Free Republic

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration this week abruptly canceled a no-bid contract it was set to award to a private prison company that employs two former high-ranking state corrections officials. After pursuing a deal with the company for several months, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections said the department decided Wednesday that it was no longer interested in finalizing a $5.7 million contract that would have reopened the Mesa Verde Community Corrections Facility in Bakersfield. The contract would have been with a Massachusetts-based company called CiviGenics, which recently hired two retired Department of Corrections officials. The company...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With just hours left in the countdown, NASA (news - web sites) called off the launch Wednesday of a spacecraft that will hunt for emerging black holes. The launch was postponed for at least a day because of trouble with an electronic box aboard the unmanned Delta rocket, part of the safety system for destroying the vehicle if it flies off course. Once in orbit, NASA's Swift spacecraft will swivel quickly to detect gamma ray bursts in the universe, which scientists believe represent the creation of black holes. Black holes are believed to be the invisible...