Swamp Sunrise

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Thursday, January 4, as collected by the Associated Press.

The 110th Congress, with Democrats in control of both the House and Senate, will be sworn in today and Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, will become the first woman to serve as House speaker.

President Bush is meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

Jan. 3 - 5. PELOSI SWEARING IN WEEK — Schedule for House Speaker- designate Nancy Pelosi.
9 a.m. Bipartisan interfaith prayer service in honor of men and women in uniform. With joint House leadership and members of the House. St. Peter’s Catholic Church, 313 2nd St. SE.
12 p.m. Swearing in. House floor.
3 p.m. - 6 p.m. Ceremonial swearing in. Rayburn Room, Capitol.
6:30 p.m. Swearing in celebration concert. National Building Museum.

Jan. 3 - 6. LAW SCHOOLS-CONFERENCE — Immigration debate, surveillance and security issues are among topics at the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting.
10:30 a.m. Section on Legislation presents ``The Roberts Court and the Regulation of Politics,’’ examining two cases from the court’s October 2005 docket: the Vermont campaign finance case (Randall v. Sorrell) and the Texas re-redistricting case (Sessions v. Perry).
10:30 a.m. Forum on ``Prosecuting Leakers and Leakees: The End of National Security Muckracking?’’
12:30 p.m. Luncheon address by Kenneth R. Feinberg, appointed Special Master of the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
2:15 p.m. Forum on lawyers as public servants, featuring Charles Ogletree (Harvard); Kurt Schmoke (Howard); Kenneth Starr (Pepperdine); and William H. Webster (Former Director, FBI and CIA, Washington, D.C.).
4 p.m. Immigration Law forum on ``’Histories of Naturalization.’’
Location: Marriott Wardman Park

9 a.m. BLACK CAUCUS SWEARING-IN — Swearing-in ceremony for the new leadership team of the Congressional Black Caucus. Reps. Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-Mich., Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., Danny Davis, D-Ill., and Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, will participate.
Location: Library of Congress, Jefferson Bldg., Coolidge Auditorium, 1st and Independence SE

9:30 a.m. CHAMBER PRIORITIES — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce holds a briefing to discuss its 2007 policy priorities, with CEO Thomas Donohue.
Location: 1615 H St. NW.

9:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. FIRST AMENDMENT-UNIONS — There will be a discussion of two consolidated Supreme Court cases questioning whether the First Amendment protects political activity by unions paid for with non-member fees. Partcipants: Larry Gold, Associate General Counsel, AFL-CIO & of counsel, Lichtman, Trister & Ross, PLLC; and James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel, James Madison Center for Free Speech & Member, Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom Moderator, Amanda Frost, American University Washington College of Law.
Location: National Press Club, Lisagor Room.

10 a.m. NEWS COVERAGE INDEX — Briefing to launch Project for Excellence in Journalism’s weekly ``news coverage index.’’ Project is seen as the largest effort to date at real-time and ongoing content analysis of the news media.
Location: Pew Research conference room, 7th floor, 1615 L St. NW

12 p.m. ANTI-WAR, ANTI-TORTURE — The ``World Can’t Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime’’ group holds demonstration to mark the opening of Congress. Protesters wearing ``orange Guantanamo torture jumpsuits’’ will call on Congress to begin impeachment hearings.
Location: Upper Senate Park

12 p.m. ECONOMISTS-RATCHET MORTGAGE — Bert Ely, president of Ely and Company, discusses ``The Ratchet Mortgage and its Many Benefits’’ at National Economists Club meeting.
Location: Chinatown Garden Restaurant, 618 H St. NW.

12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. CRISIS IN SOMALIA — Somalia experts Professor David Shinn, Elizabeth Spiro Clark, Gayle Smith and Professor William Zartman speak at MEI forum on ``Repercussions from the Current Crisis in Somalia.’’
Location: SAIS at Johns Hopkins, Rome Bldg., 1619 Mass. Ave. NW.

3 p.m. TSUNAMI RELIEF — USAID administrator Randall Tobias and Eric Schwartz, special UN envoy for tsunami recovery, speak on ``Tsunami Relief and Recovery Efforts and What Remains to be Done.’’
Location: National Press Club, 14th and F Sts. NW

6 p.m. CONGRESSIONAL-HISPANICS — Ceremonial swearing in for the members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Location: Washington Court Hotel, 525 New Jersey Ave. NW

7 p.m. ANTI-WAR-SHEEHAN — The anti-war ``World Can’t Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime’’ group holds forum to call for impeachment hearings. Speakers include Cindy Sheehan and Michael Ratner.
Location: National Press Club, 14th and F Sts. NW

All times local in Washington.