Public confidence in government is at one of the lowest points in a half century, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center. Nearly 8 in 10 Americans say they don't trust the federal government and have little faith it can solve America's ills, the survey found.

The survey illustrates the ominous situation President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party face as they struggle to maintain their comfortable congressional majorities in this fall's elections. Midterm prospects are typically tough for the party in power. Add a toxic environment like this and lots of incumbent Democrats could be out of work.

The survey found that just 22 percent of those questioned say they can trust Washington almost always or most of the time and just 19 percent say they are basically content with it. Nearly half say the government negatively affects their daily lives, a sentiment that's grown over the past dozen years.

This anti-government feeling has driven the tea party movement, reflected in fierce protests this past week.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein commented Thursday after hearing lawyers argue whether a settlement related to claims of property damages resulting from the terrorist attacks should be public.

A settlement of most of the property claims has been kept secret while Hellerstein decides what should be put on the public record.

Lawyers for insurance companies that have settled have argued for secrecy, saying it was a private deal involving sophisticated commercial plaintiffs.

A lawyer for developer Larry Silverstein, who has not settled property claims, has argued that the settlement be made public.

A former New Jersey lawmaker who championed legislation fighting child pornography pleaded guilty Monday to distributing nude images of underage girls.

Neil Cohen, 59, acknowledged viewing and printing images meant for sexual gratification from a computer in his former legislative office. He left at least one image at a receptionist's desk, leading to the investigation and charges.

Cohen pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child by distributing child pornography and could be sent to state prison for five years when he is sentenced on July 12.

Under terms of a plea agreement, Cohen will have to register as a sex offender under Megan's law and be subject to lifetime supervision by the Parole Board when he is released from prison. He agreed never to seek public office again and to pay at least $1,800 in fines. His use of social networking Web sites also will be restricted.

Cohen, an attorney who now lives in Paramus, likely will be disbarred.

Cohen and his lawyers left court without commenting. Prosecutors also declined to comment.

Looking gaunt and sporting a full beard, Cohen answered the judge's questions succinctly in a low, barely audible voice.

Oklahoma City Council members hired a private law firm Tuesday to lead upcoming contract negotiations with the city’s police and firefighter unions.

The firm, McAfee and Taft, was hired in part because negotiations with the unions have gone poorly in recent years.

"It’s just broken,” Ward 4 Councilman Pete White said of recent negotiations with the public safety unions.

Two of the firm’s labor attorneys will be paid $225 an hour each to lead negotiations with the unions for the next fiscal year, according to a contract council members unanimously approved Tuesday.

City officials hope the arrangement helps improve a damaged relationship with the public safety unions.

"It’s just to put a new face on it,” White said. "The people that do the hardest jobs we have in this city are the police department and fire. For the relationship to be this acrimonious ... is not acceptable.”

City attorneys handled past negotiations and will assist with the upcoming negotiations.

A federal judge who rejected the government's first bid to settle civil charges against Bank of America Corp. showed little enthusiasm Monday for a new proposed settlement.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff sharply questioned the merits of the latest proposal, which calls for the company to pay $150 million to resolve allegations that it lied to shareholders at the height of the financial crisis about its pending acquisition of brokerage Merrill Lynch.

Last fall, Rakoff threw out an initial, $33-million settlement between the company and the Securities and Exchange Commission, calling it a "contrivance designed to provide the SEC with the facade of enforcement."

At a hearing Monday on whether he should approve the new proposed deal, Rakoff asked whether the SEC had been forceful enough in the case. He noted the latest proposal, like the first one, would not punish individual Bank of America executives.

The judge referred repeatedly to a lawsuit filed last week in state court by New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo that deals with much of the same conduct.

Cuomo's case goes further than the SEC's in seeking to punish Bank of America's former chief executive, Ken Lewis, along with another executive as well as the bank itself. Although Rakoff poked fun at the angry rhetoric in Cuomo's complaint, the judge said it put forth "a great many allegations that seem far more suggestive of potential fraud than anything presented by the SEC."

"Weren't you operating from the same evidence?" Rakoff asked the SEC's lawyer.

The SEC initially accused Bank of America of lying to shareholders about its plan to pay billions of dollars in bonuses to Merrill Lynch employees after its acquisition of the brokerage was completed. More recently, the SEC also alleged that the Charlotte, N.C., banking giant did not disclose the size of Merrill's losses before a shareholder vote on the acquisition.

Cuomo last week said that his new case was working in concert with the SEC, which announced its settlement minutes before Cuomo announced his lawsuit. But rifts between Cuomo and the SEC were clear Monday, particularly regarding Cuomo's allegation that Bank of America fired a lawyer because he questioned the withholding of information from shareholders.

The New Mexico Supreme Court has unanimously ordered arrest records expunged for 32 people who were jailed overnight because a state judge said they were screaming during a hearing for a convicted rapist.

Chief Justice Edward Chavez said Tuesday that the court will publish a formal opinion on the case of state District Judge Sam Sanchez, stressing that judges should know it's important to distinguish between crowd control and contempt proceedings.

Sanchez, a judge of 11 years, had ordered the Nov. 19 mass jailing after he said the court gallery became unruly when he refused to reconsider a convicted rapist's 12-year prison sentence. The spectators were in support of a reduced sentence.

Those found in contempt of court spent a night behind bars before the state Supreme Court granted an emergency writ to release them pending a Nov. 23 hearing. Sanchez dismissed the charges at that hearing.

Sanchez apologized to the justices but said he had to control people in the gallery that he claimed were "yelling and screaming" at him and the rape victim.