Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/455524
torneyTarahHeinzensaid. An EPA spokeswoman said the agency was re- viewing the lawsuits and had no immediate com- ment. Joining the EIP and Humane Society in the lawsuits are citizen groups including Clean Wisconsin, Iowa Citizens for Community Improve- ment and the California- based Association of Irri- tated Residents. They claim ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and other manure-generated contaminants in live- stock-heavy states such as Iowa and North Car- olina — the nation's top two pork producers — make people sick. "In the last 15 years our enjoyment of the outdoors have been severely de- graded due to toxic emis- sions from the numer- ous large-scale hog fac- tories that now surround our home," said Rosie Par- tridge, a member of the Iowa citizens group whose northwest Iowa home is surrounded by more than 30,000 hogs. "We are nau- seated at times from this choking smell of hydro- gen sulfide and ammonia as well as the odor of de- caying animals." Tom Frantz, a farmer and President of the As- sociation of Irritated Res- idents, noted that the San Joaquin Valley has seen the number of dairies jump in the last decade. "Ammonia emissions from factory farm dair- ies are causing the high- est fine particulate mat- ter levels in the United States, which seriously harms our health while EPA has done nothing," he said. National Cattlemen's Beef Association spokes- man Chase Adams said beef producers are mak- ing improvements with- out government interven- tion. They have reduced emissions to water by 10 percent and cut produc- tion of greenhouse gases by 2 percent from 2005 to 2011, the trade group spokesman said, citing a report released last year. Spokesmen for dairy and pork producers' groups did not imme- diately respond to mes- sages. EPA FROMPAGE10 acres of county land in 2011 to build the new Te- hama County Courthouse. The purchased land in- cluded the previous Agri- culture Department and Air Pollution Control Dis- trict offices as well as Wet- ter Hall. Center FROM PAGE 1 resignation of Raymond Eliggi. Eliggi resigned Oct. 28, 2014 because of health reasons and passed away Dec. 28. City staff on Tuesday will recommend that the City Council authorize staff to advertise for applicants for the vacant council seat. Staff recommends an application submission deadline of Feb. 24. From there, the City Council could appoint an applicant at its March 3 or March 17 regular meetings. The City Council is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at 555 Washing- ton St. Council FROM PAGE 1 Hamann:BillGaryHa- mann, 74, of Red Bluff died Friday, Jan. 30at his home. Arrangements are under the direction of Red Bluff Simply Cremations & Burial Service. Published Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Deathnoticesmustbe provided by mortuar- ies to the news depart- ment, are published at no charge, and feature only specific basic informa- tion about the deceased. Paid obituaries are placed through the Clas- sified advertising depart- ment. Paid obituaries may be placed by mortu- aries or by families of the deceased and include on- line publication linked to the newspaper's website. Paid obituaries may be of any length, may run multiple days and offer wide latitude of content, including photos. DEATH NOTICES SHESNORESMORE THANIDO,BUTISTILL LOVEMYHUMAN. —BANDIT adopted11-26-09 By Elias Meseret The Associated Press ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA African leaders Friday ap- pointed Zimbabwean Pres- ident Robert Mugabe as the new chairman of the 54-na- tion African Union. The 90-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled his country since 1980, succeeds Mauri- tania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. The announcement was made during the African Union's two-day heads of state summit at the orga- nization's headquarters in Ethiopia's capital. "During my tenure as chair, I will deliberately provoke your thoughts to pay special attention to is- sues of infrastructure, value addition, agriculture and climate change," Mugabe told African leaders. Mugabe's new position has drawn criticism. "Frankly I don't believe the elevation (Mugabe's appointment) is anything than symbolic," said Piers Pigou, Southern Africa project director for the In- ternational Crisis Group. "His elevation sends a neg- ative signal of African soli- darity with leaders who've misruled their countries." Traditionally, the AU chairmanship is given to the leader of the country hosting the next summit, but exceptions