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PAGE 12 www.yankton.netYankton Daily Press & Dakotan ■ NATION/WORLD ■ Tuesday, January 4, 2011
NATION/WORLD DIGESTIran Invites EU, Nations, To Visit Nuke Sites
VIENNA (AP) — Iran has invited Russia, China, the European Unionand its allies among the Arab and developing world to tour its nuclearsites, in an apparent move to gain support ahead of a new round oftalks with six world powers.
In a letter made available Monday to The Associated Press, seniorIranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh suggests the weekend of Jan. 15and 16 for the tour and says that meetings “with high ranking offi-cials” are envisaged.
While no reason was given for the timing of the offer, it comes justweeks before Iran and the six powers follow up on recent talks thatended with agreement on little else but to meet again.
The new round between Tehran, and the permanent U.N. SecurityCouncil members — the U.S. Russia, China, Britain, France — plusGermany, is tentatively set for Istanbul, Turkey in late January.
It is meant to explore whether there is common ground for moresubstantive talks on Iran’s nuclear program, viewed by the U.S, and itsallies as a cover for secret plans to make nuclear arms — somethingTehran denies.
Agency: Some Deepwater Drilling May StartWASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Monday it
will allow 13 companies to resume deepwater drilling without anyadditional environmental scrutiny, just months after saying it wouldrequire strict reviews for new drilling in the wake of the BP oil spill.
The government said it was not breaking its promise to requireenvironmental reviews because the 13 companies — which includeChevron USA Inc. and Shell Offshore Inc. — had already starteddrilling the wells without detailed environmental studies.
Drilling was suspended last year when the administration imposeda months-long moratorium following the BP spill. The ban was lifted inOctober, but drilling has not yet resumed in waters deeper than 500feet in the Gulf of Mexico.
U.S. officials said the 13 companies must comply with new policiesand rules before resuming activity at 16 Gulf of Mexico wells. All butthree are exploratory wells — the same type BP was drilling when theblowout of the Deepwater Horizon rig occurred. The April 20 explo-sion killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S.history.
“For those companies that were in the midst of operations at thetime of the deepwater suspensions (last spring), today’s notification isa significant step toward resuming their permitted activity,” saidMichael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean EnergyManagement, Regulation and Enforcement.
Navy Probes Raunchy Videos By Officer NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Raunchy comedy videos made by a high-
ranking Navy commander and shown to the crew of an aircraft carrierthree or four years ago have suddenly proved an embarrassment tothe Pentagon that could blight the officer’s career.
The videos, released Sunday by a newspaper in this Navy port city,feature Capt. Owen Honors using gay slurs, pantomiming masturba-tion and staging suggestive shower scenes. They were played on theshipwide television system during weekly movie night when Honorswas executive officer, or second in command, of the USS Enterprise.Honors has since become commander of the ship.
Over the weekend, the Navy at first downplayed the videos as“humorous skits,” then called them “not acceptable” and said they areunder investigation.
Asked if Honors’ command of the Enterprise was at risk, Cmdr.Chris Sims of U.S. Fleet Forces Command told The Associated Press inan e-mail: “The investigation currently being conducted will providethe necessary information to make that decision in an informed man-ner.”
The videos’ existence was not news to Navy higher-ups. In a state-ment to the Virginian-Pilot on Friday, the Navy said its leadership hadput a stop to videos with “inappropriate content” on the Enterpriseabout four years ago.
Police: U.S. Military Expert Found DeadDOVER, Del. (AP) — The body of a military expert who served in
three Republican administrations was found dumped in a landfill overthe holiday weekend, and investigators said Monday they do notknow who might have killed him.
John Wheeler III, 66, was last seen Dec. 28 on an Amtrak train fromWashington to Wilmington. His body was found three days later, onNew Year’s Eve, as a garbage truck emptied its contents at the CherryIsland landfill. His death has been ruled a homicide.
Wheeler, who served in Vietnam, helped lead efforts to build theVietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington.
The former Army officer lived in New Castle and worked as a con-sultant for The Mitre Corporation, a nonprofit based in Bedford,Mass., and McLean, Va., that operates federally funded research anddevelopment centers.
Police have determined that all the stops made Friday by thegarbage truck before it arrived at the landfill involved large commer-cial disposal bins in Newark, several miles from Wheeler’s home.
