Moscow City Court judge Eduard Chuvashov was shot contract-style in the stairwell of his apartment building in central Moscow, Russia's top investigative body said.

The murderer used a silencer and left no shells, but investigators obtained footage from surveillance cameras showing a tall Slavic man, about 30-years-old, coming out of Chuvashov's apartment building shortly after the killing, it said.

A battle is intensifying in the Senate over the appeals court nomination of Goodwin Liu, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley whom some Democrats consider a potential nominee one day to the Supreme Court.

Democrats vowed Wednesday to press ahead with plans for an April 16 Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A day earlier, the GOP demanded a delay and suggested that Liu's nomination might be in jeopardy because he had not provided enough information to the panel.

Activists on both the left and right view Liu's nomination as a practice run for the next Supreme Court vacancy, which could come as soon as this year if Justice John Paul Stevens retires.

On Tuesday, Liu sent 117 items to the committee, a "supplement" to an earlier questionnaire he filled out about his record, including articles he wrote and events in which he participated, but did not include in his original submission.

The committee's seven Republicans -- led by ranking member Jeff Sessions (Ala.) -- responded with a scathing letter to panel Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.).

One of Baltimore's largest law firms, Ober Kaler, will move its headquarters by next April from the Sun Trust Bank building downtown to the 100 Light Street office tower a few blocks away.

Lexington Realty Trust, which owns the 35-story office tower, announced Thursday that Ober Kaler has signed a lease for 94,213 square feet over six floors of the tower, formerly known as the Legg Mason building.

The lease is the largest announced since Legg Mason moved last year to a new building in Harbor East, vacating 330,000 square feet on Light Street. To attract new tenants, Lexington Trust is investing more than $43 million to upgrade the building and open a parking garage across Lombard Street.

As of July 1, the 100 Light Street building is expected to be approximately 44 percent leased, according to Lexington Trust.

Ober Kaler Chairman John Wolf said the law firm considered sites in Hunt Valley, Owings Mills, Towson, Harbor East and elsewhere in Baltimore's central business district, including its present location, before leasing space at 100 Light Street.

The Fighting Sioux nickname is gone for good at the University of North Dakota.

On Thursday, decisions by North Dakota's Supreme Court and Board of Higher Education led to the retirement of the long-disputed nickname.

The court ruled that the board had the authority to dump the nickname at any time. The court rejected an appeal that sought to delay action.

The board had voted last May to retire the nickname. A motion Thursday to reconsider that vote died.

Board president Richie Smith says he thinks no further action is required to end the nickname.

The court agreed to hear an expedited appeal after university officials pleaded with the board to decide the issue quickly so the school could pursue admission to the Summit League.

The temporary absence of a federal estate tax is expected to be addressed by the U.S. House and Ways Committee this month. Rep. Sander Levin, incoming chair of the committee, indicated action could begin as early as April 12, just after Congress returns from spring recess.

Many predicted Congress would take action last year, long before changes – which also include a zero percent generation-skipping transfer tax and dramatically reduced gift tax rate – took place. Instead, a lengthy delay, combined with little direction on what the future tax structure might be, left estate plans across the nation in jeopardy of failure and families unsure how to address potential problems.

“The uncertainty affects all our clients,” said Boston area attorney Hank Whittenberg, a tax and estate planning specialist. Whittenberg suggested many families don’t know how to structure estate plans with so many variables in play. Some consider taking advantage of the lowered gift tax rate – the lowest it’s been since it was enacted in the 1930s – but fear a retroactive penalty if they do. Others face troubling tax challenges with investments and division of assets. “The ambiguity is terrible,” Whittenberg said. “We need something, anything to pass. Just give us some clarity,”

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 phased the estate tax out over a 10-year period, resulting in a zero percent estate tax in 2010. If unaddressed, the tax will jump back to 2001 levels with a maximum individual exemption of $1 million and top tax rate of 55%. In 2009, the exemption was $3.5 million and rate capped at 45 percent – a far better scenario for taxpayers.

The House is thought to favor a return to 2009 levels and subject estate transfers in 2010 to a retroactive tax. But doing so may pose larger issues. “Constitutional litigators aren’t going to let this fly by without a fight. The notion of enacting a new tax is different than adjusting an existing tax,” Whittenberg said. “But whatever Congress decides, it will impact our clients and the sooner we know what to expect, the better we can meet our clients’ objectives.”

Recognized nationally for expertise in tax planning, Attorney Whittenberg began practicing law more than 15 years ago. He is a partner of Whittenberg Knudsen, LLP, a founding member of WealthCounsel (a national attorney organization of approximately 1,500 estate and wealth strategies attorneys), and a former elected board member of the Member Advisory Board of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys. Serving clients throughout the Northeast region, attorneys at Whittenberg Knudsen, LLP focus primarily on estate planning, business law, and probate and trust administration and litigation.

BeBevCo announced today they have hired a new legal team: McMullen Associates LLC from Charlotte, North Carolina. McMullen Associates LLC is a Securities and Corporate Law Firm that specializes in Securities Regulation, Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Finance, Business Law, Private Placement Memorandums, Exchange Listings, Franchising, as well as all general securities law practice and corporate law matters. "After a five-hour meeting that included four of our staff and five of theirs, it was by far the most educational as well as convincing that McMullen Associates team of experts will get the job by helping us develop short and long term strategies to move BeBevCo along a path to the Bulletin boards and then on to the AMEX," said CEO Brian Weber.

About BeBevCo - BeBevCo (Bebida Beverages Company) develops, manufactures and markets several beverages including Koma Unwind "Chillaxation Drink ™," Koma Unwind Sugar-free "Chillaxation Drink ™" and Koma Unwind "Chillaxation Shot™" as well as Potencia Energy Drink and Potencia BLAST energy shot, Piranha Water.

The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday that it intends to move forward quickly with key recommendations in its national broadband plan — even though a federal appeals court this week undermined the agency's legal authority to regulate high-speed Internet access.

The FCC needs that authority to push ahead with many parts of the broadband plan, which it released last month. Among them: a proposal to expand broadband by tapping the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes telephone service in poor and rural areas.

The FCC laid out its 2010 "broadband action agenda" without indicating how it will proceed in light of the court ruling. But the agency says it will ensure it has the legal authority it needs for its sweeping plan to increase broadband usage and Internet speeds.