The new economy kept Congress busy this year. It held more than two dozen Web-related hearings and passed bills increasing the number of foreign high-tech workers allowed to immigrate to the United States and giving electronic contracts the same legal footing as those written in pen and ink. But when the new Congress begins work as early as next month, lobbyists will be stalking the halls on a variety of Internet-related matters, including three key issues: online privacy, Internet taxation and copyright reform.

THE REGION Track Fire Disrupts Section of Blue Line Rush-hour service on Metro's Blue Line was slowed yesterday morning when a piece of construction material caught fire on the third rail between the Capitol Heights and Addison Road stations.

In an election year that has already smashed political spending records yet again, the top industry fueling the campaigns may come as a surprise. No, it isn 't the pharmaceutical industry, or health care, or tobacco or computers. It isn 't insurers, or real estate or Wall Street securities firms. The most politically generous industry is the legal profession. And the biggest donors in the most generous industry are right here in Washington. Would it surprise you to learn that the biggest lot of them work on K Street?

The federal judge who ordered Microsoft Corp. split in two said yesterday that "virtually everything" he did in the antitrust case may be vulnerable on appeal, and he blamed the software giant's "intransigence" for his breakup decision. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, in a candid and self-effacing luncheon speech to an antitrust seminar, also said "public misperceptions" fueled by "public-relations campaigns" spurred him to speak out to the media and the public on the historic case and assure observers that he does not want to regulate the software industry.

It was about two weeks ago when Blanca Lopez offered the two cleaning workers in her office building a little cash for trash, according to the cleaning company. Lou DeLeon, general manager of P&R Enterprises, gave this account: Lopez offered about $ 50 each for the paper coming out the door at the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT). Just bring it over to the offices of Upstream Technologies, on the same floor, she said. When they declined, she sweetened her offer to $ 500 apiece--with an extra $ 200 for the supervisor. They refused again.