Report: FEMA Lags On Recouping PaymentsNEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Federal Emergency Management
Agency hasn’t tried to recoup about $643 million in improper pay-ments made to victims of Hurricane Katrina and other disasters in thewake of a judge’s order more than three years ago, according to a gov-ernment audit issued Monday.
The improper payments have gone uncollected for more thanthree years because FEMA hasn’t given its final approval to a newprocess for recovering the money, auditors found in a report by theDepartment of Homeland Security’s inspector general’s office.
The federal agency has distributed more than $7 billion in disas-ter assistance payments since hurricanes Katrina and Rita struckthe Gulf Coast in 2005. An estimated 160,000 applicants receivedabout $643 million in improper payments resulting from fraud, FEMAerrors or other mistakes.
In June 2007, a federal judge in New Orleans ordered FEMA tohalt its debt collection activities until the agency made certainchanges to its collection process. Government lawyers drafted anew process designed to comply with standards set by DHS, but theaudit says FEMA’s chief hasn’t signed off on the plan yet.
A new process for recovering improper payments has beenawaiting the approval of FEMA’s administrator since late 2008.Current Administrator Craig Fugate was confirmed by the Senate inMay 2009.
■ Get Updates At Yankton Online (www.yankton.net)
www.yankton.net
BY RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVARAssociated Press
WASHINGTON — Eager to show who’s now incharge, the House’s new Republican majorityplans to vote to repeal President Barack Obama’slandmark health care overhaul before he evenshows up in their chamber to give his State of theUnion address.
Dramatic as that early showdown promises tobe — the vote will be Jan. 12, Republicans saidMonday — it will be just the first in a series ofstruggles expected to play out in the next fewmonths. Obama returns Tuesday from his holidayvacation, fresh off lame-duck legislative victorieslate last year, and Republicans will be sworn inWednesday, primed to challenge him after gainingHouse control in last fall’s elections.
Full repeal of the health care law is still a longshot. The House vote would be just the first, easi-est step. But House Republicans vow they will fol-low up with dozens of attempts to hack away atwhat they derisively call “Obamacare.”
The strategy is not risk-free for theRepublicans, who won’t have a replacement planof their own ready by the time of the repeal vote.But they say there’s no time to lose.
Senate Democratic leaders are sending theirown “you-don’t-scare-me” message. In a letterMonday to House Speaker-to-be John Boehner,
they served notice that they’llblock any repeal, arguing itwould kill popular provisionssuch as improved prescriptioncoverage for Medicare.
Beyond the early health carevote, emboldened Republicansare straining to challenge thepresident’s spending priorities,setting up likely conflicts overthe budget and the country’sdebt ceiling. Those votes will be
early tests of how the president will maneuverwith a divided Congress, as both he andRepublicans look ahead to the next elections.
Most likely, both parties will carry the mainissues of the health care debate into the 2012campaign, when Obama is expected to seek a sec-ond term against a Republican challenger, andHouse and Senate control will be up for grabsagain.
“It’s not going to be easy; it’s going to be along, hard slog,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, anearly leader in the health care repeal drive. Thequick thumbs-down vote by the House will have“tremendous utility and value,” King said, but itmay take electing a Republican president inObama’s place to accomplish the overall goal.
All the while, the Obama administrationintends to keep putting into place the law’s frame-
work for covering more than 30 million uninsuredpeople. Ultimately, Obama still has his veto pen,and Republicans aren’t anywhere close to thetwo-thirds majorities they would need to override
“Repeal and replace” worked as a campaignslogan to motivate voters concerned about thegrowing reach of government under Obama. But asingle-minded focus on repeal could backfire as aRepublican governing strategy. Polls show thatsome parts of the law are popular, and manyAmericans would have wanted even biggerchanges.
Look for Republicans to try to deny money forthe government to carry out the law. They’ll alsoattempt to strip out sections of it, such as a newlong-term care program. And they’ll move tostrengthen restrictions on funding for abortions.
It’s far from clear that they’ll be able to prevailin those efforts either. There’s talk that an effortto deny funding could escalate to the point of apossible government shutdown, and no oneseems eager for that.
