Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Provision for income taxes

The provision for income taxes consisted of the following:

	For the years ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2014			2013			2012
Current:
Federal	$	2,358		$	319		$	8,171
State and local	(7,825		)	(3,102		)	517
Total current income tax provision	(5,467		)	(2,783		)	8,688
Deferred:
Federal	7,904			(4,842		)	7,185
Other	(405		)	(223		)	1,112
Total deferred income tax provision	7,499			(5,065		)	8,297
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	$	2,032		$	(7,848	)	$	16,985

Effective income tax rate reconciliation

The difference between the statutory rate for federal income tax and the effective income tax rate was as follows:

	For the years ended December 31,
	2014		2013		2012
Statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Effect of:
State and local income taxes, net of federal tax benefit	5.1		4.4		2.1
Nondeductible expenses	19.4		(9.6	)	0.4
Reserve for uncertain tax positions	(48.7	)	35.7		(7.3	)
Amended returns and settlements	—		16.6		—
Other	5.8		9.5		(0.4	)
Effective income tax rate	16.6	%	91.6	%	29.8	%

Schedule of deferred income tax (liabilities) assets

The approximate effect of the temporary differences giving rise to deferred income tax assets (liabilities) were as follows:

	As of December 31,
(in thousands)	2014			2013
Temporary differences:
Property, plant and equipment	$	(42,418	)	$	(44,448	)
Goodwill and other intangible assets	(9,803		)	(2,684		)
Investments, primarily gains and losses not yet recognized for tax purposes	7,162			4,750
Accrued expenses not deductible until paid	13,011			11,865
Deferred compensation and retiree benefits not deductible until paid	66,002			37,041
Other temporary differences, net	4,135			25
Total temporary differences	38,089			6,549
Federal and state net operating loss carryforwards	13,605			21,123
Valuation allowance for state deferred tax assets	(912		)	(1,078		)
Net deferred tax asset	$	50,782		$	26,594

Gross unrecognized tax benefit reconciliation

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances of the total amounts of gross unrecognized tax benefits is as follows:

	For the years ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2014			2013			2012
Gross unrecognized tax benefits at beginning of year	$	14,824		$	16,386		$	21,240
Increases in tax positions for prior years	—			2,692			623
Decreases in tax positions for prior years	(525		)	—			(1,287		)
Decreases from lapse in statute of limitations	(7,275		)	(2,670		)	(4,190		)
Settlements	—			(1,584		)	—
Gross unrecognized tax benefits at end of year	$	7,024		$	14,824		$	16,386