Here’s a look at today’s headlines:
Brian Torres, New Mexico Department of Transportation project manager on the New Mexico-90/Hudson Street Bridge replacement, said at a Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, public meeting at the Grant County Administration Center that the new materials being put into place between the girders are the metal stay-in-place deck pans. “All girders are up and we are placing the deck pans,” Torres said. Roger Koest of Interstate Highway Construction, the contractor on the project, said the material was being placed in spaces 3 and 4. “It should be completely decked by the middle of next week,” Torres said. “We will start the Bid-Well concrete screed to roughen the finish of the concrete. It’s a metal cylinder than spins. Burlap is tied to one end and gives it a rough finish.”
The Western New Mexico University women’s basketball team was selected to finish 10th in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll. The ranking comes on the heels of the Lady Mustangs’ first appearance in the RMAC tournament since the mid-90’s.
U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Dean Heller (R-NV) led a group of senators to introduce a bill to reauthorize the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA). Before it expired in 2011, FLTFA allowed the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service in the western United States to use the proceeds from sales of certain federally designated areas to protect lands of exceptional conservation value.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced nearly $2.3 billion in loans to build and improve rural electric infrastructure in 31 states. “Improving our rural electric utility systems will help us continue to provide reliable and affordable electricity to rural customers,” Vilsack said. “By financing these improvements, USDA helps increase efficiencies, reduce carbon emissions and improve the quality of life in rural areas.”
The Internal Revenue Service today announced cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for tax year 2016. In general, the pension plan limitations will not change for 2016 because the increase in the cost-of-living index did not meet the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment. However, other limitations will change because the increase in the index did meet the statutory thresholds.
For tax year 2016, the Internal Revenue Service today announced annual inflation adjustments for more than 50 tax provisions, including the tax rate schedules, and other tax changes. Revenue Procedure 2015-53 (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-15-53.pdf) provides details about these annual adjustments.
