Corzine to name Menendez to Senate

WASHINGTON — New Jersey Gov.-elect Jon Corzine will name Democratic Rep. Robert Menendez to fill the remaining year of his Senate term, Democratic congressional aides said Wednesday.

The announcement was expected as early as today, according to those close to Corzine, a Democrat elected governor last month. The aides requested anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made.

Menendez would be the first minority member to represent New Jersey in the Senate, and would be the third sitting Hispanic senator.

Asked about his prospects Wednesday, Menendez said it was up to Corzine, adding, "I stand ready to serve."

Corzine's term expires in 2006. State law gives the governor the authority to fill Senate and House vacancies.

California gets new congressman

A GOP state lawmaker from Southern California was sworn in to Congress on Wednesday, a day after surviving a special election challenge from a third-party anti-immigration activist.

Former state Sen. John Campbell fills the vacancy in Orange County's 48th Congressional District created when longtime Republican Rep. Christopher Cox resigned in August to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Campbell, 50, emerged from a five-person field in Tuesday's runoff election with 45 percent of the vote.

House OKs extending terrorism insurance

The government would continue to guarantee insurance coverage for catastrophic losses from terrorist attacks, but private companies would have to pick up more of the initial tab, under legislation passed Wednesday by the House.

The measure, approved on a 371-49 vote, would extend for two years the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which Congress passed in 2002 to help revive the economy after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Senate passed a similar bill last month. The two chambers must now work out differences.

New grand jury considers CIA leak

The CIA leak investigation returned to a more active stage Wednesday as a special prosecutor presented information to a grand jury for the first time in six weeks.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's decision to enlist a new grand jury comes as he continues to investigate possible criminal charges against senior White House adviser Karl Rove.

Rove faces possible legal consequences for not telling investigators he had provided information about CIA agent Valerie Plame to Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper in 2003.

Wednesday was the first time a grand jury has met to consider the case since Oct. 28, when a previous grand jury indicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, who resigned.

Fitzgerald declined to comment.

Compiled from The Associated Press and The Washington Post