American Scene

Officials fill up on tax breaks

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — About 20 past or present Missouri officials have received more than $400,000 in tax credits for investing in alternative fuels such as ethanol or biodiesel.

But many of them had an advantage: They wrote the tax breaks into law or voted for millions of dollars in tax breaks to energy companies in which they were invested.

Some of the officials began taking the tax breaks before they were elected and continued doing so after taking office. Others used the breaks only after voting on them, according to records reviewed by the Associated Press.

The mingling of personal and political matters has caused a backlash against biofuels at the Missouri Capitol. Senators have endorsed a measure requiring elected officials to divulge on financial-disclosure reports whether they or their relatives received tax credits. A House committee has backed a similar bill.

“If these guys are investing their money in their plants and being part of the value-added agriculture process, wonderful,” said Sen. Brad Lager, a Republican candidate for treasurer. “The state of Missouri is heavily subsidizing that, and I just think it’s good government to put that information on the table.”

Lawmakers who took the breaks defend their actions, saying elected officials are no less entitled to the tax credits than other taxpayers.

Actors, studios extend talks

LOS ANGELES — The Screen Actors Guild and major Hollywood studios said yesterday they have agreed to a another extension of their contract talks, in hopes of closing a deal by Tuesday.

The announcement, coming as the parties neared a previous self-imposed deadline, heightened prospects they could preserve labor peace in the entertainment industry following a 100-day strike by screenwriters that ended in February.

The actors union and the studios’ bargaining agent, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said in a joint statement that they would continue their negotiations “on a day-to-day basis.”

A source familiar with the course of negotiations said SAG had scaled back a number of demands that were major points of contention.

The union now seeks what would effectively be a 15 percent increase in residual payments actors earn from DVDs, rather than a doubling of them. Striking writers had been forced to give up demands for higher DVD residuals altogether in reaching their contract deal with studios more than two months ago.

Hawks delay church project

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A pair of nesting red-tailed hawks is costing a Charleston, S.C., church at least $60,000 while the parishioners wait for the chicks to leave the nest.

Grace Episcopal Church began a $12 million renovation project to reinforce the steeple of its 160-year-old sanctuary. No one realized that the hawks’ aerie, located in the crook of a pinnacle, was occupied until the top levels of scaffolding were erected last week — about the time the eggs hatched, the Charleston Post and Courier reported yesterday.

Rebecca Elliott, U.S. Fish and Wildlife special agent, climbed the scaffolding this week and spotted at least two chicks, although she said there might be a third.

The federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the taking of the birds, their eggs or their chicks. So the church must wait seven or eight weeks to start work and absorb the extra $60,000 in rent costs for the scaffolding. But some look on the bright side.

“It’s a great example,” said the Rev. Michael Wright, the church rector. “We need to be reminded occasionally the world is bigger than our struggles.”

Mobster becomes man of letters

NEW YORK — He is known as Vinny Gorgeous, but convicted mob boss Vincent Basciano might want to trade up to Vinny Wordsmith.

Some of his letters from federal prison, which are being intercepted and scrutinized by authorities, are full of such words as “thespian,” “flippant” and “sagacious,” his lawyer said Thursday.

A new form of gangland slang, or a coded message to fellow wise guys? No, attorney Ephraim Savitt said, just vocabulary Basciano wants the recipient — his 7-year-old son — to learn.

“He wants the kid to go to college and be a success,” Mr. Savitt said, claiming his client’s fatherly aims are being frustrated by authorities’ slow pace in reviewing the letters. Basciano “enjoys using $10 words, and uses them correctly, I might add,” his attorney said.

Basciano, 48, is serving a life sentence for the 2001 killing of a Mafia rival.

From wire dispatches and staff reports.