Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Provision for income taxes

The provision for income taxes from continuing operations consisted of the following:

	For the years ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2015			2014			2013
Current:
Federal	$	279		$	2,358		$	928
State and local	(3,072		)	(8,769		)	(4,124		)
Total current income tax provision	(2,793		)	(6,411		)	(3,196		)
Deferred:
Federal	(26,005		)	6,402			(7,797		)
Other	(3,957		)	(102		)	(914		)
Total deferred income tax provision	(29,962		)	6,300			(8,711		)
Benefit for income taxes	$	(32,755	)	$	(111	)	$	(11,907	)

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,
	2015		2014		2013
Statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Effect of:
State and local income taxes, net of federal tax benefit	3.5		3.4		4.8
Nondeductible expenses	(2.0	)	15.7		(2.1	)
Reserve for uncertain tax positions	2.5		(63.8	)	13.9
Goodwill impairment	(7.6	)	—		—
Other	1.6		8.5		2.5
Effective income tax rate	33.0	%	(1.2	)%	54.1	%

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)	2015			2014
Temporary differences:
Property, plant and equipment	$	(36,926	)	$	(15,962	)
Goodwill and other intangible assets	(82,607		)	(11,367		)
Investments, primarily gains and losses not yet recognized for tax purposes	5,997			6,476
Accrued expenses not deductible until paid	11,329			8,534
Deferred compensation and retiree benefits not deductible until paid	96,463			63,103
Other temporary differences, net	3,410			3,779
Total temporary differences	(2,334		)	54,563
Federal and state net operating loss carryforwards	17,005			11,715
Valuation allowance for state deferred tax assets	(1,031		)	(912		)
Net deferred tax asset	$	13,640		$	65,366

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)	2015			2014			2013
Gross unrecognized tax benefits at beginning of year	$	7,024		$	14,824		$	16,386
Increases in tax positions for prior years	859			—			2,692
Decreases in tax positions for prior years	(96		)	(525		)	—
Decreases from lapse in statute of limitations	(2,776		)	(7,275		)	(2,670		)
Settlements	—			—			(1,584		)
Gross unrecognized tax benefits at end of year	$	5,011		$	7,024		$	14,824