Afternoon Updates

We will not get the rumored Blagojevich tapes today – but we have a defense motion asking that U.S. prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald be removed from the case; we will not get a Madoff bail decision today — though we do have word that investigators found $173 million in checks in his office; there’s been a strong earthquake in Costa Rica — no reports of major damage as yet; forty thousand people have left their homes in flood-ravaged Washington state; and there’s a possible deal on legislation that could mean the resetting the terms of home mortgages. Stay tuned…