VOICE OF THE REPUBLIC	STAR OF THE PLAINS         September 28, 2503       METROPOLITAN EDITION
EQUALS TO INVESTIGATE SECRET BIO/WARFARE TESTING
London, Federal District (EP) – In the wake of recent news disclosures of a secret biological warfare testing program that has used unwitting citizens as test subjects, Representative Chaz Durbin (PP, Freedland) has announced the Orion House of Equals will launch an investigation.  The alleged bio/warfare facility, located in a suburb of Houston in the Republic of Texas, was destroyed in an explosion on August 31.  Initial reports came from the tabloid press and slowed the acceptance of the story by creditable observers, but tri-dee footage of the facility has been authenticated and the story appears to have all the makings of a major scandal. With the election only five weeks away, and Progressive Party candidate, Bruce Hale trailing by 6 percentage points in the latest GNS (Galactic News Service) poll, Senator Hale appears poised to make the scandal the centerpiece of the remainder of the campaign.  The issue is apparently resonating with voters as the Libertarian candidate, President Lora Trigard’s lead has slipped from 10 points last week.  President Trigard appears to be facing a revolt of her base, as the	GNS poll indicates that the bulk of her loses come from the very idealistic rank and file Libertarians. DREAMING & PSIONICS? Capetown (EP) – Professor Erin Von Blindon of the University of Capetown has published a paper in the prestigious scientific journal “Science”, which indicates that at least 40% of all humans produce the K brain wave pattern indicative of Psionic activity during Rim sleep.  Dr. Von Blindon’s research showed extremely faint patterns in 97% of the individuals who tested positive.  In his conclusion Dr. Von Blindon speculated that it might be possible that most humans demonstrate K patterns, but that currently testing methods are inadequate to measure the extremely faint patterns. The discovery is significant as it points to the possiblity of Psionic ability in a large portion of the human population.  If this is indeed the case it might be possible to augment these “trace” abilities through the use of enhancement devices and pharmacuticals.  The implications for future human development could be immense.	UNLOCKING UNNIGHTS SECRETS Athena, Orwell Observatory (EP) – The scientific survey ship Darwin is scheduled for departure within the week to conduct a 3-month survey of the recently discovered Unnight system.  The system has created quite a stir in the scientific community due to the unusual binary relationship of the systems habitable planet with it’s moon.  The habitable planet is face-locked with it’s single moon and the two have a long (72 hour) rotational period around their barycenter.  Scientist have been unable to construct a model that can account for this phenomenon given the relatively small size and density of the planets moon.  The scientific team hopes to study this phenomenon as well as observe how the long day night cycle affects plant and animal life on the planet. A Concord observer will accompany the Darwin to assure that the Concord rules of interdiction are not violated.