Burglary occurred in the 1400 block of Branch Street on 4/4/2013 between (2:23 AM) and (2:25 AM). Victim reported her daughter was in bed when she felt cold air moving in the room. When her daughter looked towards the window air conditioning unit she saw a black male wearing a dark hoodie standing outside the window. The daughter then saw the suspect’s hand reaching through the air conditioner shutter and window. The daughter yelled out for her mother and the suspect immediately fled. The child was not hurt during the incident and the case remains under investigation.

Information Source: Opelika PD

Alabama Department of Labor Commissioner Tom Surtees announced today that Alabamians receiving Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits can expect to see a 12.8% reduction in benefits for weeks beginning April 28 through September 30. The cuts are due to mandated federal budget cuts, known as sequestration.

In most cases, Alabamians receiving regular unemployment compensation benefits, or those who have been unemployed for 26 weeks or less, will not be impacted by the cuts. This is because the State of Alabama is responsible for paying claims for up to the first 26 weeks with unemployment insurance taxes collected from employers.

The Internal Revenue Service today announced a nationwide expansion of the program designed to help law enforcement obtain tax return data vital to their local efforts in investigating and prosecuting specific cases of identity theft.

More than 1,560 waiver requests have been received since the Law Enforcement Assistance Program’s inception from over 100 state and local law enforcement agencies in the nine states participating in the pilot. The expansion covers all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia and will be effective Friday, March 29, 2013.

“The results of the pilot illustrate that this works as an innovative tool for law enforcement to help pursue tough identity theft situations,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Steven T. Miller. “This program is an effective way for law enforcement to work with the IRS to pursue identity thieves and protect taxpayers.