Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/239554
Friday, January 10, 2014 – Daily News 5A WORLD BRIEFING lines. He added that Indiana voters ''didn't send me here to be told just to sit down and forget it.'' At issue was a struggle over the possible resurrection of a program that expired on Dec. 28, immediately cutting off benefits of roughly $256 weekly for more than 1.3 million hurt by the recession. Drug probe of nuclear officers tempers Hagel's effort F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. (AP) — Hoping to boost sagging morale, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made a rare visit Thursday to an Air Force nuclear missile base and the men and women who operate and safeguard the nation's Minuteman 3 missiles. But his attempt to cheer the troops was tempered by news that launch officers at another base had been implicated in an illegal-narcotics investigation. Two officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana are being investigated for allegations of drug possession, said a service spokesman in Washington, Lt. Col. Brett Ashworth. Both of those being investigated are ICBM launch officers with responsibility for operating intercontinental ballistic missiles. The launch officers' access to classified information has been suspended, and they have been prohibited from serving on missile launch control duty while the Air Force is investigating, another defense official said. That official provided no further details and spoke only on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly by name. At the Wyoming nuclear missile base, meanwhile, Hagel addressed officers and airmen after a series of security lapses and discipline problems that were revealed in Associated Press news stories in 2013. Officials have said the service members are increasingly tired of working in what can seem like oblivion. They win no battles, earn no combat pay and only rarely are given public credit of any kind. ''You are doing something of great importance to the world,'' Hagel told the group. Lest they sometimes doubt that importance, he said, ''You have chosen a profession where there is no room for error — none.'' Christie's image may be undermined by bridge scandal WASHINGTON (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has become a Republican star by casting himself as a brash, straight-talking politician who transcends partisan politics to work for regular people. But the escalating traffic jam controversy that has ensnared his administration could The Over 25 years of experience STOVE JUNCTION The North State's premier supplier of stoves Now Carrying! Green Mountain Grills & Accessories Serving Butte, Glenn & Tehama Counties Tues-Sat 9am-5pm • Closed Sun & Mon 22825 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff 530-528-2221 • Fax 530-528-2229 www.thestovejunction.com Need a Physician? Doctors who listen ... Doctors who care. A FREE SERVICE PROVIDED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE Call toll free 888.628.1948 www.redbluff.mercy.org damage the governor's national reputation and allow opponents to portray him as a ruthless bully. ''I am who I am. I am not a bully,'' Christie declared during a lengthy news conference Thursday in which he apologized for the closing of highway lanes leading up to the George Washington Bridge last fall, a move apparently orchestrated by his underlings as political retribution. The governor fired a top aide, jettisoned his chief political adviser and took responsibility for his administration's connections to the traffic tie-ups in September. Christie adamantly denied any personal ''knowledge or involvement'' in the lane closures, a passionate pronouncement that satisfied some critics in the short term but creates political risk amid an ongoing investigation. Democrats and Republicans said the governor's 2016 presidential prospects could be severely undermined, if not crippled, should new evidence emerge that contradicts Thursday's denials. ''Unless something new develops, I think he'll survive,'' said former New Jersey Gov. Tom Keane, a Republican whom Christie has described as a mentor. ''But if there's a pattern of these things, if other incidents emerge with similar characteristics, that's going to be a real problem.'' Lawmakers say Obama still weighing NSA phone collection WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is still grappling with key decisions on the future of the National Security Agency's phone collection program and the makeup of the secret court that approved the surveillance, congressional lawmakers said Thursday following a 90minute meeting at the White House. Obama is expected to back tighter restrictions on foreign leader spying and also is considering a presidential commission's recommendation to strip the NSA of its ability to store telephone records from millions of Americans. The president could announce his final decisions as early as next week. ''The president and his administration are wrestling with the issues,'' Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and privacy advocate, said after the meeting. ''It's fair to say that the next few weeks are going to be crunch time in terms of judgments being made in both the administration and the Congress.'' Rep. Adam Schiff, DCalif., said the meeting focused in particular on the telephone data program and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. He said that while Obama didn't appear to have made a decision on either issue yet, he expects him to do so soon. The president met this week with his top intelligence advisers, many of whom oppose changes to the NSA programs, and a review group appointed by Congress that is working on a report focused on the surveillance systems. Privacy advocates were meeting with senior White House staff Thursday afternoon, and technology companies have been invited