have been made as in 2005 when it was the turn of Sudan's Omar al-Bashir but Afri- can leaders bowed to in- ternational pressures in the uproar over killings in Darfur. They passed over al-Bashir and in- stead kept Nigeria's Oluse- gun Obasanjo for a second year. Zimbabwe, a once- prosperous nation of 13 million people in south- ern Africa, has strug- gled since Mugabe's gov- ernment began seizing white-owned farms in 2000. Mugabe is accused of using widespread vio- lence to win several dis- puted elections, according to human rights groups. The country suffered hy- perinflation until it aban- doned its currency for the U.S. dollar in 2009. Mugabe defeated rival Morgan Tsvangirai in a 2013 vote marked by alle- gations of irregularities. Mugabe's victory ended an uneasy power-sharing deal with the opposition, but foreign investors have been deterred by concerns about corruption and gov- ernment policies to force foreign-owned and white- owned businesses to cede 51 percent of their shares to black Zimbabweans. Hundreds of manufactur- ing companies have closed in the recent past. Critics accuse Mugabe of being an independence hero turned dictator who has clung to power like many African leaders of his generation. AFRICA POLITICS Zimbabwe President Mugabe new African Union chairman THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, right, arrives for the heads of state meeting of the annual African Union summit, held at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday. By Jim Kuhnhenn The Associated Press WASHINGTON The deficit is dead. Long live the deficit. As the nation's ledger ad- justs to decreasing levels of deficit spending, the voices in Washington calling for austerity are barely audible. Republicans want more de- fense spending. Democrats want more domestic spend- ing. And President Barack Obama wants both. For the first time since the 2011 Budget Control Act put in place a series of automatic spending cuts, Obama might be in the best bargaining position to move the debate his way. And that's with Republi- cans in charge of Congress. Obama on Thursday called for a 7 percent boost in government spending that would nullify those 2011 so-called sequestration cuts and increase domestic and defense spending by a total of $74 billion in nearly equal amounts. "Let's make sure that we end this across-the-board sequester that doesn't dif- ferentiate between smart government spending and dumb government spend- ing," he told a gathering of Democratic lawmakers in Philadelphia. That's not to say that Obama's budget, set for release on Monday, stands any better chance than his previous budgets at win- ning congressional sup- port — i.e., zero. But as a negotiating document, it might not be so easily dis- missed. "President Obama would like there to be more nonde- fense spending, and will try to use defense spending to drive a wedge in the Repub- lican Party, and build sup- port for busting the seques- ter levels. He will likely suc- ceed," said Kevin Hassett, an economist at the conser- vative American Enterprise Institute and an adviser to Mitt Romney's 2012 presi- dential campaign. Left out of all these equa- tions is the nation's long- term fiscal picture. Amid the current wish lists for more child care, free com- munity college, and bigger ship and submarine fleets, little is said about an ag- ing population, a growing national debt and the de- mands on the government created by greater health care access. That means that while the deficit is now at its low- est since 2007, it will likely be back with a vengeance within the decade. The Congressional Bud- get Office this week pro- jected that based on cur- rent laws, deficits will even- tually rise from $468 billion this year to $1.1 trillion in 2025. The factors behind the increase: baby-boomer retirements, increased fed- eral subsidies for health care, increasing health care costs and rising interest on the federal debt. These are on the mandatory spend- ing side of the ledger, not the discretionary costs that are subject to annual con- gressional appropriations. Without more revenue or reduced benefits, the defi- cit can only grow. "I'm sure we'll have an- other knock-down, drag-out over discretionary spend- ing," said Robert Bixby, ex- ecutive director of the bud- get watchdog Concord Co- alition. "Probably there will be some kind of deal between the White House and the Congress, but that deal may also be to ignore the entitlement and tax re- form." Republicans and Demo- crats have been doing the equivalent of whistling past the graveyard on the long-term