Thomas Heath and David Cho of the Washington Post report moves by large investment companies to take over construction and management of major highways, with the potential for profit margins in the 12-15% range.  The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C.-based investment firm, says it "can run most airports, highways and water systems better than the public authorities now doing the job."  Read Heath and Cho here.

Felicity Barringer of the New York Times reports on a California lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s rejection of a waiver allowing the nation’s most populous state to set its own auto mileage standards.  The EPA decision, called "unconscionable" by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has temporarily halted efforts by California and 16 other states to reduce CO2 emissions by three times more than the new federal standards passed by Congress would.  Read Felicity Barringer here.

Michael Isikoff of Newsweek interviews the former head of the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), J. William Leonard, who tells how the Office of the Vice President and its legal counsel, David Addington, abruptly stopped turning over relevant administration documents to the National Archives, and then attempted simply to abolish the ISOO. (more…)