Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Wednesday he would let selected members of the Democratic-led U.S. Congress see secret court documents that authorized President George W. Bush's newly revised domestic spying program.

Lawmakers and civil liberties groups called it a significant first step for an administration that in the past often refused to provide information to Congress, but they urged the Bush administration to provide full details about the program.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said he would review the documents and then decide if "further (congressional) oversight or legislative action is necessary."

The administration announced an abrupt end to what had been a 5-year-old warrantless surveillance program on January 17, two weeks after Democrats took control of Congress and vowed to bring the program in line with law. The surveillance program will now be subject to approval from the secret U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Critics had charged Bush overstepped his power after the September 11 attacks with warrantless domestic spying as well as actions such as holding terrorism suspects indefinitely without charges and interrogations that some said amounted to torture.

Democrats had complained that while Bush's fellow Republicans controlled Congress, their requests for information from the president were frequently rejected or ignored.

At a January 18 Judiciary Committee hearing, Democrats and Republicans alike demanded that Gonzales provide details about the agreement the Justice Department had reached with the secret court.

Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP is gathering top immigration attorneys in Texas with plans to expand and open offices in Houston and Dallas.

Once assembled, more than 40 attorneys, paralegals and staff from Dallas-based Jenkens & Gilchrist will be part of the San Francisco-based corporate immigration law firm, giving it more than 200 employees in San Francisco, McLean Va., Dallas and Houston.

"Immigration compliance is a major issue for companies bringing foreign employees into the U.S., sending American employees abroad or transferring employees between countries outside the U.S.," said Warren Leiden, managing partner at BAL. "We now have a critical mass of senior-level professionals with the brainpower and strategic legal skills to help multinational companies manage an increasingly global workforce."

The Texas offices are scheduled to open on Feb. 12.

Shawn Orme will serve as managing partner of the Houston office, while Steven Ladik will be managing partner in Dallas.

http://www.usabal.com

The financing closed for the construction of BP Plc's 301-megawatt Cedar Creek wind farm in Weld County, Colorado, the law firm representing the lenders said.

International law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP said in a release that Cedar Creek entered into a long-term supply agreement with Xcel Energy Inc.'s Public Service Co of Colorado for the sale of electricity from the project.

The law firm represented the lenders, Mizuho Financial Group Inc.'s (8411.T: Quote, NEWS , Research) Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd., Bayerische Landesbank [BAYLB.UL] and HSH Nordbank AG [HSH.UL]. It did not reveal the amount of financing the lenders provided.

Cedar Creek is a venture between BP's BP Alternative Energy North America Inc. subsidiary and Australian investment firm Babcock & Brown's (BNB.AX: Quote, Profile , Research) Babcock & Brown Operating Partners LP.

BP said in a release earlier this month it expected part of the project would to start operating in the second half of 2007.

Once completed, the Cedar Creek project, which is under construction, will have 274 turbines and generate about 301 MW of power - enough to power 120,000 homes.

Separately, Milbank said the financing for the construction of Spanish wind energy company Gamesa's (GAM.MC: Quote, Profile , Research) 80 MW Allegheny Ridge wind farm in Pennsylvania.

Milbank said it represented the lenders Mizuho and HSH Nordbank AG on the Allegheny project.

Gamesa entered into several long-term supply agreements with FirstEnergy Corp.'s (FE.N: Quote, Profile , Research) FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. subsidiary for the sale of electricity from the project.

The Allegheny Ridge project, expected to enter service in early 2007, will have 40 turbines rated at two megawatts each.

The Boston Passante law firm reached a temporary agreement in court today on its dissolution.

The agreement will allow the firm to pay debts and provide income to its partners for the next two months as both sides try to find a permanent solution.

Russell Boston, his wife, Wendy S. Boston, and other partners Lauren L. Benedict and David M. Cusson petitioned Bibb County Superior Court in December to dissolve the firm, and they cited problems with managing partner Brian Passante's completion of his duties.

Passante filed a countersuit earlier this week denying the allegations and blaming Russell Boston for the problems in the firm.

A former eye doctor who set off a seven-year federal investigation into class action law firm Milberg Weiss has agreed to plead guilty to taking $6.4 million in secret kickbacks from the firm, lawyers in the case said on Wednesday.

Steven Cooperman, 64, of Connecticut will plead guilty to a charge of conspiring with Milberg Weiss and some of its partners to obstruct justice and make false statements in class actions the firm filed against scores of publicly traded companies between 1988 and 2003, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles said.

The firm and two of its senior partners have been indicted on charges that they participated in a scheme to pay secret kickbacks to Cooperman and other plaintiffs.

Milberg Weiss and its partners have pleaded not guilty.

That case is set for trial in 2008.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Milberg Weiss said the allegations against the firm "are not new" and "have never been credible and they are no more so today."

Cooperman first brought Milberg Weiss to prosecutors' attention after he was convicted in 1999 of federal insurance fraud charges for staging the theft of two paintings, a Picasso and a Monet, from his Los Angeles-area home.

Prosecutors gave Cooperman amnesty in the Milberg Weiss investigation in exchange for his cooperation in providing the government with information about the alleged kickback scheme.

A BID to extradite two people to the United States over an alleged international operation to produce an illegal drug got under way yesterday.

Brian Howes, 43, and Kerry Ann Shanks, 29, are wanted by the American authorities to face 82 charges over the alleged supply of chemicals to people believed to be involved in the production of methamphetamine, better known as crystal meth.

An initial extradition hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard claims that chemicals allegedly supplied by the pair, of Bo'ness, were traced to more than 80 unlawful laboratories in the US.

Sheriff Isabella McColl remanded them in custody until a further hearing in March.

An appeals court reinstated a charge of conspiracy to "murder, kidnap, and maim" against accused terrorist supporter Jose Padilla, the most serious count that he will face at a trial scheduled to begin in April.

The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta yesterday reversed a lower court ruling that threw out the charge, which carries a possible sentence of up to life in prison. District Judge Marcia Cooke in Miami had dismissed the count, ruling it duplicated other charges.

Mr. Padilla, 36, a former Chicago gang member and alleged Al Qaeda operative, is charged with being part of a terror cell that provided money, aid, and recruits to Islamic extremists. Those charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His case is set for trial April 16 in Miami federal court.

"We are gratified by the 11th Circuit's swift decision and look forward to presenting the evidence at trial," said Alex Acosta, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, in a statement.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals heard arguments January 10 over Judge Cooke's decision that the charges violated Mr. Padilla's right against being charged twice for the same offense. Federal prosecutors argued the charge was dropped in error, saying Judge Cooke used flawed legal analysis. Mr. Padilla has 21 days to seek a rehearing before the appeals court, according to the Justice Department.

An America citizen, Mr. Padilla was arrested in Chicago in 2002. The government initially accused him of plotting to detonate in America a "dirty bomb," a conventional explosive device that includes radioactive material for dispersal in the blast. America later said Al Qaeda trained him to blow up American apartment buildings. In November 2005, Mr. Padilla was indicted on charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

Prison officials are scheduled to report by February 9 on a mental competency exam of Mr. Padilla to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.

Mr. Padilla's lawyers said in court papers that he suffered mental damage because of abuse that they claim was inflicted by American authorities during the three years and five months he was held in a Navy prison in South Carolina.