Free Republic

WASHINGTON - House and Senate negotiators struck a tentative deal on the expiring Patriot Act that would curb FBI subpoena power and require the Justice Department to more fully report its secret requests for information about ordinary people, according to officials involved in the talks. The agreement, which would make most provisions of the existing law permanent, was reached just before dawn Wednesday. But by midmorning GOP leaders had already made plans for a House vote on Thursday and a Senate vote by the end of the week. That would put the centerpiece of President Bush's war on terror on...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Home loan lender Ameriquest Mortgage Co. has agreed to pay as much as $50 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleges it cheated thousands of borrowers in four states, including California, a newspaper reported Tuesday. In a related matter, the Orange County-based company also was questioned by attorneys general and regulators in 25 states about its lending practices, including how loan terms are verbally described to borrowers, the Los Angeles Times said. Ameriquest, which lends to people with spotty credit and modest incomes, has been dogged by consumer complaints and lawsuits in about 20 states...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California High Speed Rail Authority officials unveiled a tentative map of routes for the proposed statewide bullet train on Wednesday - a plan that includes a 120-mile, nonstop stretch between Bakersfield and Fresno. That Central Valley section of the line, which was recommended by the authority's staff, bypasses Visalia despite the city's pleas for a stop. The 700-mile system, with 200 mph-plus trains, would cost about $35 billion and carry as many as 68 million passengers a year by 2020. Voters will decide a bond measure in 2006 to pay for part of the project. Construction on...