The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted Tuesday to debate a bill that would phase out the taxes over five years as long as state revenue grows 4 percent in each of those years.

The proposal, which would reimburse local governments for the lost property tax revenue, would not kick in until the 2010 fiscal year. Equipment bought after Jan. 1, 2008, would qualify retroactively.

Supporters say the measure, which has 32 co-sponsors including two members of House leadership and two Democrats, could be funded without relying on additional revenue from other sources or programs, a source of contention that killed a proposal last year.

"We would be paying for the bill with growth in government," committee Chairman Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot and one of the co-sponsors, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Idaho businesses now pay personal property tax each year on everything from forklifts to office equipment. Companies such as J.R. Simplot, the agriculture giant, and TableRock BrewPub & Grill in Boise have demanded a repeal of the tax, saying it's hard to calculate and stunts economic growth.

Last year, the House passed a bill to eliminate as much as $100 million of the taxes, but Senate lawmakers blocked it.

That seemed to be a likely fate again for any personal property tax bill this year after the House tax committee in January rejected five measures that would have repealed millions of dollars in Idaho sales tax exemptions.

Senate lawmakers who killed last year's bill suggested that elimination of the personal property tax should depend on dumping some of those tax exemptions, thus creating additional revenue. They also favored a discussion of the personal property tax bill within the broader context of Idaho's complicated system of tax breaks.

Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg and chairman of the Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee, said this year's personal property tax proposal seems to be well crafted, since it puts the plan on hold if the economy is not strong enough to bring in sufficient revenue to pay for the phaseout.

"If it gets through the House, I think there's a good chance it'll get through the committee," Hill said.

According to court papers obtained Monday, Superior Court Judge Soussan G. Bruguera ordered XtraJet owner Jeffrey Borer and his company to pay Geragos at least $10 million and possibly up to $18 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Geragos' colleague Pat Harris was awarded between $1.25 million and $2.25 million in damages.

The amount of damages is dependent on whether both the company and Borer are separately responsible for punitive damages, or just Borer. Geragos' legal team claims the former, while Borer's claims the latter.

A court spokeswoman was not immediately able to clarify the discrepancy.

"Defendant Borer was the mastermind behind a scheme to desecrate and exploit sacred attorney-client communications for personal profit," Brugera wrote in the 21-page judgment filed Friday.

Geragos' and Harris' attorney Brian J. Kabateck said he was pleased with the decision.

"This is an important day for lawyers who generally represent celebrities and high profile people," he said.

Borer's lawyer, Lloyd Kirschbaum, said his client will appeal. He contended the attorney-client relationship could not have been breached because the video recording did not have sound.

"There was not any sound," he said. "You can't intercept a communication without sound."

Borer and co-defendant Arvel Jett Reeves pleaded guilty last year to felony counts of conspiracy. They acknowledged they installed two digital video recorders in a Gulfstream jet that flew Jackson from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara. XtraJet, which was based in Santa Monica, California, has since gone bankrupt, according to Kirschbaum.

Reeves was sentenced to eight months in prison.

Borer was sentenced to six months home detention rather than prison because he said he was the caregiver for his wife, who had chronic health problems. He spent part of that confinement at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey, California, saying his house had a mold problem and his wife was allergic.

The damages resulted from an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit filed by Geragos and Harris. Jackson, who was initially a plaintiff in the civil lawsuit, later dropped out of the case.

The pop singer was acquitted of the molestation charges in 2005.

Yahoo Inc extended its deadline to nominate board directors, gaining time to seek alternatives or negotiate friendlier terms to a $41.7 billion buyout offer from Microsoft Corp.

The original March 14 deadline could have catapulted Microsoft and Yahoo into a proxy contest next week. Instead, Yahoo said on Wednesday the deadline would fall 10 days after it announces the date for its annual shareholder meeting, which has yet to be scheduled.

Yahoo has explored tie-ups with several other Internet and media companies that would allow it to retain more independence. Talks about a deal with Time Warner Inc.'s AOL division have accelerated, a person briefed on the discussions said on Wednesday.

"It's an indication that probably Yahoo is less receptive to Microsoft than was initially believed," said analyst Jeffrey Lindsay of Sanford C. Bernstein, referring to the extension.

"It looks as if they've bought themselves several weeks by proposing this delay," he said. "It's probably the maximum they can do without incurring a lot more shareholder ill-will."

After more than a year of intermittent talks, Yahoo rebuffed an offer that Microsoft made public on February 1 valuing the company at $31 per share in cash and stock. Based on current share prices, the deal would value Yahoo at $27 per share.

