is very frustrating that an organization that was $ 8.5 billion in the hole last year, has not adopted a frugal culture,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said. “The proper controls are not in place to either prevent or uncover frequent credit card abuses.”
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) said in a statement that he’d “told the new postmaster general and his predecessor that he and other top postal executives need to do their part as well.”
“If they are going to ask postal employees and customers to make sacrifices to save the Postal Service, then the postal leadership certainly has a responsibility to set a good example when it comes to frugality and basic financial management,” Carper said. “In this case, they have clearly failed.”
A federal jury in Washington has convicted a former aide to Rep. Don Young (R-AK) on corruption charges related to his acceptance of an all-expenses paid trip to Game One of the 2003 World Series, the Justice Department said Thursday.
The jury took 10 days to convict 41-year-old Fraser Verrusio on one count of conspiring to accept an illegal gratuity, one count of accepting an illegal gratuity and one count of making a false statement in failing to report his receipt of gifts from a lobbyist and the lobbyist’s client on his 2003 financial disclosure statement, according to a press release.
Verrusio, the former policy director for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Trevor Blackann (a former aide to Missouri Republicans Rep. Roy Blunt and Sen. Kit Bond who pled guilty back in 2008) accepted the World Series trip from an equipment rental company and the lobbyist’s firm. Evidence presented at the trial established that one of the lobbyists who helped arrange for the trip worked with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and that the equipment rental company was a client at Abramoff’s firm, DOJ said.
It was a pretty luxurious trip, according to the Justice Department:
The all-expenses paid trip accepted by Verrusio and Blackann included round-trip commercial airline travel from Washington, D.C., to New York City, use of a chauffeured Cadillac Escalade for transportation while in New York City, a ticket for each individual to Game One of the World Series, lodging, a steak dinner, drinks and entertainment at a strip club. According to evidence presented at trial, Verrusio, Blackann, the lobbyist and the equipment rental company representative discussed the Federal Highway Bill and the equipment rental company during a steak dinner on the all-expenses paid trip.
Verrusio faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge when he’s sentenced on May 6. He also faces a maximum of two years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine on the illegal gratuity charge and a maximum of five years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine on the false statement charge, said the Justice Department.
The conviction came a day ahead of the scheduled sentencing of another Abramoff scandal figure, Michael Scanlon. His lawyers are asking for less than the two years in prison the government is asking for.
“Today, a federal jury in the District of Columbia sent a strong message that corruption on Capitol Hill will not be tolerated,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement. “Accepting gifts from lobbyists and then lying about those gifts on financial disclosure forms is simply not acceptable. The Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and our partners in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices are committed to holding accountable government servants who abuse their positions for personal gain.”
“Mr. Verrusio’s conduct cuts against the thousands of government workers who live their lives by the ethical code they pledged to uphold,” added James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “This case of public corruption serves as a reminder that misuse of position extends to all levels of government service. As seen here, accepting sporting tickets is influence peddling, no matter in what arena it occurs.”
 Fox News |
NFL, Cowboys hit with class action suit over Super Bowl tickets
Fort Worth Star Telegram Two men — one from Tarrant County and one from Pennsylvania — have filed a federal class action lawsuit seeking more than $ 5 million for Super Bowl fans who were denied seats or were assigned temporary seating with obstructed views … Fans Sue NFL Over Super Bowl Seat Saga Green Bay Packers fan reaction: NFL collective bargaining agreement NFL team owners and Players' Association reps meet in Washington DC to further … |
 Reuters |
Hundreds With Tickets but No Seats
New York Times ARLINGTON, Tex. — Jim Rouleau of Hudson, Wis., a season-ticket holder for Packers games at Lambeau Field, spent $ 3900 for each of his two Super Bowl tickets. When he found his seat, with a face value of $ 900, … Fans angry after being turned away from Super Bowl XLV seats Super Bowl misses attendance mark Police report 3 arrests at Super Bowl |
 ESPN (blog) |
Super Bowl Tickets Averaging Almost $ 5000
Bloomberg A general view as the Pittsburgh Steelers attend Super Bowl XLV Media Day ahead of Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Photographer: Michael Heiman/Getty Images Four days before the … Packers-Steelers Super Bowl XLV breakdown: wide receivers and tight ends Fans of Packers, Steelers big families, religions 2011 Hall of Fame Class to be announced on NFLN Saturday |
If you recall, we’ve joined up with the Dallas Convention and Visitor’s Bureau to give you a shot at a Super Bowl ticket prize package. The winner will receive two tickets to the Super Bowl, four nights accommodations and $ 500 toward travel. All you have to do is locate the Mystery Man walking the streets [...]
If you recall, we’ve joined up with the Dallas Convention and Visitor’s Bureau to give you a shot at a Super Bowl ticket prize package. The winner will receive two tickets to the Super Bowl, four nights accommodations and $ 500 toward travel. All you have to do is locate the Mystery Man walking the streets [...]
We’ve got a little contest for you. The prize — two tickets to see the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittburgh Steelers in Dallas. The prize package also includes four nights accommodations and $ 500 toward travel. Here’s the deal. Go to the Visit Dallas Facebook page. Like it. Follow @DallasSBHunt on Twitter. The latter will [...]
