Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/324960
ByBradleyKlapper The Associated Press WASHINGTON President Barack Obama's goal of clos- ing the Guantanamo Bay prison is facing re-energized opposition from Republicans and increased question- ing from fellow Democrats amid widespread anger in Congress over the swap of five Taliban detainees for the last American prisoner of war in Afghanistan. Obama appeared to ad- vance his effort last month whenaSenatepanelapproved greater authority for him to transfer suspected terrorists to the United States, on con- dition he presented a plan to close Guantanamo and Con- gress approved it. But the deal that freed Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl after five years of captivity has driven a new wedge between the president and lawmakers of both parties who accuse the Obama administration of breaking the law. Hoping to ease mounting criticism from Capitol Hill, officials from the State De- partment, Pentagon and in- telligence agencies planned a private briefing with sena- tors Wednesday evening. Director of National In- telligence James Clapper met with a few senators ear- lier Wednesday, a day after Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, and senior ad- viserJohnPodestastruggled to soothe tempers among Senate Democrats. Some senators received personal apologies for not being con- sulted before the exchange. Members of Congress say the prisoner trade almost surely will end with the Tal- iban commanders returning to the battlefield. Lawmak- ers also say Obama ignored the law and his administra- tion's own pledge to provide Congress with notification at least 30 days in advance. The White House insists it acted lawfully and said it had to move quickly to save Berg- dahl's life. Some lawmakers are now focusing on making it harder for the president to trans- fer prisoners from Guanta- namo. "This is one of the reasons why a number of us have been so strongly opposed to the release of individu- als there," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. Added Sen. Lindsey Gra- ham, R-S.C.: "There will be a real effort by the Congress to ensure that we don't close the jail until we find a ... game plan that would not result in the prisoners being released back on the battlefield." INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Hostage swap may make closing Gitmo harder BRIANSKOLOFF—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A sign celebrating the release from captivity of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl stands on a street in the soldier's hometown of Hailey, Idaho. By Brian Skoloff The Associated Press HAILEY, IDAHO The small Idaho hometown of released captive Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has canceled plans for a cel- ebration later this month, citing security concerns af- ter it was inundated with negative emails and angry phone calls. Organizers released a statement Wednesday say- ing that because of national media attention on Berg- dahl's story, they expect a significant increase in the number of people planning to attend the event — some to protest, and others to support the Bergdahl fam- ily. The organizers said that the town, with just 8,000 people, doesn't have the in- frastructure to support a big event. However, large events are not uncommon in the region. In nearby Ketchum, just 12 miles to the north, about 32,000 people attend the town's Wagon Days cel- ebration each year. Hailey Police Chief Jeff Gunter said the event has been misrepresented in the national media. "If you had 10,000 people, 5,000 on one side and 5,000 on the other, then just due to the national attention we don't know what to expect," Gunter said. Thetownhashadanevent called "Bring Bowe Back" for several years. That com- memoration of his capture was scheduled for June 28, but when news of Bergda- hl's release broke, organiz- ers quickly announced it would be a welcome home party instead. Bergdahl's hometown cancels celebration HOMECOMINGS By Ricardo Alonso- Zaldivar The Associated Press WASHINGTON A huge new paperwork headache for the government could also be jeopardizing coverage for some of the millions of peo- ple who just got health in- surance under President Barack Obama's law. A government document shows that at least 2 million people enrolled for taxpayer- subsidized private health in- surance have data discrep- ancies in their applications that, if unresolved, could af- fect what they pay for cover- age, or even their legal right to benefits. The final number affected could well be higher. Accord- ing to the administration the 2 million figure reflects only consumers who signed up through the federally ad- ministered HealthCare.gov website and call centers. The government signed up about 5.4 million people, while state-run websites signed up another 2.6 million. For consumers, a discrep- ancy means that the infor- mation they supplied, sub- ject to perjury laws, does not match what the government has on record. For example, someone who underestimated his in- come, and got too generous a subsidy as a result, could owe the Internal Revenue Service money next year. The seven-page slide pre- sentation from the Health and Human Services De- partment was provided to AP as several congressional committees investigate the discrepancies. Most of the data conflicts involve im- portant details on income, citizenship and immigration status — which affect eligi- bility and subsidies. Ensuring that health