deficit ever since Obama and House Speaker John Boehner failed to reach a historic deal four years ago. Since then, the budget cutting has focused on the easier stuff. Long-term tax revenue has been off the table, as have any cost-saving ideas for Medicare and Social Se- curity. Still, the deficit dropped thanks to a tax increase on the rich, an improving economy and the domes- tic and defense spending cuts agreed to in the Bud- get Control Act of 2011. Now those cuts have proved too painful to both parties. Congressional Repub- licans are divided on how to pay for additional Penta- gon spending. Some want cuts in domestic spend- ing, others have even sug- gested tax revenue — a toxic idea among many conserva- tives. Obama seems deter- mined to take advantage of the lack of agreement. "Whatever it takes, within reason, to get this problem fixed is what I'm willing to do," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., adding that he would be willing to consider more tax revenue "just to get the damn thing done." WASHINGTON As deficits dip, all sides seek more spending By Adil Jawad and Zarar Khan The Associated Press KARACHI, PAKISTAN A bomb blast ripped through a Shiite mosque in south- ern Pakistan as worship- pers gathered for Friday prayers, killing at least 56 people and wounding doz- ens more, in the deadliest act of anti-Shiite violence in two years. The attack compounds Pakistan's security chal- lenge to contain a surge in militancy following last month's killing of 150 peo- ple, mostly children, at a Pe- shawar school. The militant Sunni group Jundullah claimed respon- sibility for Friday's bomb- ing in the city of Shikar- pur in Sindh province, 310 miles north of the port city of Karachi. That area of Pakistan has suffered comparatively little violence in contrast to the northwestern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and in Karachi. Friday's blood- shed raised fears that ex- tremists could be gaining a foothold in the region. Hadi Bakhsh Zardari, the deputy commissioner of Shikarpur district, said 56 had died and 31 were hospitalized. Dr. Shaukat Ali Memon, director of the hospital in Shikarpur, ap- pealed on Pakistan's state television for residents to donate blood. Pakistani television showed residents and wor- shippers frantically ferry- ing the dead and wounded to the hospital. Local me- dia reported that parts of the roof had collapsed on the worshippers, and some people had been trapped in- side. Amid the chaos follow- ing the explosion, victims were shuttled to the hospi- tal on motorcycles and rick- shaws, according to hospi- tal official Imtiaz Hussain. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the vi- olence and called it a sui- cide bombing, but Zardari and other officials said they were still investigating the cause. "Explosive experts and police are still debating whether it was a planted bomb or a suicide attack due to conflicting evidence on ei- ther side," Zardari said. PAKISTAN Bomb blast at Shiite mosque kills 56 BOBPEACHER November 4, 1948 ~ January 15, 2015 Robert Rawleigh Peacher "Bob" passed away unexpect- edly on January 15, 2015 at the age of 66 after a long bat- tle with cancer. Bob was born November 4th, 1948 in Chico, CA., to Ralph and Joan Peacher. He grew up in Butte County. He served in the National Guard and became a General Engineering Contractor. In 1994, he achieved a lifelong dream to purchase his first farm. He farmed walnuts, prunes, olives, wheat and rice. Bob is survived by his best friend and wife of 28 years, Nickie; his children, Traci and Matt; his mother Joan; and his brothers, Richard and Roger. A Celebration of Bob's life will be held from 3 - 6 p.m., Friday, February 6th, 2015 at the Patrick Ranch, 10381 Midway, Durham, CA. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to the HH Ranch Foundation for Alternative Medicine, Robert "Bob" Peacher Memorial Fund for Alternative Medicine, 240 Main Street, Suite 260, Chico, CA 95928 or www.nvcf.org Bob's wife would like to thank Dr. Larian and his team at the Center for Advanced Head and Neck Surgery, The Facial Paralysis Institute, Dr. Connealy of the Center of New Medicine and the Cancer Center for Healing, Paula Hulen, Claudia Weber, Marsha Colby, Rick and Leslie Youra and Mercy Hospital ER paramedics, nurses and doctors in Bakersfield. Please share your memories online at NewtonBracewell.com Obituaries R ed Bluff Simple Cremations and Burial Service FD1931 527-1732 Burials - Monuments - Preneed 722 Oak Street, Red Bluff SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 11 A