Morning Wrap

Bailing Out Fannie and Freddie: The housing legislation that would give the federal government the authority to inject money into troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be introduced today, The Washington Post reports. The proposal is likely to meet with increased opposotion after Peter Orszag, director of the Congressional Budget Office, sent a letter to lawmakers that says a further collapse in the housing market could require a government investment of as much as $100 billion and not the previously estimated $25 billion.

COPA Blocked... Again: The Child Online Protection Act has again been determined to be unconstitutional by a court of appeals, The Legal Intelligencer reports via Law.com. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruling yesterday says the law suffers from a number of fatal flaws and marks the sixth time a court has blocked the law from going into effect, including two trips to the Supreme Court.

Ground Control to Congressmen: A Continental Airlines flight carrying former presidential candidate Ron Paul and six other members of Congress was forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans yesterday after a loss in cabin pressure, The Associated Press reports. The seven lawmakers, all from Texas, were on their way to Washington to vote on an aviation safety bill.

Texas Polygamist Sect: A grand jury in Eldorado, Texas indicted Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs and four of his followers Tuesday on charges of felony sexual assault of a child. Another was indicted for failing to report child abuse, The Associated Press reports. The charges came after the Texas Supreme Court ruled two months ago that child welfare officials were out of line when they took all the children from the polygamist sect's ranch after the sect had been accused of forcing underage girls into marriage and motherhood.

Union Pacific Gets Burned: Union Pacific Railroad Co. has agreed to pay $102 million to the U.S. Forest Service in connection to the 2000 wildfire north of Sacramento that burned over 52,000 acres. The settlement  dramatically increases the stakes in punishing those responsible for setting forest fires, Los Angeles Times reports.

You Can't Say that on TV: Lawyers in Louisiana will have a lot less room to make pitches for their services in television commercials after new guidelines go into effect on Dec. 1, The Times-Picayune reports. The Louisiana Supreme Court approved regulations last month that limit what lawyers can and can't say in commercials and require commercials to be approved by a Louisiana State Bar Association committee. Some of the state's lawyers say the regulations violate their First Amendment rights.