CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune Jesse Rivera works with the Valley Center Fire Protection District, which opted out of the consolidation plan.

San Diego County officials have purchased new fire engines and added firefighting aircraft since the 2007 wildfires, and they are expected to sew up a historic merger today and forge ahead with broader plans Friday. But the moves do little to eliminate the duplication of fire services – which cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year – across the region.

WASHINGTON – With sinking home values continuing to drag down the economy, Congress is poised to approve a huge package of housing legislation, including a refinancing program aimed at rescuing hundreds of thousands of homeowners in danger of foreclosure and the most sweeping government overhaul of mortgage financing since the New Deal.

WASHINGTON – Justice Department officials illegally used “political or ideological” factors in elite recruiting programs in recent years, tapping law-school graduates with Federalist Society membership or other conservative credentials over more qualified candidates with liberal-sounding résumés, an internal report found yesterday.

WELLINGTON, Fla. – In one of the largest conservation deals in U.S. history, the nation's largest producer of cane sugar reached a tentative agreement yesterday to get out of the business and sell its nearly 300 square miles in the Everglades to the state of Florida for $1.75 billion.

San Diego County's high-tech employees earned twice as much as the average private-sector worker in 2006, which ranks the region among the most lopsided nationwide for salaries in tech versus other jobs.