Palin Told to Pay Taxes on Per Diem Cash

Experts query travel payments, other reimbursements

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin's tax returns, released yesterday, show her to be the least wealthy of the presidential candidates, the Wall Street Journal reports, and the governor herself to be the family's main breadwinner. The Palins reported a combined income of $166,000 in 2007, up from $128,000 in 2006. Todd Palin contributed $46,600 in earnings from an oil company, and $15,500 from a commercial fishing business, but he lost $10,000 on his racing venture. More»

'I wasn't into the Hollywood thing,' says Sarah Palin's daughter

(NEWSER) - Bristol Palin has finally thrown in the towel on Hollywood fame and is back home in Alaska. “I wasn’t really into the Hollywood thing,” she tells In Touch . After her Dancing With the Stars gig, she lost celebrity traction, and a pending reality show was canceled. The incident that finally convinced her to head north was an ugly confrontation with a Palin hater in an LA bar. Besides, son Tripp will soon be in preschool and "we need to settle into a routine," she says. For now, Bristol is staying in an apartment beneath her mom's TV studio on the family's Wasilla property. Something she hates back home: seeing baby daddy Levi Johnston tooling around town in his truck as carefree as you please. “He’s not using his visitation, and he’s not paying his child support,” Bristol snaps. More»

Guess what famous family he's friends with?

(NEWSER) - A burned hotel room mattress, ruined bedding, a urine-stained chair, vomit on the carpet … but no, this was not the handiwork of a rock star on tour. Rather, Wasilla City Councilman Steve Menard apparently got a little crazy on a business trip—then slipped the city the bill for the damages. Menard, who has had alcohol-related problems in the past, apologized publicly Monday night and said he is now “11 days sober and working on a program.” More»

An 'undercurrent of fear' grips Palin's town

(NEWSER) - When Joe McGinniss moved in next door to the Palins on Wasilla's Lake Lucille, "Mama Grizzly" was furious . But, McGinniss claims, the rest of the town welcomed him. He's heading home to Massachusetts today to write his book, and talks to the AP about Palin's politics and the "undercurrent of fear" that grips her hometown. Some highlights:

• On his welcome to Wasilla: The locals "started bringing me blueberry pie," he recalls. "I had many offers of handguns to borrow. I turned them all down."

He loses job after joke gone wrong

(NEWSER) - The editor at Sarah Palin's hometown paper who reminded Joe McGinniss that Alaskans can use "deadly force" to protect their property is now looking for a job. The publisher of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sent Tom Mitchell packing after his line set off a media firestorm of its own, reports the Alaska Dispatch . "It certainly caught fire," said Mitchell. "Palin's a spark plug for a lot of things." More»