Amelia Earhart's plane, Direct File, and a surfing dog.

Adam Rogers
January 30, 2024

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Big Stories

The IRS is piloting a new program this year that allows Americans to file their taxes directly to the government for free.

Dubbed Direct File, the program will open to a small number of filers in select states so the IRS can test the system and work out issues before it's made available to a larger portion of taxpayers.
Direct File will be available on computers, tablets, or smartphones and nothing needs to be downloaded. Currently, only state and federal employees are eligible for the program. It also excludes people who need to claim separate business income or filers who itemize their deductions.
Implementing the pilot program nationwide comes with a major hurdle: it doesn’t allow users to file state taxes. Currently, only 4 states with state income tax are participating in the pilot because they can develop a state-run filing system (or already have one). If the program gets an expansion greenlight, 37 states will need to develop a solution to solve the separate filing issue.

A deep sea exploration company believes it has found Amelia Earhart’s airplane at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared between Hawaii and Alaska in 1937 on their quest to fly around the world. She would have been the first woman to do so.
Deep Sea Vision captured sonar images of what appears to be the wreckage of Earhart’s plane using an underwater drone and a 16-member crew. The team spotted the plane about 100 miles off Howland Island, where Earhart was scheduled to refuel but never made it.
Deep Sea Vision was founded by Tony Romeo, a pilot and former US Air Force intelligence officer who sold his real estate company to explore the ocean. One of his main motivations behind the new venture is finding answers for Earhart’s disappearance. His company plans to explore the site this year.

US authorities used a bogus advertisement to lure out a convicted killer who had fled to Costa Rica.

US Marshalls tracked Kaitlin Armstrong to Costa Rica but the trail went cold after a month-and-a-half search. Desperate, they posted a fake advertisement on social media seeking yoga instruction. The ad caught her attention and eventually led to her arrest.
Armstrong killed professional cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson in 2022 out of jealousy as she briefly dated Armstrong’s ex-boyfriend, cyclist Colin Strickland. Kaitlin then used her sister’s passport to escape from the US to Costa Rica and had multiple plastic surgery operations to change her appearance.
Police arrested Armstrong after she responded to the ad and extradited her to Texas to face charges. She was sentenced in November and is currently serving a 90-year prison term.

A filmmaker and student have filmed what is believed to be a newborn great white shark for the first time. The young pup was seen several miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, in July last year. Scientists believe that its milk-white coloring came from the embryonic layer of its mother's womb, which appeared to be washing off as it swam. (More)

Details from the drone attack that killed 3 US troops on the desert base in Jordan suggest that US forces may have mistaken the enemy drone for an American one. An American drone was returning to base at the same time as the enemy drone approached which effectively protected it from being shot down. (More)

A US judge sentenced former IRS contractor Charles Edward Littlejohn to five years in prison for leaking former President Trump’s tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020. He also shared the tax data of thousands of the country's wealthiest people. (More)

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has declared a national emergency in the country in response to the wildfires that have been burning since November. They are expected to continue to burn into March. An “exceptional drought” in the Amazon River Basin and El Nino are making the situation worse. (More)

Officials canceled an Amber Alert issued for a five-year-old Kentucky girl after she was found safe. Police issued the alert after finding the girl’s mother dead. Lela Black was with her biological father who has been arrested in connection with the death of her mother. (More)

This dog can surf better than you.

A museum director in Florence, Italy, says tourism has turned the city into a “prostitute.”

These countries have the largest forests.

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