Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/355874
CROPCIRCLESINGERMANY THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Thousands of people are trekking to a Bavarian farmer's field to check out a mysterious set of crop circles. The ornate design was discovered by a balloonist last week and news of the find quickly spread online. Farmer Christoph Huttner, who owns the wheat field near Weilheim, couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday but told the dpa news agency Tuesday he didn't create the circle himself.He suggests students on summer holiday may have cut the image with a 75-meter diameter (246feet) into his field. The news agency says thousands of visitors have come to sing, dance and even swing pendulums in the giant image. MOSCOW RussiablastedtheWest's new economic sanctions, accusing the U.S. of being "prosecutorial" in its drive to impose penalties on the coun- try's key energy and finance sectors. The U.S. and European Union on Tuesday announced a raft of new sanc- tions that would limit the trade of arms and technology that can be used in the oil industry and for military purposes. The EU also put its capital markets off limits for Russian state-owned banks. The U.S. and EU say Russia is help- ing the separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine who are accused of downing the Malaysian Airlines jet this month. Russia's foreign ministry said Washington was "advancing baseless claims." In a statement, it accused the U.S. of conducting itself in a "preten- tious, prosecutorial manner." Experts say the penalties, which had until recently mainly targeted in- dividuals, will have more bite to them this time, rippling through the econ- omy and causing deeper damage. The biggest immediate impact is likely to come from the financial sanc- tions. In a first sign of concern, Russia's central bank said Wednesday it would support banks targeted by the penalties. RUSSIA Neweconomicsanctions lambasted as 'prosecutorial' NEW YORK His paintings made news worldwide, but it turns out that for- mer President George W. Bush has been working on another, highly per- sonal project since leaving the White House: He has quietly completed a bi- ography of his father, former Presi- dent George H.W. Bush. Crown Publishers told The Asso- ciated Press on Wednesday that the book, currently untitled, will be re- leased November 11. In 2010, Crown published the younger Bush's million- selling memoir, "Decision Points." "George H.W. Bush is a great ser- vant, statesman, and father," George W. Bush said in a statement issued by Crown. "I loved writing the story of his life, and I hope others enjoy read- ing it." According to Crown, the book will cover the elder Bush's whole life and his influence on his son, from George W.'s "childhood in West Texas to his early campaign trips with his father, and from his decision to go into poli- tics to his own two-term Presidency." The book will be "heartfelt, inti- mate, and illuminating," Crown pub- lisher Maya Mavjee said in a state- ment. 2 PRESIDENTS George W. Bush writes 'illuminating' book about father By Alan Fram The Associated Press WASHINGTON Republicans are ready to muscle legisla- tion through the House au- thorizing an election-year lawsuit against President Barack Obama that accuses him of exceeding his pow- ers in enforcing his health care law. A party-line vote — and plenty of sharp partisan rhetoric — was expected when the GOP-led cham- ber considers the measure Wednesday. Democrats dismiss the proposal as a legally groundless exercise that could end up costing tax- payers millions of dollars in legal fees and other ex- penses. They've branded the ef- fort a political charade aimed at stirring up Re- publican voters for the fall congressional elections. They say it's also an effort by top Republicans to mol- lify conservatives who want Obama to be impeached — something House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday he has no plans to do. "This lawsuit is frivo- lous on steroids," Rep. Al- cee Hastings, D-Fla., said Tuesday as the House Rules Committee met to clear the way for Wednesday's de- bate. "It's absolutely insane what you all are doing." That hasn't stopped Democrats from sending fundraising pleas to their own supporters warning that the GOP is out to im- peach Obama and ruin his presidency. Using that pitch, Democrats raised $1 million Monday, according to the head of the House Democratic campaign or- ganization, Rep. Steve Is- rael, D-N.Y. Republicans say the House's planned legal ac- tion is warranted because Obama has violated his constitutional duty to faith- fully execute the laws. They say that instead, he has en- forced laws as he wants to, dangerously shifting power to the presidency from Con- gress. "It is to preserve this country, the separation of powers and the rule of law," said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R- N.C. WASHINGTON GOP-led House OKs lawsuit against Obama News feed WASHINGTON The Air Force's top ci- vilian and uniformed leaders said Wednesday the failure to prevent a teenager from stowing away aboard a military cargo plane, apparently while on an airfield in the African nation of Mali, was a serious security lapse. The boy's body was found and re- moved from the plane at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Sunday after it had returned from an eight-day mis- sion to several African nations. Nei- ther his identity nor his nationality has been disclosed. "Whatever happened here, some- thing fell through the cracks that this boy was able to gain access to the air- craft," Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said the boy died of asphyxi- ation. His body was found in a com- partment above the rear wheel well, and Welsh said an outside fuselage panel had to be removed to gain ac- cess to the body. "How he got in there is a huge ques- tion mark," Welsh told a news confer- ence where he and James were asked about the incident. CARGO PLANE Air Force: Stowaway triggers security review NEW DELHI Torrential rains triggered a massive landslide that buried a re- mote