Free Republic

Citizens Bank said it will exit lending agreements with two private prison operators after receiving intense public scrutiny over those relationships. The financial group announced in a statement Friday that it would stop extending credit to GEO Group and CoreCivic. The companies, which collectively run about 130 facilities in the United States, contract with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to provide detention centers. Numerous progressive groups have protested Citizens Bank's business dealings with GEO Group and CoreCivic in recent months, calling on the company to sever ties through pickets outside bank branches and even a flyover banner across the...

Tanks sent to deice storm-affected highways (Xinhua) Updated: 2008-02-03 19:30 CHAOHU, Anhui -- The Chinese army has sent out tanks to clean the icy expressways in eastern Anhui Province. Tanks roll on the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway to deice the snow- and ice-covered road surface as soldiers shovel snow in Chenzhou, Central China's Hunan Province, February 3, 2008. [Xinhua] Two tanks have finished their work Sunday, deicing 110-km surface of two expressways in the province, said military sources here Sunday. Traffic on the Hefei-Anqing and Hefei-Wuhu expressways had suffered heavy snow in the past week with thousands of vehicles stranded. The tanks...