A TANK AWAY FROM TOLEDO, COLUMBUS, CHAMPAIGN OR NAPERVILLE
We left Toledo on the first day of spring, and drove to Warsaw, Indiana for dinner at Fusion Restaurant. The next day, we visited Wabash County Historical Museum http://wabashmuseum.org/ to view the Abraham Lincoln exhibit. The collection includes paintings and sculptures of Abraham Lincoln and other Civil War-related artifacts owned by private collector Robert Lang of Wisconsin. It continues through July 4. The showpiece of the collection is a small writing table, used at the signing of the surrender of Lee’s troops at Appomattox. We finished our short trip in Fort Wayne with a movie and dinner at Eddie Merlot’s, part of a small restaurant chain.

New GAO Reports: Private Health Insurance, Private Pensions, Social Security, Iraq Oversight
Private Health Insurance: 2008 Survey Results on Number and Market Share of Carriers in the Small Group Health Insurance Market, GAO-09-363R, February 27, 2009
Private Pensions: Conflicts of Interest Can Affect Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Plans, GAO-09-503T, March 24, 2009
Social Security Administration : Further Actions Needed to
Address Disability Claims and Service Delivery Challenges, GAO-09-511T, March 24, 2009
Iraq: Key Issues for Congressional Oversight, GAO-09-294SP, March 24, 2009
Coast Guard: Observations on Changes to Management and Oversight of the Deepwater Program, GAO-09-462T, March 24, 2009

EPA Acts to Reduce Harmful Impacts from Coal Mining
News release: "The United States Environmental Protection Agency has sent two letters to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expressing serious concerns about the need to reduce the potential harmful impacts on water quality caused by certain types of coal mining practices, such as mountaintop mining. The letters specifically addressed two new surface coal mining operations in West Virginia and Kentucky. EPA also intends to review other requests for mining permits."

The United States ranks third, behind Indonesia and Japan, in the number of historically active volcanoes (that is, those for which we have written accounts of eruptions). In addition, about 10 percent of the more than 1,500 volcanoes that have erupted in the past 10,000 years are located in the United States. Most of these volcanoes are found in the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Peninsula, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest--the remainder are widely distributed in the western part of the nation. http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/volcus/ustext.html
A powerful underwater volcano has erupted in the south Pacific and created a new island off the coast of Tonga. The eruption, about 39 miles north-west of the Tongan capital, Nuku'alofa, began on Monday, March 16, shooting rocks, steam and ash thousands of feet into the air. Tonga's chief geologist, Kelepi Mafi, said the volcano had two vents, one on a small uninhabited island and another about 100 metres (330ft) offshore. Rock and ash spewing from the sea have filled the gap between the two vents, creating a new land mass measuring hundreds of square metres. Tonga, a 170-island archipelago between Australia and Tahiti, is part of the Pacific "ring of fire"--an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from Chile in South America through Alaska and down through Vanuatu to Tonga. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/21/tonga-volcano-island-nuku-alofa
Landfill managers said they knew something was amiss in the economy when they saw trash levels start steadily dropping last year. Some are reporting declines of up to 30 percent. People don't buy stuff, so there's less packaging—which typically makes up one-third of all landfill trash—to toss. With a drop in demand, manufacturers make less, creating less waste. More vacant homes and fewer people in a community mean less trash. A stagnant housing market means less construction debris. On tight budgets, people eat out less, so restaurants order less, so there's less to throw away. Landscapers are out of work, so there's less yard debris. Sales are up at Goodwill's nine Washington D.C. area thrift stores—52 percent in January—but donations have fallen so much that the charity has been forced to advertise for them for the first time. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008861574_trash15.html

FDIC Legacy Loans Program
Legacy Loans Program: The FDIC will provide oversight for the formation, funding, and operation of new public-private investment funds (“PPIFs”) that will purchase loans and other assets from depository institutions. The Legacy Loans Program will attract private capital through an FDIC debt guarantee and Treasury equity co-investment. Private market equity investors (“Private Investors’) are expected to include but are not limited to financial institutions, individuals, insurance companies, mutual funds, publicly managed investment funds, pension funds, foreign investors with a headquarters in the United States, private equity funds, and hedge funds. The participation of mutual funds, pension plans, insurance companies, and other long term investors is particularly encouraged. The Treasury will be responsible for overseeing and managing its equity contribution in the PPIFs, while the FDIC will be responsible for overseeing and managing its debt guarantees to the PPIFs.
Public-Private Investment Program White Paper Legacy Loans Program
Legacy Loans Program Frequently Asked Questions
Legacy Loans Program Fact Sheet
Legacy Securities Frequently Asked Questions
Legacy Loans Program Summary of Terms
Application for Treasury Investment in a Legacy Securities Public - Private Investment Fund

The Wolf Block dissolution officially took place on March 23 when the partnership voted to disband the firm. Click here and here for stories from Philadelphia's Inquirer and Intelligencer. So why did it have to come to this? Why did a firm that, as the Intelligencer puts it, took 100 years to build up have to vanish overnight? According to the Intelligencer, some are taking the long view, tracing the demise back to 1985 when Howard Gittis left as leader of the firm and new leadership came on board as the start of the downfall. Others say it was groups of partner defections in the early to mid-1990s, departures that were “never quite replaced.” Others blame a lack of practice-area diversity, that the firm relied too heavily on its well-respected real-estate practice. “It was like owning one stock in the stock market,” says one consultant.
On March 24, the Supreme Court heard arguments over whether the airing of a documentary attacking Hillary Clinton violated the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law and, in the end, just how far McCain Feingold is constitutionally permitted to reach. Click here for the NYT story; here for the take from Legal Times's Tony Mauro.
The issue bandied about asked whether banning the broadcast of "Hillary: The Movie," 30 days before last year's Democratic primary, violated McCain-Feingold (a lower court said yes), and whether that application of McCain-Feingold violated the constitution.
WSJ Law Blog March 25, 2009