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ByJoshLederman and Julie Pace TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON President Barack Obama suggested strongly on Friday that Rus- sia's Vladimir Putin knew about the email hackings that roiled the U.S. presi- dential race, and he urged his successor, Republican Donald Trump, to back a bi- partisan investigation into the matter. "Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin," Obama said in his year-end news conference. The president said he had warned Putin there would be serious consequences if he did not "cut it out," though Obama did not specify the extent or timing of any U.S. retaliation for the hacking, which many Democrats believe contrib- uted to Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton. Obama also expressed bewilderment over Repub- lican lawmakers and vot- ers alike who now say they approve of Putin, declaring, "Ronald Reagan would roll over in his grave." Trump has dismissed re- cent talk about hacking and the election as "ridiculous." Clinton has even more directly cited Russian in- terference with the U.S. election. She said Thurs- day night, "Vladimir Putin himself directed the covert cyberattacks against our electoral system, against our democracy, apparently because he has a personal beef against me." Obama did not publicly support that theory Friday. He did, however, chide the media for that he called an "obsession" with the flood of hacked Democratic emails that were made pub- lic during the election's fi- nal stretch. U.S. intelligence assess- ments that Russia inter- fered in the election to ben- efit Trump have heightened the already tense relation- ship between Washington and Moscow. Separately, Obama has blamed Rus- sia for standing in the way of international efforts to stop the civil war in Syria, where government forces have beaten back rebels in their stronghold of Aleppo. Obama said he feels "re- sponsible" for some of the suffering in Syria, but he defended his decision to avoid significant military action there. He said that while military options short of invasion were tempting, it was "impossible to do this on the cheap." Still, he pinned the bulk of the blame on Russia, as well as Iran, for propping up Syrian President Bashar Assad. "This blood and these atrocities are on their hands," he said as he ad- dressed reporters from the White House briefing room shortly before leaving on his annual Christmas va- cation to Hawaii. The news conference lasted about an hour and a half, longer than usual. The president is ending his eighth year in office with his own popularity on the rise, though Trump's election is expected to un- wind many of Obama's pol- icies. He's leaving his suc- cessor a stronger economy than he inherited, but also the intractable conflict in Syria and troubling issue of whether Russia was med- dling in the U.S. election to back Trump. U.S. intelligence agen- cies have concluded with "high confidence" that Russia interfered in the election on Trump's behalf. The president-elect has disputed that conclusion, setting up a potential con- frontation with lawmakers in both parties. The president rejected any notion that the dispute over the origin of the hack- ing was disrupting efforts to smoothly transfer power to Trump. Despite fiercely criticizing each other dur- ing the election, Obama and Trump have spoken multi- ple times since the cam- paign ended. "He has listened," Obama said of Trump. "I can't say he will end up implement- ing. But the conversations themselves have been cor- dial." The president did weigh in on Trump's decision to speak with the leader of Taiwan, a phone call that broke decades of U.S. dip- lomatic protocol. Obama advised Trump to "think it through" before making changes the "one-China" policy, in which the U.S. recognizes Taiwan as part of China. Trump has openly ques- tioned why the U.S. up- holds that policy, particu- larly given that Washington has other contacts with Tai- wan. Offering his own take, Obama noted that Taiwan is of utmost importance to the Chinese and Beijing could have a significant re- sponse to any change in U.S. policy. Trump's election has up- ended the Democratic Party, which expected to not only win the White House but also carry the Senate. In- stead, the party finds itself out of power on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. In a moment of self-re- flection, Obama acknowl- edged that he had not been able to transfer his own popularity and electoral success to other sin his party. "It is not something that I've been able to transfer to candidates in midterms or build a sustaining orga- nization around," Obama said. "That's something I would have liked to have done more of but it's kind of hard to do when you're dealing with a whole bunch of issues here in the White House." As he leaves office, the president has said the shap- ing the future of the Dem- ocratic Party now falls to others. But he all but en- dorsed his Labor Secretary Tom Perez to head the Dem- ocratic National Commit- tee, lavishing praise on his Cabinet aide. The DNC leadership elec- tions have become a proxy fight in the broader battle for control of the party af- ter eight years of Obama's leadership. WHITE HOUSE Ob am a ur ge s Tr um p to t ak e foreign election impact seriously By Michael Casey The Associated Press CONCORD, N.H. Drug over- dose deaths have increased by 33 percent in the past five years across the coun- try, with some states seeing jumpsofnearly200percent. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 states saw increases in overdose deaths resulting from the abuse of heroin and prescription painkill- ers, a class of drugs known as opioids. New Hampshire saw a 191 percent increase while North Dakota, Mas- sachusetts, Connecticut and Maine had death rates jump by over 100 percent. "Too many Americans are feeling the devastation of the opioid crisis either from misuse of prescrip- tion opioids or use of illicit opioids," said Dr. Tom Frie- den, head of the CDC. "Ur- gent action is needed to help health care providers treat pain safely and treat opioid use disorder effec- tively, support law enforce- ment strategies to reduce the availability of illicit opi- ates, and support states to developandimplementpro- grams that can save lives." Last year, more than 52,000 people died from drug overdoses, with two- thirdsinvolvingprescription or illegal opioids. Deaths from synthetic opioids, in- cluding illicit fentanyl, rose 73 percent, to 9,580. Pre- scription painkillers took the highest toll