AEP, based in Columbus, Ohio, maintains it never violated Clean Air Act rules to curb emissions, and had already spent or planned to pay $5.1 billion on scrubbers and other equipment to reduce its pollution.

Scott Cowger, spokesman for Maine's Department of Environmental Protection, said the settlement should have an impact beyond acid rain control. It will limit regional haze and ozone, and very possibly reduce mercury in the environment, he said.

Cowger acknowledged Maine was not in the suit, but not due to a lack of interest. Maine is involved in acid rain litigation against the EPA already, said Cowger, adding that the state must aim its resources where they are going to have the greatest effect.

Matthew Davis of Environment Maine said he hopes the settlement sends a message that power plant operators no longer can disobey the Clean Air Act and get away with it.

In Vermont, Attorney General William Sorrell said the new pollution control devices will reduce a lot of particulate matter that causes pollution, helping people with asthma and other conditions.

"This is a major victory for the environment in the northeastern part of the U.S.," said Sorrell. "Acid rain is a huge problem in the Adirondacks, the Green Mountains and the White Mountains."

New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte and Environmental Services Commissioner Thomas Burack said the settlement will open the door to the largest emissions reductions ever.

"This settlement represents a huge step toward reducing the impact that Midwestern coal-fired power plants have on New Hampshire's air quality," Ayotte said.

The case against AEP began in 1999 when New Hampshire, Vermont and six other states, as well as 13 environmental groups joined the Environmental Protection Agency's crackdown on energy companies accused of rebuilding coal-fired power plants without installing pollution controls as required.

Thompson, who did not participate in two debates held since he formally entered the race last month, said the U.S. economy was not headed for a recession and warned against strict trade restrictions on China during the debate with his eight Republican rivals.

But he was a bystander in an early confrontation between Giuliani, former mayor of New York, and Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who continued their running campaign-trail battle over tax and spending policies while in office.

Giuliani, who leads Republicans in national opinion polls in the November 2008 presidential race, said he brought taxes down 17 percent in New York while Romney let them increase by 11 percent in Massachusetts.

"The point is, you've got to control taxes. But I did it. He didn't," Giuliani said.

Romney shot back: "It's baloney. Mayor, you've got to check your facts. I did not increase taxes in Massachusetts. I lowered taxes."

Thompson and the other Republicans criticized the explosion of federal spending in recent years and said rising budgets and deficits under President George W. Bush had to be tamed. Arizona Sen. John McCain pointed to his own Republican Party as the culprit.

A prominent Texas Republican has sued Rudy Giuliani’s law firm and a close friend and partner of Giuliani’s, Kenneth Caruso, alleging that Caruso, the firm and others "schemed and conspired to steal $10 million."

J. Virgil Waggoner, a Houston businessman and philanthropist, filed the in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan in July. He alleges that Caruso, his former lawyer, conspired with Waggoner’s investment adviser to cover up the disappearance of $10 million Waggoner invested through a Caribbean bank, the British Trade & Commerce Bank.

Waggoner claims Caruso "may have also been romantically involved"with the investment adviser.

The Caribbean bank was shut down after its handling of Waggoner’s investment came to light, and its president was later jailed for money laundering.

Caruso, Bracewell & Giuliani, and Caruso’s two former firms — all named as defendants — have filed motions to dismiss the complaint on largely procedural grounds, and Caruso’s personal defense lawyer, Fred Warder, called it "meritless."

"It’s a pretty familiar tale of a deal gone bad and the principal trying to scapegoat his lawyers,"Warder said. "We expect it will go away on motions."

The Waggoner lawsuit is the latest messy allegation to hit Giuliani’s private businesses, which include the law firm and his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, located five blocks from each other in Midtown Manhattan.

His former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, left the consulting firm after his nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security collapsed amid questions about his personal ethics. Kerik was convicted and fined in 2006 for illegally accepting gifts and failing to report a personal loan while running the police department.

Giuliani and his firm have also faced protests for employing a Giuliani childhood friend and Catholic priest, Alan Placa, who was barred from priestly duties after being accused of molesting boys more than two decades ago. Placa has insisted the charges are false, and Giuliani has stoutly defended him.

Caruso, who joined Bracewell & Giuliani in 2005, was, like many of the former New York mayor’s tight inner circle, an assistant U.S. attorney when Giuliani was U.S. attorney for the Southern District in the Reagan administration.

Later, he worked on Giuliani’s mayoral campaigns. In Giuliani’s book, "Leadership," he describes Caruso as "a close friend"whose advice he sought when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000.

"Reid produced sufficient evidence that Google's (stated) reasons for terminating him were untrue or pretextual, and that Google acted with discriminatory motive such that a fact-finder would conclude Google engaged in age discrimination," Presiding Justice Conrad L. Rushing wrote.

The Mountain View-based search engine company has denied Reid's allegations but also refused to say why he was fired. In court documents, the company said Reid was fired when the program he managed was canceled.

Reid, a former associate electrical engineering professor at Stanford University, sued Google in July 2004, five months after he lost his job as its director of operations.

He alleged in his suit that his supervisors did not initially tell him why he was being fired. Director of Engineering Wayne Rosing, 55, eventually said he was not a good "cultural fit" at Google, where some colleagues referred to him as an "old guy" and "fuddy-duddy," Reid said.

Another supervisor, Urs Hoelzle allegedly said Reid, who is a diabetic, was too sluggish and "too old to matter" and his ideas were obsolete.

Reid is seeking back pay and punitive damages. He made $200,000 a year and lost stock options valued at millions of dollars when he lost his job.