Federal suits filed in October 2001 determined that the most Silverstein could collect for losses sustained in the September 11 attacks would be $4.68 billion. Insurance companies have already paid about $2.55 billion, and the settlement resolved the remaining sum. Spitzer's office said that the settlement, which was the biggest obstacle to reconstruction at the World Trade Center site, "will save additional tens of millions in legal costs and allow the Port Authority and Silverstein Properties to focus on rebuilding at Ground Zero." Prior litigation has cost Silverstein and the insurance companies hundreds of millions of dollars.

The National Restaurant Association (NRA), which represents an industry that employs approximately 12.8 million workers in 935,000 locations, issued a statement Thursday criticizing the minimum wage increase, saying that it "will cost our industry jobs... and that the current $4.9 billion tax package" would not provide sufficient relief for employers most impacted. The NRA claims that the industry "lost more than 146,000 jobs" and delayed the employment of 106,000 new employees as a result of the 40-cent minimum wage increase in 1997.

Prosecutors are recommending that Pope be placed on probation while Brown gets at least two and a-half years in prison. Both will be sentenced in July. Investigators say the girl wasn't threatened but she felt coerced into complying.

Prosecutors are in plea discussions with attorneys for the three other defendants.

The US Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility has expanded its investigation into whether department aides illegally made hiring decisions based on consideration of applicants' political beliefs, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. The move follows Wednesday's testimony to the House Judiciary Committee by former DOJ aide Monica Goodling, where she admitted making hiring decisions based on political party affiliation. The DOJ also said that it found no evidence to support Goodling's claim that the practice was approved by officials in the department.

Goodling was testifying about her role in the firings of eight US Attorneys. She disputed testimony by resigning Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, and claimed that at least one US Attorney was fired to open a spot for a protege of Karl Rove.

The International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) said Wednesday that a controversial 700-mile fence along the US-Mexican border may violate the 1970 Boundary Treaty, which resolved all pending boundary differences between the United States and Mexico. Sally Spener, spokesperson for the IBWC, said that impermeable fences on US territory but between existing rivers and levees could violate the treaty by deflecting or obstructing the natural water flow. The treaty established the Rio Grande and the Colorado River as the international boundary between the two countries, and established provisions to avoid the loss of territory by either party as a result of changes to the river's flow due to causes other than natural lateral movement. Spener said that the IBWC is still waiting for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [official website] to submit specific proposals detailing the fence's design and location before it can make a final determination. The IBWC is a a bi-national body created by the United States and Mexico in 1889 to administer boundary and water-rights treaties between the two parties.

President Bush signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 in October 2006. The legislation authorizes the construction of approximately 700 miles of fencing along the 2,000 mile US-Mexican border. Critics of the fence include locals in border communities, who feel that the the federal government has not addressed their concerns that a border fence would interfere with irrigation, harm wildlife, as well as disrupt Mexican consumers and investors that positively contribute to the local economy. The Vatican and the Mexican government have voiced strong criticism of the fence, characterizing it as "inhumane" and an embarrassment that "hurts bilateral relations and goes against the spirit of cooperation needed to guarantee security." The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it is scheduled to complete over half of the authorized fence by the end of 2008.

The 19-page complaint alleges the Daily Gazette Co. bought the Daily Mail in May 2004 intending to shut it down and create a newspaper monopoly in Kanawha County. The Justice Department said the Daily Gazette Co. suspended those actions in December 2004 but only after the company learned the federal agency had launched an investigation into the newspaper company's maneuvers.

The Justice Department's suit seeks to undo completely the 2004 sale and restore the Daily Mail to its previous competitiveness.

"When the Daily Gazette Co. acquired the Daily Mail with the aim of shutting it down, readers in the Charleston area and the advertisers who valued access to them, were denied the benefits of competition," Assistant Attorney General Thomas O. Barnett said in a news release. Barnett works in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.

"The Department's investigation saved the Daily Mail from this unlawful termination, and this action seeks to remedy the competitive damage already done and to prohibit the parties from resuming an anticompetitive course in the future."

Trip Shumate, chief financial officer for Charleston Newspapers, which serves as the umbrella company handling the business side of the Gazette and Daily Mail, said the Daily Gazette will "vigorously defend" the Justice Department's lawsuit.

"We will win in court if it goes there," he said.

Messages left for Dean Singleton, MediaNews' vice chairman and CEO, and MediaNews President Joseph Lodovic IV were not returned.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the convictions except for the guilty verdict on one count of bank fraud apiece.

"We reverse defendants' conviction on (that count) and we remand for an entry of a judgment of acquittal on this count and for resentencing," the court said.

The Rigases, who both have been sentenced by a Manhattan federal court judge to lengthy prison terms, have remained free on bail while they have pursued their appeals.