Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., entered the debate Thursday over lobbying overhaul and ethics by introducing a bill that would require increased lobbying disclosure, further tighten restrictions on lobbyist-financed member travel and place more limits on members and staff leaving government to lobby. "Recent campaign finance reforms are helping, but with reports of members of Congress taking corporate jets with lobbyists on board to fly to fundraisers and going on lobbyist-funded golf junkets, it is clear that more work needs to be done," Feingold said.

Washington lobbyists soon will receive official notice that they must start next year to file their disclosure reports electronically, rather than on paper, according to an official in the Office of the Clerk of the House. Deputy Clerk Jerry Vans told attendees at a Capitol Hill briefing for lobbyists that notices regarding electronic filing would go out by the end of the month to current filers under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. The move follows up on a June 27 directive from Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Administration Committee, calling for mandatory electronic filing.

A host of nonprofits have filed a friend of the court brief supporting legal service programs’ right to use private funds without government restrictions in a constitutional challenge currently under consideration in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The amicus brief argues that a requirement of separate facilities for separately funded activities is unduly burdensome and unnecessary.

Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told participants at the organization's annual convention, in Milwaukee, that national leaders are hindering efforts to battle racism, the Associated Press reports. In the last year, the Baltimore organization has been investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, which said officials from the group made political statements against the Bush administration that were partisan in nature, and therefore violated the organization's nonprofit status. The group has denied the charge.