“I don’t think the health issues will cause any-thing dire in the way of a government shutdown,”said economist Robert Reischauer, president ofthe Urban Institute think tank. “There are otherthings on the agenda besides health care, namelybroader budget issues that have to be dealt with.”
The two parties may be able to get a dealon some limited fixes, like repealing an incometax reporting requirement that small businessis calling a paperwork nightmare.
House Eyes Health Care Law Repeal
King
Republicans Want Vote On Bill Before State Of Union
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) —Democrat Jerry Brown was swornin Monday as California’s 39thgovernor, returning to the officehe left 28 years ago but inheritinga much different and more trou-bled state than the one he ledthen.
The man who once wasCalifornia’s most famous bachelortook the oath of office after beingintroduced by his wife of fiveyears, former Gap Inc. executiveAnne Gust Brown, insideSacramento MemorialAuditorium.
As California Supreme CourtJustice Tani Cantil-Sakauye admin-istered the oath, Gust Brown helda Bible that had belonged to hergrandfather and was used duringher wedding with Brown.
Brown has predicted a grimfuture for the financially belea-guered state. Where his predeces-sor, Republican ArnoldSchwarzenegger, expressed opti-mism at every turn, Brown hasbeen realistic since winning theNov. 2 election. California hasfaced several years of deep budg-et deficits and is confrontinganother estimated at $28 billionthrough June 2012.
Its general fund is $15 billionless than it was just three yearsago, reflecting a sharp drop in taxrevenue from a recession that hasbattered the economy of thenation’s most populous state.Brown, 72, said the choices facingCalifornia’s 38.8 million people arepainful.
BY CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABERAP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON — Factories arecranking up production, anticipatinggreater spending by consumers andbusinesses in 2011. Tax cuts willgive people more money to buycars, computers and electronicgoods, and provide incentives forbusinesses to invest in equipment.
Manufacturing activity hasexpanded in every month since therecession ended a year and a halfago. The big difference now is thatthe growth is being driven by highersales and more confident con-sumers— not just businessesrebuilding the stockpiles that theyslashed during the recession.
Steady hiring is likely to follow.Economists caution that it will onlybe enough to chip away at the 9.8percent unemployment rate thisyear. Still, they expect it will give theeconomy a shot of momentum, put-ting more money into people’s pock-ets and encouraging them to spendmore freely. And that will lead tomore hiring in other areas of theeconomy.
“You’re in a situation where a vir-tuous cycle is beginning to material-ize,” said Eric Green, chief econo-
mist at TD Securities. The latest sign came Monday
when the Institute for SupplyManagement said the manufacturingsector expanded for the 17thstraight month in December. Thetrade group of purchasing managerssaid its index of manufacturing busi-ness activity rose to 57 last month,a seven-month high. Any readingover 50 indicates growth. That iswell above the recession’s low of32.5, hit in December 2008. But it’sbelow the reading of 60.4 in April,the highest level since June 2004.
New orders rose to the highestlevel since May and productionjumped, according to the report.The ISM surveys purchasing man-agers at about 350 companiesaround the country to compile theindex.
A separate report Mondayshowed that construction spendingrose in November for the thirdstraight month. Builders began workon more homes and the governmentboosted its investment in construc-tion projects to lift spending to$810.2 billion, the CommerceDepartment said. Still, that’s only 2.3percent above August’s figure,which was the lowest level in adecade.
RANDY PENCH/SACRAMENTO BEE/MCTAnne Gust Brown looks up at her husband Jerry Brown, who issworn in as governor of California, during his inauguration atMemorial Auditorium in Sacramento, Calif., Monday.
Brown Sees Tough Choices InReturn To Calif. Governor’s Office
BOSTON (AP) — A passengeron a flight departing from Bostonwas released on his own recogni-zance after being arrested whenother passengers reported that hehad placed a suspicious packagein the overhead bin.
State police say 35-year-oldOgnjen Milatovic of Hudsonrefused the crew’s request to hang
up his cell phone and sit down ona US Airways Inc. flight bound forWashington, D.C., Monday.
Passengers reported hearingstrange noises coming from a plas-tic bag. State police said later thatthe bag contained a set of keys, abagel with cream cheese, someother small food items, a hat and awallet.
Passenger Removed From Monday Flight
U.S. Factory OutlookBright After 17
Months Of Growth
