Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

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)	2016			2015			2014
Current:
Federal	$	904		$	279		$	2,358
State and local	(1,441		)	(3,072		)	(8,769		)
Total current income tax provision	(537		)	(2,793		)	(6,411		)
Deferred:
Federal	35,573			(26,005		)	6,402
State and local	3,694			(3,957		)	(102		)
Total deferred income tax provision	39,267			(29,962		)	6,300
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	$	38,730		$	(32,755	)	$	(111	)

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,
	2016		2015		2014
Statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Effect of:
State and local income taxes, net of federal tax benefit	3.5		3.5		3.4
Equity compensation tax windfall deduction	(1.6	)	—		—
Nondeductible expenses	1.3		(2.0	)	15.7
Reserve for uncertain tax positions	(0.7	)	2.5		(63.8	)
Goodwill impairment	—		(7.6	)	—
Other	(1.0	)	1.6		8.5
Effective income tax rate	36.5	%	33.0	%	(1.2	)%

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)	2016			2015
Temporary differences:
Property and equipment	$	(35,904	)	$	(36,926	)
Goodwill and other intangible assets	(96,773		)	(82,607		)
Investments, primarily gains and losses not yet recognized for tax purposes	5,218			5,997
Accrued expenses not deductible until paid	8,883			11,329
Deferred compensation and retiree benefits not deductible until paid	97,470			96,463
Other temporary differences, net	3,799			3,410
Total temporary differences	(17,307		)	(2,334		)
Federal and state net operating loss carryforwards	9,597			17,005
Valuation allowance for state deferred tax assets	(955		)	(1,031		)
Net deferred tax (liability)/asset	$	(8,665	)	$	13,640

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)	2016			2015			2014
Gross unrecognized tax benefits at beginning of year	$	5,011		$	7,024		$	14,824
Increases in tax positions for prior years	22			859			—
Decreases in tax positions for prior years	(1,684		)	(96		)	(525		)
Increases in tax positions for current years	336			—			—
Decreases from lapse in statute of limitations	(1,020		)	(2,776		)	(7,275		)
Gross unrecognized tax benefits at end of year	$	2,665		$	5,011		$	7,024