Q: In the early 1960s, while briefly living in St. Louis, I recall a state-of-the-art, well-intentioned, but problematic, housing project named Pruitt-Igoe. Does it still exist? Was it located in, near, or had any ties to the city of Ferguson?
—Dan Cowles, Cumming
A: Ferguson, Mo., is north of St. Louis, more than 12 miles from Pruitt-Igoe, a housing development near downtown that featured 33 11-story residential buildings with 2,870 apartments. Pruitt-Igoe was completed in 1956, but "maintenance was a problem from the outset and, as a result, the buildings soon fell into disrepair," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote in 2011. "The narcotics and violence that followed soon escalated to the point where entire floors served as drug dens." The first of the buildings were demolished in 1972 and the site was mostly cleared by 1976.
Q: Who pays the taxes on what people win on game shows?
—Eddie Webster, Douglasville
A: Winners must pay federal and state taxes on their winnings, which sometimes push them into a higher tax bracket. They must file a return in the state where they won the money (usually either California or New York), a tax manager at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants told the Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch in 2011, and "then claim the taxes paid as a credit in their home state." If the winner's home state has a lower tax rate, they won't receive the difference.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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