The Labor Department announced a $15 million grant on Wednesday aimed at helping more than 3,200 contractors who will lose their jobs when NASA's space shuttle program ends later this year.

The grant awarded to the Brevard Workforce Development Board will be used for career guidance, job training and continuing education for employees of aerospace contractors working on the shuttle program. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis announced the grant during a visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Fla., on Wednesday.

"Today, these hard-working Americans need and deserve our support, and I am pleased that this grant will allow them to upgrade their skills further and gain access to work opportunities in high demand industries," Solis said.

Up to 20,000 workers may be laid off as a result of the closing of the shuttle program, which has drawn fierce opposition from lawmakers representing states where NASA has a large footprint. Up to 7,000 of the layoffs are expected in Brevard County, where Kennedy Space Center is located.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a new project Wednesday to open health data up to software developers and others interested in leveraging for public use.

Through the Community Health Data Initiative, HHS will release greater amounts of public health data in more usable formats in hopes of spurring developers to create new applications that will make the information more useful for individuals and communities.

That includes a host of data on public health and health performance broken down by a number of factors including geographic location and individuals' socio-economic status. It also includes never-before-published information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on utilization and cost.

Though Steve Jobs touts the "magic" of the iPad, one use of the  device seems lifted from fiction — more specifically from an episode of Flipper. Among the many functions of Apple’s beloved tablet, it might help humans talk to dolphins.  
 
A dolphin research scientist in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico, is using an iPad to communicate with Merlin, a two-year old bottlenose dolphin. Jack Kassewitz and the members of his research project, SpeakDolphin, said if dolphins can be taught to make choices among options on a touch screen, the device will help bridge the gap between human and dolphin communication.

"Merlin showed complete willingness to examine the iPad," Kassewitz said.

From my colleague Jordan Fabian: President George W. Bush just launched his own official Facebook page. The content is actually pretty standard: the profile gives his current location (Dallas, Texas), birthday (July 6, 1946) alma maters (Yale '68, Harvard Business School '75), and work history (Former Governor of Texas, 43rd President of the United States).

The former president has also listed the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund as a "cause" and become a fan of his wife Laura. Fans can visit his website, check out a picture of the former first couple with their two Scotties or book an appearance via Washington Speakers Bureau. As of this posting, Bush had 879 fans.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs told an audience that his company is "all over" the recent spate of suicides at a Taiwanese manufacturer of iPhones on Sunday, the same day Apple announced it would hike wages by 33 percent.

Apple has taken heat over working conditions at Foxconn's factory in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where authorities say ten workers have killed themselves this year. Foxconn is the world's largest manufacturer of electronics on contract, a task it performs for Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Apple, among others.

“It’s very troubling,” Jobs said at a technology conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. He also denied that Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Group, is a sweatshop.

Foxconn chairman Terry Gou visited the Shenzhen factory recently and promised to do everything possible to halt the spate of suicides. The basic salary for an assembly-line worker is expected to jump from 900 to 1,200 renminbi, or yuan, per month.

The consumer-oriented advocacy group Public Knowledge has brought on Ernesto Falcon to serve as director of government affairs. PK focuses on communications issues.

Falcon arrives from the office of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), where he was a legislative assistant covering matters before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He served that role for three years. Before that, he worked for Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) as a legislative assistant. Falcon started out as an intern in the office of Rep. George Miller (D-Calif).

Good morning, techies! Here’s what the tech policy convo is orbiting around as you climb out of bed. E-mail who and what you’re following most to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

WHO, WHERE

With Congress out of town, D.C.’s tech community is watching the west coast this week, with an eye on the eighth All Things D conference outside Los Angeles. (Here are photos of its AOL-hosted nightcap gathering Tuesday if you want to try to feel like you were there.) 

STEVE JOBS dominated this morning’s tech headlines for his interview at the conference, where he vowed not to challenge Google in search and reinforced his less-than-affectionate posture toward Adobe, reports the Wall Street Journal, which posted video of the interview here. "Sometimes you have to pick the things that look like the right horses to ride going forward," said the Apple CEO of his policy against allowing Adobe products on his platforms. Meanwhile, Jobs did not go to bat for iPhone carrier AT&T, saying “there might be” advantages if the iPhone were served by other companies, according to CNET.

JULIUS GENACHOWSKI, the FCC chairman, will appear at the same conference today. He’s sure to hear questions about his plan to change the regulatory classification of broadband, which he will initiate in 15 days.

The website that tracks stimulus spending is looking for a mascot and the Recovery Board wants the public's input.

The folks behind Recovery.gov posted a message on Facebook in May soliciting submissions for a mascot "that truly embodies our mission and overall purpose." They are looking for submissions that show "creativity and ingenuity," so if you're interested send images or written descriptions to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by July 1st.

In case you're wondering, the Recovery Board is hardly the first agency to establish a mascot. It's just one more thing that sports teams and federal agencies have in common.

(h/t: Tom Shoop at FedBlog)

President Ronald Reagan's decision to open the Global Positioning System up to public use was an early example of open government, according to Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media.

Speaking at the Government 2.0 Expo in Washington last week, O'Reilly noted how the 1983 decision by Reagan to open GPS up to citizens ultimately made possible location-based social networks like Foursquare.

President Barack Obama has emphasized increasing government transparency and making data available to citizens since his days in the Senate. The White House has launched an online clearinghouse for federal data — Data.gov — though critics have knocked the formatting and relevance of the available data.

O'Reilly defined Government 2.0 as "making use of web 2.0 technologies to transform government" to be more transparent and efficient. He said those Web technologies include social media networks and cloud computing, which lets users access services, applications and storage hosted on remote servers from any Web-enabled device.