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What is qualified small business stock? If you’re running a small business, you might want to take notice of this concept. Especially since in some cases, it’s tax free. First off, let’s point out that qualified small business stock is a tax concept. It comes from the tax code (section 1202, to be exact). The rule is this: If a taxpayer recognizes gain from the sale or exchange of “qualified small business (QSB) stock,” then a huge portion of that gain may be excluded from the gross income of that taxpayer, for income tax purposes....

An Oklahoma City surgeon has been the subject of at least 14 lawsuits in the last year, including a wrongful death claim filed by the father of a teenage patient who died while under the surgeon’s care, multiple news sources are reporting. On Tuesday, Fox News reported that a medical malpractice lawsuit had been filed against Oklahoma City surgeon Paul Christopher Francel, by a former patient who will be representing himself in Oklahoma County District Court....

The Small Business Administration is now receiving public comments on its review of agency regulations and whether to expand, remove or streamline existing rules. U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe wants you to chime in. Senator Snowe is spearheading a legislative project that affects small business owners, hoping to protect their interests and remove economic hardships imposed by the regulatory system. Here’s what you need to know. Senators Olympia Snowe and Tom Coburn have introduced the “Small Business Regulatory Freedom Act....

One of the most important tasks for every startup is instilling the king of corporate culture that defines your business; an ethos that can guide your fledgling company through good times and bad; the defining characteristic that sets you apart, and hopefully above, the rest. And there are so many ways to create an office culture: diversity celebrations, Chief Happiness Officers, and sending the entire staff to telecommute from Cambodia. Or, you can email your staff reminding them “not use the stairwells to smoke, drink, eat, or have sex....

Divorces are rarely easy, and marital property and alimony decisions can be particularly difficult. Age can become a factor in those decisions, especially when retirement and disability benefits come into play. Add to that mix a federal statute governing ex-spouses’ access to military retirement benefits and you’ve got yourself a Supreme Court case. Howell v. Howell might not be the most glamorous case on the Court’s docket, but for veterans and their exes, it could mean a big difference in spousal support and marital property payments....

Everything is bigger in Texas; even their lawsuits. The University of Texas admission policy was challenged by two white students by the names of Abigail Fisher and Rachel Michalewicz who were denied admission in 2008, the Austin Statesman reports. The plaintiffs claimed that the university did not have the right to have race based admissions because it already had a program in place to boost minority enrollment. The panel of 3 judges unanimously ruled that the University of Texas could use race as one of the “special circumstances” to evaluate student applicants because race is not the only factor that the university’s admissions considered, Reuters reports....

Jackson’s Mother Appointed Temporary Guardian of King of Pop’s Kids In what may be the opening shot in a legal skirmish over custody of Michael Jackson’s children, a Los Angeles judge has named the late singer’s mother as temporary legal guardian of his three kids, the Los Angeles Times is reporting this morning. But what is guardianship, and how will today’s decision impact any future legal wrangling over custody of the singer’s children?...

Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term that refers to a number of disorders affecting a baby’s brain function and body movement, caused by an injury or lack of oxygen flow to a baby’s brain in the womb, during delivery, or sometime after birth. While in some cases there may be no way to tell how or why the injury occurred, in others injury or lack of oxygen could be the result of negligence by the treating physician or obstetrician....

With small drones being one of this year’s popular Christmas gifts, the FAA has launched a new safety campaign advising drone pilots how to safely operate the aircraft. The campaign includes a new website and a video, both titled “Know Before You Fly,” and follows a number of incidents involving injuries and other problems caused by drones. Earlier this month, a photographer was injured during a promotional stunt by a New York restaurant in which drones carrying mistletoe hovered over diners....

Sorry to dash your balla-guardian-angel dreams, but the St. Louis bartender who received a jaw-dropping $200,000 tip was probably the victim of a scam. Two sisters walked into a bar and imbibed more than $100 in drinks. One of the sisters footed the bill and left the bartender an ever-so-modest $200,000 tip. The flabbergasted bartender posted a photo of the tip on Reddit which (understandably) went completely viral, reports The Huffington Post....