Yahoo shares rose 2 percent to $28.62 in early trading on the Nasdaq, indicating that investors still expect Microsoft to sweeten its offer. Microsoft gained 2.6 percent to $28.31.

Peter Hafer also has a new lawyer. Mark Bubenzer said his client is sorry and didn't mean to disrespect the court.

But Scott County Circuit Judge Rob Johnson reprimanded Hafer as he sentenced him for contempt of court Monday. The judge said courts would be in chaos if every defendant behaved that way.

Attorney Doug Crickmer got two black eyes when Hafer hit him Feb. 4. Crickmer said he thought his client was just frustrated about being in jail.

The 30-year-old Hafer was initially in court for a burglary charge. That case is still pending.

On a cold January day, in a tower high above Chicago's downtown Loop, nearly two dozen partners on a national law firm's executive committee gathered to talk about opening a new office.

The attorneys had spent months studying the new city, clients there and firms that served them, managing partner Thomas Fitzgerald recalled.

Finally, it was official: Winston & Strawn, the Chicago powerhouse with 11 offices and more than 900 attorneys worldwide, was headed to Charlotte.

The executive committee announced the decision a few days before the 19-lawyer office opened Jan. 14 in the Bank of America Corporate Center uptown, saying the move would better serve the firm's clients, particularly Charlotte's big banks, Fitzgerald said.

The scenario is playing out more often than ever, with a string of national firms expanding into Charlotte for its banks and businesses and the promise of closer, better relationships with them.

The surge means Charlotte has the power to attract top legal minds. But it also has a downside: Some worry that the influx is smothering local firms and raising questions about how long the city's big corporate clients, faced with a slowing economy, can feed the rush.

Local firms are responding to the changing legal landscape by boosting big salaries even higher, and the city's legal community is abuzz with talk of possible mergers.

In the last year or so, at least five national firms have opened offices in Charlotte.

Now, 15 of the nation's 100 largest law firms, by number of employees, have offices here, compared with three in 1990.

"I'm not aware of any other city that is currently experiencing this much attention," said James Bryant, managing partner at New York firm Dewey & LeBoeuf's Charlotte office, which opened last year. "Charlotte, as a financial center, is gaining respect."

Charlotte has been on the national radar since the mid-1980s, when Winston-Salem's Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice and Petree Stockton, which would become Kilpatrick Stockton, opened here.

As Bank of America and Wachovia helped turn the city into the country's second-largest financial center, and businesses such as Duke Energy leaped onto the national scene, others followed.

A Wachovia spokeswoman declined to comment for this story, and Bank of America officials did not return phone calls.

The latest law firms to enter the market are national players with top-notch attorneys who advise clients on areas such as corporate finance and real estate.

While the attention has helped Charlotte recruit top associates, the national firms are also putting pressure on local law firms, luring away their business and employees.

In some cases, national firms have merged with local or regional firms -- which can help the larger firms establish a local presence and the smaller firms stay afloat.

The latest rumors of a merger involve Charlotte firm Helms Mulliss Wicker and Richmond, Va., firm McGuireWoods, which came to Charlotte in 1998. Neither firm immediately returned calls late Tuesday.

"I think, in five years, there probably won't be more than one or two significant local firms left," said Tom Cottingham, managing partner of Richmond firm Hunton & Williams' Charlotte office. "The best work and the best lawyers are moving to the national firms."

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Tuesday added his voice to regional condemnation of Colombia's military strike on rebels inside Ecuador, and called on the two countries to resolve the problem peacefully.

"We coincide in the rejection of any action that constitutes a violation of territorial sovereignty," Calderon said after a meeting with Salvadoran President Tony Saca in which the two leaders discussed the crisis.

Colombia bombed neighboring Ecuador's territory on Saturday to kill a senior leftist FARC guerrilla, leading Ecuador's ally Venezuela to warn that war could break out in the region. Both Ecuador and Venezuela have mobilized troops.

Mexico's criticism of Colombia came after Brazil condemned the bomb attack on Monday and called on Bogota to offer an explicit apology.

Nicaragua has also condemned Colombia's killing of the rebel commander, and former Cuban President Fidel Castro called the incident a "monstrous crime."

Calderon said Mexico would try to help Colombia and Ecuador resolve the crisis.

"We will spare no effort so that the Colombian and Ecuadorean governments normalize relations as soon as possible through dialogue and diplomatic channels," Calderon said.

Calderon may meet with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe at a regional summit being held in the Dominican Republic on Thursday and Friday, Mexican state news agency Notimex reported.

Dominican government sources have said both Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa might attend the summit.