Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, February 4, 2023

8

Mountain View News Saturday, January 21, 2023 

Peter Dills Knows 

PASADENA TOURNAMENT OF ROSES FOUNDATION 
NOW ACCEPTING GRANT APPLICATIONS

Applications will be accepted from January 23, 2023, through 

February 23, 2023.

 

PASADENA, Calif. (January 23, 2023) – The Pasadena Tournament of Roses® Foundation is now 
accepting applications for its 2023 grant program. Since its inception in 1983, the Foundation 
has invested over $4 million in more than 700 Pasadena-area organizations. The grant awards in 
2022 totaled nearly $200,000, which funded 19 organizations in the San Gabriel Valley. 

 

The grants supported new and ongoing programs benefiting children, teens, adults and seniors. 
From nonprofits offering animal therapy to special needs children, to organizations providing 
technical skills to underserved students and dance therapy for seniors diagnosed with Parkinson’s 
and multiple sclerosis.

 

The 2023 grant cycle will be structured as follows – Tier 1: a one-year grant for $35,000, Tier 2: a 
one-year grant for $15,000 and Tier 3: several one-year grants for up to $10,000. The Foundation 
will also require applicants to include information on how their program will be delivered.

 

Eligible applicants are organizations with 501(c)(3) status, as of the submission deadline, February 
23, 2023, that serves one or more of the following communities: Alhambra, Altadena, Arcadia, 
La Cañada Flintridge, Monrovia, Pasadena, San Gabriel, San Marino, Sierra Madre, South 
Pasadena, and Temple City. As in previous years, grants will be given in the categories of Performing 
and Visual Arts, Sports and Recreation, and Education (Early Childhood Education, 
Literacy and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs. 

 

To apply for the 2023 grant cycle, eligible organizations should visit the Tournament of Roses 
Foundation page: www.tournamentofroses.com/foundation/. The website will direct users to a 
welcome page with instructions on how to begin the application process.

 

Applications will be accepted from January 23, 2023, through February 23, 2023, at 5 p.m. The 
Foundation’s Board of Directors will make the final grant selections at its annual spring meeting, 
and applicants will be notified of their funding status via email in April 2023.


SUPER BOWL AND VALENTINE’S DAYS 
OF FOOTBALL AND ROMANCE 2023

First of all, let’s agree to disagree: Valentine’s Day should be a 
full week long. 

A single day is not long enough to fully express one’s love. What 
do you say about having an evening at home with a bottle of 
bubbly and a candlelight table for dinner? You may wonder why 
a critic would dare such treason. In all truth, it’s an impossible 
night for restaurants, so let’s find three bottles in price ranges 
you can live with. 

In the $12 price range, Ruffino Prosecco has been produced 
from grapes grown in the hilly area of Valdobbiadene, which 
is the most historically active region for the production of prosecco. 
Bright straw yellow with fine bubbles, the bouquet is fragrant 
and intensely fruity, with clean notes of apples, pears and 
citrus. I found it crisp, clean, and yet delicate - a perfect wine for the budget-minded lovebird. 

From the $20 range, let’s go back to Paso Robles for the San Simeon Petite Sirah ( At Vons). I 
enjoyed this well-bodied wine with a pre-Valentines dinner of lobster thermidor. This wine 
is not for the “beginner” (nor is cooking lobster thermidor), and brings strong notes of fruit 
when opened with a well-rewarded and long finish. 

My $30-range selection is the Domaine Carneros. My opinion is that this estate-bottled wine 
gets as close to a “real” French champagne as any California sparkler on your supermarket 
shelves. This cuvee is 51% chardonnay and 49% pinot noir, with an alcohol content of a modest 
12.1%. I got a perfect “pop” upon opening the bottle, which I poured into a lightly chilled 
flute and watched the bubbles rush to the top. The flavor was a little toasty in the beginning 
with a clean, long finish. You have my permission to drop a strawberry in your glass for this 
special occasion.

Joined my podcast revolution yet? Peter Dills Subscribe today

Besos and Kisses


ALL THINGS By Jeff Brown

VALENTINE HOLIDAY SPECIAL:

Beautiful Lavender Heart Sachets for Your Sweetheart, Daughter, Mother, Loved one.
Lovingly Hand Made By Julie with Organic Lavender. 

Special price, found now only at Mary’s Market.- Sierra Madre Canyon

SCHIFF URGES INVESTIGATION INTO DISCLOSURE OF 
TAXPAYERS’ PERSONAL, FINANCIAL INFORMATION TO 
FACEBOOK

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Adam 
Schiff (D-Burbank), and Reps. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) 
and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), members of 
the House Ways and Means and House Oversight 
Committees, respectively, urged the Internal Revenue 
Service to investigate the data-sharing practices 
of online tax filing companies that have been 
found to have disclosed taxpayers’ sensitive personal 
and financial information to Facebook. 

 

In late November, The Markup published a report 
revealing that U.S. companies providing online tax 
filing services, such as H&R Block, TaxAct, and 
TaxSlayer, have been sending taxpayers’ identities 
and financial information to Facebook through 
a pixel present on their websites. The Meta Pixel, 
operated by Facebook’s parent company, collected 
taxpayers’ personal information through various 
tax e-filing websites, including taxpayers’ names, 
usernames, email addresses, home addresses, income, 
filing status, refund status, dependents, 
health savings accounts, college tuition grants, and 
college scholarship amounts of their dependents.

 

“We are concerned about the implications these 
findings have on the rights of taxpayers and on fairness 
for the working-class Americans who largely 
depend on the services of private companies to e-
file their taxes… Bad actors in this space have the 
potential to profit from Americans’ most sensitive 
and private information, and simultaneously put 
their data at risk of further exposure,” wrote the 
members. “We believe that the American people 
deserve to know whose personal information was 
shared with Meta and Facebook, how this was allowed 
to happen, and what steps the IRS will take 
to ensure this cannot happen again. We strongly 
urge you to take swift action to thoroughly investigate, 
take steps to mitigate the harm caused, and 
protect the rights of American taxpayers.”

 

The IRS Data Book showed that more than 150 
million tax returns were filed electronically in 2021 
and millions of taxpayers use online tax filing services 
such as H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer 
– making this a potentially massive disclosure to 
Facebook of personal and financial information, 
on the heels of Meta being found in violation of 
federal health privacy law after the Meta Pixel 
gathered sensitive health information from hospital 
websites. 

 

In addition to calling for an investigation, the 
members request the IRS provide answers to the 
following questions:

 

1. Can you estimate how many taxpayers may 
have had their data unknowingly shared with Meta 
and Facebook through e-filing websites? 

2. Does the IRS know which individual taxpayers’ 
data was improperly transmitted to Meta, 
or will this information need to be recovered from 
the companies? 

3. The IRS directs taxpayers attempting to 
file for free to some of the companies reporting 
found using the pixel via Free File. The IRS also 
directs taxpayers to Tax Slayer through Volunteer 
Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites. Free File and 
VITA are directed toward low-income, elderly, and 
disabled taxpayers. Can you confirm whether Tax 
Slayer was one of the software packages embedding 
the pixel?

4. If there is a violation of Section 7216, and 
tax return information has been disclosed or used 
by a return preparer without the taxpayer’s consent, 
will TIGTA issue criminal referrals?

5. Does Section 7216 guidance presently ban 
the use of these pixels from online tax filing service 
sites or do regulations need to change to specifically 
prevent the use of this technology?

6. What legislative remedies should Congress 
consider to prevent this from happening again?


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com