but posted thesmallestincrease.Abuse of drugs like Oxycontin and Vicodin killed 17,536, an in- crease of 4 percent. In comparison, the num- ber of people who died in car crashes was 37,757, an increase of 12 percent. Gun deaths, including homi- cides and suicides, totaled 36,252, up 7 percent. The CDC report also in- cluded death certificate data for opioid overdoses in 28 states, finding that 16 saw a jump in death rates from synthetic opioids in- cluding illicit fentanyl. New York (135.7 percent), Con- necticut(125.9percent)and Illinois (120 percent) were the hardest hit. As for her- oin deaths, 11 states had increases, with South Car- olina (57.1 percent), North Carolina (46.4 percent) and Tennessee (43.5 percent) seeing the biggest spike. The Northeast has been hit especially hard by the drug crisis, with New Hampshire among those sufferingthemost.Justthis year, overdose deaths were expected to top 500. The state's congressional del- egation was among those supporting a bill that will provide $1 billion in fund- ing to states to fight heroin and opioid abuse. Heroin,fentanylandpre- scriptionpainkillersarethe primary drivers of addic- tion in recent years. "Obviously the fact that 500peoplearegoingtosuc- cumb to addiction this year is just a terrible tragedy," said Republican Jeb Brad- ley, the state Senate major- ity leader. "Itremindsus all thatwe have to make sure that we ... monitor carefully what's working and what isn't and be prepared as we come back in January to address this issue." PUBLIC HEALTH Drug overdose deaths increase by 33 percent ANDREWHARNIK—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS President Barack Obama arrives for a news conference in the briefing room of the White House on Friday. "Too many Americans are feeling the devastation of the opioid crisis either from misuse of prescription opioids or use of illicit opioids." — Dr. Tom Frieden, Centers for Disease Control chief By David Warren The Associated Press DALLAS A chemical leak from an asphalt plant that led Corpus Christi offi- cials to warn residents this week not to drink the wa- ter was apparently reported a week earlier, according to an email from a state envi- ronmental official that was obtained Friday. The internal email sent Wednesday by Susan Clewis, a regional director for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, contained an incident re- port that described the leak as a "backflow incident from a chemical tank impacting the public water system." It was reported Dec. 7 at Er- gon Asphalt and Emulsions. The email doesn't indi- cate who filed the report or who received it, but it indi- cates that the state agency only learned of the leak on Wednesday, when city offi- cials warned the public. "Obviously we are con- cerned about that initial re- port,thatthismayhavebeen known for seven days and it may have been going on for thatlong.Andwhydidittake so long for TCEQ to get no- tified?" asked Luis Moreno, chief of staff for state Sen. Juan Hinojosa, whose dis- trict includes Corpus Christi. Dan McQueen, the mayor of the Gulf Coast city of 300,000 people, has said lo- calofficialsalsoonlylearned of the leak on Wednesday. The TCEQ report indi- cates that Indulin AA-86 or hydrochloric acid, or perhaps a combination of both, may have leaked into the water supply. Indulin is an asphalt emulsifying agent that's corrosive and can cause burning if a person comes into contact with concen- trated amounts. TEXAS Re po rt : Ch em ic al l ea k al er t se nt week before public was warned GABE HERNANDEZ — CORPUS CHRISTI CALLER-TIMES Customers stand in line to pay for cases of water at an H-E-B store Thursday in Corpus Christi, Texas. By Gary D. Robertson and Meg Kinnard The Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. North Car- olina Republicans stripped the incoming Democratic governor of some of his au- thority on Friday and they were on the cusp of an even greater power grab, an ex- traordinary move that crit- ics said flies in the face of voters. Just last week, it ap- peared Republicans were ready to finally accept Democrats' narrow win in a contentious governor's race. As it turns out, they weren't done fighting. In a surprise special session in the dying days of the old administration, some say the Republican-dominated legislature has thrown the government into total dis- array, approving at least one bill aimed at emascu- lating incoming Gov. Roy Cooper's administration. Cooper, the current at- torney general, has threat- ened to sue. And many in the state are accusing Re- publicans of letting sour grapes over losing the gov- ernor's mansion turn into a legislative coup. "This was a pure power grab," said retired school li- brarian Carolyn White, 62, a long-time demonstrator who was arrested as part of the "Moral Monday" pro- tests against GOP-led leg- islative policies. "I got ar- rested two years ago. Did it make any difference? No. But just like the civil rights movement, it's forward to- gether. You just have to keep going forward." The protesters were so loud that Senate and House cleared the galleries — a highly unusual move. Doz- ens of people were arrested this week, and as demon- strators were led away from the Legislative Build- ing, some chanted "all po- litical power comes from the people." Those that re- mained behind could only watch the debate through glass windows or listen to it online. Hundreds stomped their feet or banged on windows outside the gallery, causing several Republican law- makers to note they were having trouble hearing during the debate. Dem- ocrats repeatedly stated their objections. "The kindergartners are getting rowdy," said Repub- lican Rep. Dana Bumgard- ner. She said Democrats were "creating out of thin air a talking point for the next election." Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who lost to Coo- per by about 10,000 votes, quickly signed into law a bill that merges the State Board of Elections and State Ethics Commission into one board compris- ing equally Democrats and Republicans, according to documents from General Assembly staff. The previ- ous state elections board law would have allowed Cooper to put a majority of Democrats on the panel. The law would also make elections for appel- late court judgeships offi- cially partisan again. POLITICS State GOP strips some of incoming Democratic governor's power RedBluffDailyNews 728 Main Street Red Bluff, CA 96080 Effective January 1, 2017 Red Bluff Daily News will no longer use P.O. BOX 220 as our mailing address. 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