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Tax refunds so far this year are noticeably smaller than they were at the same time last year, according to early data published by the IRS. The average refund check so far this year is worth $1,395 as of Feb. 2, about 29% lower compared to the $1,963 average recorded last year. That is based on nearly 2.6 million tax refunds collectively worth about $3.65 billion. However, the IRS has cautioned taxpayers the average refund amount will likely change in the coming months as more returns are processed.

“I gave them a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I would have done the same thing.” — Richard Nixon. What Nixon said, Donald Trump could easily say about himself. Of course, he will not. Richard Nixon was the last president who faced anything like the legal jeopardy former President Trump is facing — plus a frothing electronic lynch mob. The end game for both Nixon and Trump has some eerie similarities. Detested by the media, the New York-Washington elites and the left, both...

Chris Christie Town Hall

Karl Rove, the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff for the George W. Bush administration, said he expects GOP gains in the House after November to be smaller than the average for a midterm election. Rove said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday that the average midterm swing since 1934 has been 28 House seats. “Republicans are likely to gain closer to 20 than 25,” he wrote. “But that’s partly because the GOP got a head start in 2020 by picking up 14 House seats.” Democrats are seeking to avoid a historical trend that usually sees...

A few years ago, a novel measurement technique showed that protons are probably smaller than had been assumed since the 1990s. The discrepancy surprised the scientific community; some researchers even believed that the Standard Model of particle physics would have to be changed. Physicists at the University of Bonn and the Technical University of Darmstadt have now developed a method that allows them to analyze the results of older and more recent experiments much more comprehensively than before. This also results in a smaller proton radius from the older data. So there is probably no difference between the values -...

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) says there is no truth to reports that President Barack Obama will press Congress to pass a significantly smaller healthcare reform bill. "I don't have reason to believe that that's accurate," Hoyer told The Hill following a speech at a Federation of American Hospitals conference Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Treasury officials and regulators are weighing a fresh round of bailouts for banks that were deemed too risky to qualify for earlier aid. Representatives from the Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and House Financial Services Committee discussed the plan by phone Thursday, said California Bankers Association Chairman Dan Doyle, who was on the call. Small community banks are struggling as commercial real estate and other loans go sour. Officials and industry representatives are considering how to get money to those banks, Doyle said Friday.

European Space Agency Date: October 4, 2007 2007 Ozone Hole 'Smaller Than Usual' Science Daily — The ozone hole over Antarctica has shrunk 30 percent as compared to last year's record size. According to measurements made by ESA’s Envisat satellite, this year’s ozone loss peaked at 27.7 million tonnes, compared to the 2006 record ozone loss of 40 million tonnes. Ozone hole over Antarctica measured in September 2007 by Envisat. The ozone loss in 2007 peaked at 27.7 million tonnes, compared to the 2006 record ozone loss of 40 million tonnes. (Credit: KNMI - ESA) Ozone loss is derived by...

A development that could advance of the hottest areas of physics research - "spintronics" - has been announced by US scientists. Ultimately, physicists hope that research in spintronics could lead to smaller, faster and less power hungry computers. These machines would operate using logic devices based on manipulating and measuring the spin of electrons, rather than turning current on and off. Now researchers have for the first time shown that they can inject spin-polarized electrons into silicon, manipulate them, and measure them coming out the other side.

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (AP) -- What was long a whisper in NASCAR circles is now a shout: North Carolina Speedway is in danger of losing one of its Winston Cup races. Since NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. said last month that the sanctioning body wants to change its schedule in 2004, the tiny 1.017-mile high-banked oval known as ``The Rock'' has been on the endangered species list. Unable to sell out a race since expanding to 60,113 seats in 1999, the track is a prime target for France to swipe a date and move a Winston Cup race into a larger...

Hyperactive children have smaller brain By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent (Filed: 09/10/2002) Hyperactive children have smaller brains than other children, according to research published today. A 10-year study of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder found that their brains developed normally but were around three per cent smaller than average. The differences were not caused by drugs, such as ritalin, used to treat the condition, the researchers found. Dr Xavier Castellanos, a child psychiatrist at New York University school of medicine who led the research, said: "Our study should provide a certain amount of reassurance to parents that medications are...