Town of Watonga officials are “chomping at the bit” to learn whether nearby Diamondback Correctional Center will be open for business once again.

The privately owned facility is one of three prisons — two in Oklahoma and one in Texas — under consideration for a federal contract to house “3,000 federal, low-security, adult male, criminal aliens,” according to the abstract of the project — named Short Term Sentences Acquisition — filed as part of the environmental assessment provided to the community in February.

“It’ll mean a big boost to our economy,” Watonga Mayor Dale Green said about the possibility of the prison opening again. Green said federal jobs could mean higher wages and an increase in capacity at the prison might mean more jobs...

AMERICA HAS 5% OF THE PLANET'S POPULATION, but 25% of its prisoners. This should be good news for the private prisons that absorb the spillover from our congested federal and state penitentiaries, but, alas, the recession has ruffled the economics even of law and order. Cash-strapped states seeking to cut the cost of housing inmates are mulling drastic measures, ranging from quicker paroles to earlier releases. Not only have the headlines alarmed some citizens, they have frightened investors as well.

As a result, private-prison stocks are selling at unusual - and untenable - discounts. The three biggest companies are Corrections Corp. of America (ticker: CXW), which controls 39% of private-prison beds, Geo Group (GEO), which runs 25%, and Cornell (CRN), with 10%. While their stocks have rebounded this year, they still trade at 12 to 18 times what each is expected to earn in 2010 - compared with multiples pushing 30 before the budget crisis…

Much like a leash, a prison number tattooed on Samuel Adams' neck has stifled his chances for meaningful employment.

Adams on Friday stood in front of a Stater Bros. market asking for donations for a homeless shelter where he was staying.

"This is my only option," he said.

As the state's unemployment rate steadily inches toward 12 percent, some 27,000 prisoners could be released early - competing for jobs and affordable housing with everybody else trying to stay afloat…

Against the backdrop of a faltering economy and a budget still in crisis, the Schwarzenegger administration continues to negotiate contracts with nearly nine public employee unions.

The biggest union—the Service Employees International Union Local 1000, representing about half of the state's 190,000 unionized workers—started negotiating their deal last year, when the economy was bad, but not as bad as now. SEIU 1000 won numerous concessions around worker furloughs and other issues.

Now some unions are rumored to want a deal that's as good, while others say the SEIU 1000 deal wasn't good enough. Meanwhile, the bill needed to ratify that contract, AB 964, is widely rumored to not have the Republican votes needed to get to the governor's desk…

Licenses for same-sex marriages were supposed to be issued in Iowa starting this Friday. But because of a crimped state budget, court employees will be on mandatory furlough that day and the courts will be closed. Gay couples cannot start filing for their licenses until Monday.

As they try to cope with gaping budget deficits, at least 15 states from every region — like Alabama and Georgia in the South; Arizona, California and Washington in the West; and Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York in the Northeast — are in various stages of considering or carrying out furloughs.

"This may very well be the most widespread use, or consideration of use, at least since the emergence of the post-World War II economic boom," Robert Bruno, professor of labor relations at the University of Illinois, Chicago, said of furloughs…

Facing pressure to crack down on crime amid a record budget deficit, Oakland is joining other U.S. cities that are turning over more law-enforcement duties to private armed guards.

The City Council recently voted to hire International Services Inc., a private security agency, to patrol crime-plagued districts. While a few Oakland retail districts previously have pooled cash to pay for unarmed security services, using public funds to pay for private armed guards would mark a first for the city.

Oakland police officers block a downtown street in January amid protests over the bond set for a former transit officer charged with killing an unarmed man on a subway platform on New Year's Day…