What if the government tried to give American taxpayers some of their money back, but the taxpayers didn't seem to want it?
That's what happened this year, as taxpayers collected only about half the $8 billion the IRS expected to pay them in its phone tax refund, the most far-reaching refund in the agency's history.
The telephone excise tax was created in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War. After losing several lawsuits disputing the legitimacy of the tax, the IRS created a program to refund the 3 percent tax paid on long distance or bundled service from March 2003 to July 2006.

House Democratic leaders said Sunday they were working to gather votes to override a veto on a popular children's health program, but pledged to find a way to cover millions without insurance should their effort fail.
In talk show interviews, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer did not dispute claims by Republican leaders that the GOP will have enough votes to sustain President Bush's veto when the House holds its override vote on ...

If you aren't registered to vote for this November's election, you have until Tuesday Oct. 16 to do so. All voter registration cards postmarked by the 16^th will be accepted as valid for the November election.
Voter registration forms are available online at the Oregon Secretary of State's Web site at www.sos.state.or.us/elections, as well as U.S. Post Offices, libraries and other ....

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Bakeries in Zimbabwe remained closed Sunday and shop shelves were empty of bread despite a 300 percent rise in the official price of a loaf.
The state Sunday Mail, a government mouthpiece, said the National Prices and Incomes Commission allowed the bread price to increase to Zimbabwe dollars 100,000 (US 20 cents at the dominant black market exchange rate) Friday as part of a review to help businesses remain viable.

A peaceful anti-war rally winds it's way up SW Broadway on Saturday, Sept. 29th.  Hundreds of marchers from more than 55 local organizations joined together in an anti-war rally that began with the crowd singing protest songs from the 60s and ended with a peace rally and speeches in front of the world trade center.

A coalition of African American groups in N.E. Portland has been working to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the African American community. Five bus-stop benches in Portland have been dedicated to the campaign – MY FRIEND WITH AIDS IS STILL MY FRIEND.  Pictured here is the installation of a bench at the intersection of Killingsworth Street and Michigan Ave. The coalition includes representatives from the Albina Ministerial Alliance, the African American Alliance, Brother to Brother, Cascade AIDS Project, The Portland Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, The Coalition of Black Men, The Links, Inc., Portland Urban League and Multnomah County Health Department.

Critically-acclaimed author Walter Mosley will read from his latest novel, "Blonde Faith," from 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesday Oct. 10 at the Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Microsoft Auditorium, Level 1.
The program is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Limited parking in the Central Library garage is available for a $5 special event rate. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
In "Blonde Faith," Mosley's newest and tenth installment in the Easy Rawlins series, Rawlins, Los Angeles' most reluctant detective, comes home one day to find Easter, the daughter of his friend Christmas Black, left on his doorstep. Easy knows that could only mean that the ex-marine Black is probably dead, or will be soon....

Hip hop artist M-Famous cranks up the volume Friday Sept. 28 at the Douglass-Truth Library. The library provided free pizza, and no one was told to be quiet.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) –Just days after the American Library Association's Banned Book Week ended on Oct. 6, some Michigan school administrators want to return English textbooks that include the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama ``Topdog/Underdog,'' which made author Suzan-Lori Parks the first Black woman to win the theater award. The annual Banned Book Week encourages everyone to read works of literature that others have sought to ban because of controversial content.
If they can't return the 140 copies of ``The Literary Experience,'' administrators might cut out about 70 pages from the 1,846-page anthology before distributing it to four Advanced Placement classes, The Grand Rapids Press reported.
Parks' tale of two brothers is a dark, often wildly comic riff on sibling rivalry, a verbal and sometimes physical slugfest between two wary relatives who con not only others but themselves as well.
It won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for drama. The play contains profanity and descriptions of sexual ....

GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) -- The half-century search for justice in the murder of Emmett Till petered out last February when a Leflore County grand jury declined to indict Carolyn Donham on criminal charges.
``There is nobody left to indict,'' said Greg Watkins, one of 19 members from the grand jury. ``It will be debated forever probably, but there is no one left living to send to jail.''