care benefits are delivered accu- rately is a priority for HHS nominee Sylvia Mathews Burwell, whose confirmation as department secretary is before the Senate this week. Responding to the doc- ument, administration offi- cials expressed confidence that most of the discrepan- cies can be resolved over the summer. Nonetheless, the department has set up a system to "turn off" benefits for anyone who is found to be ineligible. Julie Bataille, commu- nications coordinator for the health care rollout, said many of the discrepancies appear to be due to outdated information in government files — and the "vast major- ity" of cases are being re- solved in favor of consum- ers. The government is mak- ing an all-out effort to reach those with various discrep- ancies, which officials have termed "inconsistencies." HEALTHCARE.GOV Data issues in 2 million enrollees' applications Problemscould affect coverage THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Ashawn Rabb, 5, runs through a fountain in Las Vegas. An analysis shows Nevada's capital, Carson City, has warmed the most in the last 30years than any other city in the nation. By Seth Borenstein The Associated Press WASHINGTON The United States is warming fastest at two of its corners, in the Northeast and the South- west, an analysis of federal temperature records shows. Northeastern states — led by Maine and Vermont — have gotten the hottest in the last 30 years in annual temperature, gaining 2.5 de- grees on average. But South- western states have heated up the most in the hottest months: The average New Mexico summer is 3.4 de- grees warmer now than in 1984; in Texas, the dog days are 2.8 degrees hotter. The contiguous United States' annual average tem- perature has warmed by 1.2 degreessince1984,withsum- mers getting 1.6 degrees hot- ter. But that doesn't really tell you how hot it's gotten for most Americans. While man-made greenhouse gases warm the world as a whole, weather is supremely local. Some areas have gotten hot- ter than others because of at- mospheric factors and ran- domness, climate scientists say. "In the United States, it isn't warming equally," said Kelly Redmond, climatolo- gist at the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno, Ne- vada. "Be careful about ex- trapolating from your own backyard to the globe." For example, while people intheEastandMidwestwere complainingaboutacoldwin- ter this year, Redmond's Ne- vada and neighboring Cali- fornia were having some of theirwarmestwintermonths ever. To determine what parts of the country have warmed the most, The Associated Press analyzed National Cli- matic Data Center temper- ature trends in the lower 48 states, 192 cities and 344 smaller regions within the states.Climatescientistssug- gested1984asastartingdate because 30 years is a com- monly used time period and 1984, which had an average temperature, is not a cherry- picked year to skew a trend either way. The trend was calculated by the NCDC us- ing the least squares regres- sion method, which is a stan- dard statistical tool. All but one of the lower 48 states have warmed since 1984.NorthDakotaisthelone outlier, and cooled slightly. Ten states — Maine, Ver- mont, New Jersey, Massa- chusetts, New Hampshire, RhodeIsland,Delaware,New Mexico, Connecticut and New York — have gotten at least2degreeswarmerinthe past 30 years. Since 1984, 92 percent of the more than 500 cities and smaller regions within states havewarmedandnearlytwo- thirds of them have warmed by at least a degree. The re- gions that have warmed the most have been New York's St. Lawrence Valley, north- eastern Vermont, north- ern Maine, the northeast- ern plains of New Mexico and western Vermont, all of which have warmed by more than 2.5 degrees. Cities — where data is a tad more suspect because they are based on a single weather station and read- ings can be affected by ur- ban heating and develop- ment—seethegreatestvari- ation. Carson City, Nevada, and Boise, Idaho, are the cit- ies that have seen the most warming — both year-round and in summer — since 1984. Both cities' average annual temperatures have jumped more than 4 degrees in just 30 years, while Dickinson, North Dakota, has dropped the most, a bit more than 2 degrees. The Southwest warming, especially in the summer, seems to be driven by dry- ness, because when there is little water the air and ground warm up faster, said Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech Uni- versity in Lubbock. "Heatanddroughtareavi- cious cycle that has been hit- ting the Southwest hard in recent years," Hayhoe said. And in the Northeast, the temperatures are pushed up by milder winters and warm water in the North Atlantic, said Kevin Trenberth, cli- mate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmo- spheric Research. And less snow on the ground over the winter often means warmer temperatures, said Alan Betts, a climate scientist at Atmospheric Research in Pittsford, Vermont. Hottest spots of warming: Northeast and Southwest CLIMATE CHANGE N EWS D AILY REDBLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 PHONE: (530)527-2151 FAX: (530) 527-5774 545 Diamond Avenue • P.O. Box 220 • Red Bluff, CA 96080 Support our classrooms, keep kids reading. DONATE YOUR VACATION newspaper dollars to the Newspaper In Education Program HELP OUR CHILDREN For more details call Circulation Department (530) 527-2151 THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 2014 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 3 B