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Federal lawmakers Thursday insisted that USDA food inspectors reveal the names of distributors, restaurants and school lunch programs that received 143 million pounds of beef recalled by a Chino meat-packing company.

In December, the California Reinvestment Coalition surveyed 38 California housing counseling agencies, which try to assist struggling homeowners. It found that foreclosure was the most common outcome, while loan modifications are still relatively rare. A previous survey in late summer found similar results.

The California State Senate voted to make it a crime to skim information stored on RFID tags. The Senate voted 36 to 3 to pass the bill, introduced by State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto). The bill, SB 31, goes to the California State Assembly.

The House broke for a week¿s recess Thursday without renewing terrorist surveillance authority demanded by President Bush, leading him to warn of risky intelligence gaps while Democrats accused him of reckless fear mongering.

Even though predatory lending was becoming a national problem, the Bush administration looked the other way and did nothing to protect American homeowners. In fact, the government chose instead to align itself with the banks that were victimizing consumers.