village in western India Wednes- day, sweeping away scores of houses and possibly trapping more than 150 people, officials said. About 100 rescuers had reached the area, but continuing rains and bad roads were hampering rescue efforts and preventing reinforcements from reaching Ambegaon, a village in Pune district in Maharashtra state, said Alok Avasthy, a National Disaster Re- sponse Force commander. The landslide hit the village early Wednesday morning, but details on the extent of the damage only be- gan to trickle out several hours later, he said. Poor phone signals also were hampering the rescue operation. Ac- cording to early reports, at least 40 homes were swept away. "It's surrounded by hills and the area is very remote and rural, so it's taking us time to get there," Avasthy said. Avasthy said he was leading a team of 150 rescuers but they were having trouble communicating with the first batch of 100 responders in the area. INDIA Landslide hits remote village; 150 people could be trapped By Ricardo Alonso- Zaldivar The Associated Press WASHINGTON Man- agement failures by the Obama administration set the stage for the com- puter woes that paralyzed the president's new health care program last fall, nonpartisan investigators said in testimony released Wednesday. After a months-long in- vestigation,theGovernment Accountability Office found that the administration lacked "effective planning or oversight practices" for the development of Health- Care.gov, the online portal to coverage for millions of uninsured Americans. As a result the govern- ment incurred "signifi- cant cost increases, sched- ule slips, and delayed func- tionality," William Woods, a GAO contracting expert said in testimony prepared for a hearing Thursday be- fore the House Energy and Commerce Committee. GAO is the nonparti- san investigative agency of Congress. Its full report is also expected Thursday. The administration con- curs with most of the find- ings, agreeing that the ini- tial performance of Health- Care.gov was unacceptable. But officials say that things have come a long way since then. Investigators found that the administration kept changing the contractors' marching orders for the HealthCare.gov website, creating widespread confu- sion and leading to tens of millions of dollars in addi- tional costs. Changes were ordered in seemingly willy- nilly fashion, including 40 times when government of- ficials did not have the for- mal authority to incur ad- ditional costs. The report faults the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — which is part of the Department of Health and Human Ser- vices — for ineffective oversight of contracts for HealthCare.gov's com- puterized sign-up system and its electronic back of- fice. The Medicare agency, known as CMS, was des- ignated to administer Obama's health care law. GAO concluded: • Contractors were not given a coherent plan, and instead they were kept jumping around from is- sue to issue. • The cost of the sign- up system ballooned from $56 million to more than $209 million from Sept. 2011 to Feb. 2014. The cost of the electronic backroom jumped from $30 million to almost $85 million. • CMS, the lead agency, failed to follow up on how well the contractors per- formed. At one point the agency notified one con- tractor it was so dissat- isfied that it would start withholding payments, and then quickly rescinded that decision. • The type of federal contract that the adminis- tration selected for Health- Care.gov was open-ended, which might have encour- aged costly changes. Two contractors took the lead on the computerized system: Virginia-based CGI Fed- eral built HealthCare.gov, the online gateway to sub- sidized private health in- surance provided under the law. The site serves 36 states, while the remaining states built their own sys- tems, with mixed results. QSSI, based in Mary- land, was responsible for an electronic back office that helps verify personal and financial information to determine if consumers are eligible for tax credits to help pay their premiums. The front end of the sys- tem locked up the same day it was launched, Oct. 1, and it was down most of that initial month. The electronic back office had fewer problems. Despite the problems with the front end of the system, CMS ultimately paid nearly all of CGI's $12.5 million in fees, with- holding only $267,000, the GAO report said. Confronted with an em- barrassing spectacle, the White House sent in man- agement consultant Jeff Zients as a troubleshooter. One of his first decisions was to nudge CMS aside as project leader and give the agency a supporting role. CMS administrator Mar- ilyn Tavenner later per- sonally apologized to Con- gress that, "the website has not worked as well as it should." Zients' rescue opera- tion got the site working by early December. An- other major contractor, Accenture, was brought in to help fix things. Eventu- ally, some 8 million people managed to sign up, far ex- ceeding expectations. Nonetheless, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stepped down amid complaints by White House officials that the president was blind- sided by the problems. The original contractors testified to Congress that they did not have nearly enough time to test the system before it went live. Indeed, Tavenner took the unusual step of signing the operational security certif- icate for HealthCare.gov herself, after CMS security professionals balked. The site has since passed full security testing. The GAO's findings am- plified earlier conclusions in a report by Zients him- self after the website was restored to working order. In addition to hun- dreds of software bugs, insufficient infrastruc- ture and subpar monitor- ing of problems, the White House troubleshooter said that "inadequate manage- ment oversight and coor- dination among technical teams prevented real-time decision making and effi- cient responses to address the issues with the site." COMPUTER WOES Probe exposes flaws in HealthCare.gov rollout 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 | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2014 4 B