A tragic limousine accident last weekend killed 17 passengers, the driver, and two pedestrians, rocked the small town of Schoharie, New York, and raised new questions about limo safety, licensing, and legal liability. According to reports, the modified 2001 Ford Excursion had recently failed a state safety inspection, the driver did not have the proper license to drive the vehicle, and even one of the passengers texted her concerns about the limo before the crash....

Guns in church. Few would guess it, but guns in church are a huge issue for religious gun advocates. In fact, it’s so important that the Wisconsin Catholic Church has decided to weigh in. And it wants parishioners to leave their guns at home. This is in spite of the state’s new concealed weapons law. That law is actually what prompted local bishops to speak out. On Monday, Wisconsin residents gained the right to carry concealed weapons....

On Thanksgiving morning, fog is believed to have played a key role in a massive Texas car crash that involved an estimated 100 cars. Two people were killed in the crash and about 120 people were injured. The pileup happened on both the eastbound and westbound lanes on Interstate 10 about 8:30 in the morning. Investigators believe that dense fog in the Beaumont area caused a chain reaction of crashes, the Houston Chronicle reports....

The year 2017 was quite memorable for workplace sexual harassment allegations. But the harassment wasn’t limited to Harvey Weinstein, Uber, and CEOs from hell. According to a lawsuit filed last week, even shift managers at local diners were guilty of sexual harassment and discrimination. Three former waitresses at the Grand Coney Diner in Grand Rapids, Michigan sued the restaurant and its parent company, claiming a shift manager at the restaurant sexually harassment them and other women....

Parental child abductions are a major concern in contentious child-custody cases. They’re also more common than you might think. More than 200,000 children are kidnapped by a relative each year, usually by a parent, according to the Polly Klaas Foundation. That’s more than 75% of all missing-children cases in the United States. A recent case in California shows the extremes that a parent can go to in an alleged child abduction: Christopher Maffei, 43, allegedly took his 2-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter from their grandmother’s house, then stole a boat and sailed away with them....

There are many Twitter mistakes that small business owners should be wary about making. Some are more obvious than others. Even though Twitter may seem fun and casual, and you may be tempted to tweet whatever you feel like, beware. Twitter is really a powerful social media tool that can often make or break your business’ online marketing strategy and image. So if you haven’t yet, get with the micro-blogging program....

Most government agencies are tasked with enforcing laws and statutes. These agencies and their enforcement missions can encompass everything from your local police enforcing municipal ordinances to federal agencies prosecuting violations of enacted statutes. Because these federal agencies have a nationwide reach, their enforcement actions, or lack thereof, can often garner more attention and scrutiny. So what happens if they fail to do their job? Do regular folks have any legal recourse against a federal agency for not enforcing certain laws?...

Continuing our series on the types of business structures available to small businesses, today we’ll look at the partnership. The general partnership is one of the oldest forms of joint business endeavor. Today, it has spawned several children, including limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships (LLPs), and even limited liability limited partnerships (LLLPs). Some benefits of doing business as a partnership include: Fewer formalities. Unlike corporations or limited liability companies, partnerships do not need to register their existence with the state....

Law on Termination of Parental Rights May Give Her Chance Following the tragic news of Michael Jackson’s death yesterday, many questions have been asked relating to the circumstances surrounding his untimely passing. However, an article out today deals with a question that, from the perspective of a family dealing with unforeseen tragedy, is probably of far more importance and immediacy. That is, what’s going to happen to Michael Jackson’s children, Paris, Prince Michael, and Prince Michael II (aka Blanket)?...

There are few desires as primordial and existential as the desire to have children and start a family. For some, it only takes a few tequila shots and a Marvin Gaye album. For others, the long process of freezing their eggs or embryos provides the only hope of having their own biological children someday. In the latter scenario, people entrust their eggs and embryos to a fertility clinic. In a devastating case out of Ohio, couples are suing a fertility clinic near Cleveland after a meltdown occurred in one of its tanks, damaging thousands of eggs and embryos contained inside....