to a meeting on Friday. Iraqi government holding off on waging an offensive BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's government is holding off on waging an allout offensive to retake two key cities from alQaida because of fears that civilian casualties could incite Sunni anger and push moderate tribal leaders to side with the extremists, analysts and military officials said Thursday. More violence flared in Baghdad, where a suicide bomber killed 21 people at an army recruiting center in a clear effort to demoralize the military. Al-Qaida-linked fighters overran parts of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in Sunni-dominated Anbar province last week, seizing control of police stations and military posts, freeing prisoners and setting up their own checkpoints. The United States, whose troops fought bloody battles in the cities, has ruled out sending its troops back in, but has been delivering missiles to bolster Iraqi forces. It is expediting shipments of more American-made missiles and 10 surveillance drones, but those may not arrive for weeks. The U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 and withdrew in 2011. Both countries tried but failed to negotiate plans to keep at least several thousand U.S. forces in Iraq beyond the deadline to maintain security. Jobless benefit plan stalls in Senate WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation to resurrect long-term jobless legislation stalled in the Senate on Thursday, triggering angry recriminations from both sides of the political aisle despite earlier expressions of optimism that benefits might soon be restored for more than 1 million victims of the recession. Gridlock asserted itself after majority Democrats offered to pay for a 10month extension of a scaled-back program of benefits — then refused to permit Republicans even to seek any changes. Instead, Majority Leader Harry Reid, DNev., accused Republicans of ''continually denigrating our economy, our president and frankly, I believe, our country.'' Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana, one of a halfdozen Republicans who helped advance the bill over an initial hurdle earlier in the week, said he hadn't been consulted. Echoing complaints by other members of his party, he said that under Reid's leadership he has been relegated to the side- Many find their insurers have no record of them INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Record-keeping snags could complicate the start of insurance coverage this month as people begin using policies they purchased under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Insurance companies are still trying to sort out cases of so-called health insurance orphans, customers for whom the government has a record that they enrolled, but the insurer does not. Government officials say the problem is real but under control, with orphan records being among the roughly 13,000 problem cases they are trying to resolve with insurers. But insurance companies are worried the process will grow more cumbersome as they deal with the flood of new customers who signed up in December as enrollment deadlines neared. More than 1 million people have signed up through the federal insurance market that serves 36 states. Officials contend the error rate for new signups is close to zero. Insurers, however, are less enthusiastic about the pace of the fixes. The companies also are seeing cases in which the government has assigned the same identification number to more than one person, as well as so-called ''ghost'' files in which the insurer has an enrollment record but the government does not. Are we becoming weather wimps? WASHINGTON (AP) — We've become weather wimps. As the world warms, the United States is getting fewer bitter cold spells like the one that gripped much of the nation this week. So when a deep freeze strikes, sci- entists say, it seems more unprecedented than it really is. An Associated Press analysis of the daily national winter temperature shows that cold extremes have happened about once every four years since 1900. Until recently. When computer models estimated that the national average daily temperature for the Lower 48 states dropped to 17.9 degrees on Monday, it was the first deep freeze of that magnitude in 17 years, according to Greg Carbin, warning meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That stretch — from Jan. 13, 1997 to Monday — is by far the longest the U.S. has gone without the national average plunging below 18 degrees, according to a database of daytime winter temperatures starting in January 1900. Decision on peace talks brings Syrian opposition to brink of collapse BEIRUT (AP) — Two weeks ahead of an international peace conference on Syria, the country's main Western-backed opposition group stands on the brink of collapse, dragged down by outside pressures, infighting and deep disagreements over the basic question of whether to talk to President Bashar Assad. The crisis in the Syrian National Coalition raises further doubts about the so-called Geneva conference, which is set to open Jan. 22 in Montreux, Switzerland. The prospects for a successful outcome at the talks appear bleak at best: Assad has said he will not hand over power, and the opposition — if it decides to attend — is in no position to force concessions from him. The U.S. and Russia, which support opposing sides in the conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people, have been trying for months to bring the Syrian government and its opponents to the table for negotiations aimed at ending the war. But with the fighting deadlocked, neither the government nor the rebels showed any interest in compromise, forcing the meeting to be repeatedly postponed. Now that a date has been set and invitations sent, the decision on whether to attend is placing immense strain on the Coalition.