From this morning's Earlybird:

• "A coalition of 46 industry groups ranging from the American Farm Bureau Federation to the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America is weighing in with lawmakers to support a permanent extension of the estate tax at a reduced rate," CongressDaily AM (subscription) reports. "The tax expires at the end of this year and otherwise would be repealed next year -- but come back in 2011 at a higher rate -- unless Congress acts."

• "J Street, the year-old pro-Israel lobby that advocates for Palestinian statehood, will announce today that more than 160 Members of Congress, including 29 Senators, are serving on the honorary host committee for the group's first conference and gala dinner next month," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, will be the keynote speaker at the dinner."

• "With plenty of political good will in the bank, Ford got to work," today "spending it, pushing for legislation that would punish states for not penalizing drivers for text messaging while they're at the wheel," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Ford and its affiliates are the lone distributors of Sync, a Microsoft technology that converts a driver's voice into a text message."

• "A former U.S. Democratic Party fundraiser whose 2007 arrest prompted Hillary Clinton to return $850,000 in campaign contributions was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison on Tuesday," Reuters reports. "Hong Kong-born Norman Hsu, 58, was convicted in May by a jury in federal court in New York of violating election laws by making donations to political campaigns in other people's names. Hsu had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud and wire fraud in running a Ponzi scheme of up to $60 million."