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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2017)
7A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2017 WORLD IN BRIEF Associated Press Moving company: South Dakota, Vermont top destinations in US Top US intelligence officials to testify on Russian hacking WASHINGTON — Senior U.S. intelligence officials face questions at a Senate hearing that will be dominated by the intel- ligence community’s assessment that Russia meddled in the pres- idential election to help Donald Trump win. The Armed Services Committee’s cyberthreats hearing today comes a day before the president-elect is to be briefed by the CIA and FBI directors — along with the director of national intelligence — on the investigation into Russia’s alleged hack- ing efforts. Trump has been deeply critical of their findings, even appearing to back controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s contention that Russia did not provide him with hacked Democratic emails. The committee’s session is the first in a series aimed at inves- tigating purported Russian cyberattacks against U.S. interests and developing defenses sturdy enough to blunt future intrusions. “We will obviously be talking about the hacking, but the main thing is the whole issue of cybersecurity,” the commit- tee’s Republican chairman, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, said ahead of the hearing. “Right now we have no policy, no strategy to counter cyberattacks.” Slated to appear before the Armed Services Committee are James Clapper, the national intelligence director; Marcel Lettre, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence; and Adm. Michael Rogers, National Security Agency chief and the top officer at the U.S. Cyber Command. Analysis: Health care battle could decide balance of power WASHINGTON — The messaging battle is over on repealing and replacing President Barack Obama’s health care law, and the balance of power in Washington may be at stake. Democrats believe they already lost the public opinion fight over the law once, when they pushed through the Affordable Care Act in the first place, and Republicans grabbed hold of the issue to drive Democrats into the minority. Democrats are determined that this time, they’ll come out on top. For their part, Republicans are painfully aware that they’re embarking upon the task of repealing and replacing the complex law at their peril. If Democrats get their way, the GOP will own every problem and complication that results from the re-work, and there are certain to be many. For both sides, the repeal-and-replace fight represents a risky and unexpected do-over nearly seven years after Democratic majorities in the House and Senate passed the law on a party-line vote. A voter backlash helped send Democrats into the minority in the House in the 2010 midterms, and Republicans have been using the issue to political benefit ever since. In November’s elec- tions, Donald Trump and GOP House and Senate candidates ran on promises to repeal the law and replace it with something better. Now, Democrats have a chance to fight the messaging war anew, even as they continue to champion the health care law as good policy that’s helped the country. And Republicans, who’ve had political success attacking the law without offering a uni- fied solution of their own, have a chance to present their ideas and make policy, but risk giving away their political advantage if they become the ones voters blame for problems in the health system. ST. LOUIS — One of the nation’s largest moving companies says South Dakota is first on its list of top moving destinations. United Van Lines has tracked customer state-to-state migra- tion for the past 40 years. For 2016, South Dakota was the state with the highest percentage of inbound moves, which the subur- ban St. Louis-based company says is part of a trend of retirees moving to states in the Northwest. Oregon had been No. 1 the previous three years and dropped to third. Vermont was second, Idaho fourth and South Carolina fifth. Many Southern and Western states had more people moving in than moving out, while several Northeastern states saw high rates of outbound moves. States with the highest percentage of outbound moves were, in order, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, Connecticut and Kansas. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar Sears is selling its well-known Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker Inc., which plans to grow the tool brand by selling its products at more stores. Shares of Hoffman Es- tates, Illinois-based Sears Holdings Corp shares rose 7.5 percent to $11.14 before the stock market opened today. Sears to sell Craftsman tool brand to Stanley Black & Decker NEW YORK — After controlling the Craftsman name for 90 years, troubled department store operator Sears said it will sell the famous tool brand to Stanley Black & Decker Inc. Stanley, which makes and sells tools under the DeWalt and Black & Decker names, wants to grow the Craftsman brand by selling its products in more stores outside of Sears. Today, only 10 percent of Craftsman products are sold in other stores. Sears said it will continue to sell Craftsman, including at its Kmart and Sears Hometown stores. The Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based company first took control of Craftsman in 1927 when it bought the trademark for $500. Sears has struggled, losing money for years as its revenue fell. The company also announced plans Thursday to close 150 stores, about 10 percent of its total 1,500 locations. And last week, the company said it received a credit facility for up to $500 million to provide it with cash as it sells assets. Shares of Sears Holdings Corp., which are down 45 percent in the last 12 months, rose 6 percent to $10.94 in midday trad- ing Thursday. Stanley will pay Sears about $900 million for Craftsman, which includes $525 million when the deal closes this year, $250 million after three years and a percent- age of sales for 15 years. After 15 years, Sears will start paying Stanley 3 percent of the Craftsman sales it makes. Shares of Stanley, based in New Britain, Connecticut, rose 1.4 percent to $117.90. Stanley said it plans to hire more workers and open a new U.S. plant to make more Craftsman products, but didn’t provide details. Trump’s deportation vow spurs California farmers into action FRESNO, Calif. — Days after Donald Trump won the White House vowing to deport millions of people in the country ille- gally and fortify the Mexican border, California farmer Kevin Herman ordered nearly $600,000 in new equipment, cutting the number of workers he’ll need starting with the next harvest. Herman, who grows figs, persimmons and almonds in the nation’s most productive farming state, said Trump’s comments pushed him to make the purchase, larger than he would have otherwise. “No doubt about it,” Herman said. “I probably wouldn’t have spent as much or bought as much machinery as I did.” Others in California’s farming industry say Trump’s tough campaign talk targeting immigrants in the country illegally — including a vast number of farmworkers — spurred them into action, too. They’re calling on congressional representatives to educate the incoming president on the workforce it takes to feed the coun- try, and they’re assuring workers they’ll protect them. Uprooted by war, fearing troops, Myanmar girls learn karate JE YANG, Myanmar — Every afternoon, dozens of teenage girls at the school for displaced children line up on the grounds, dressed in white uniforms with belts of various colors: yellow, blue, white. They kick high and jump with glee before settling into their exercises, shouting in Japanese as they punch into the air. The reason many of these girls are in this class is sobering: They want protection from their own country’s military. Mostly between 13 and 16, they have lost their homes, and in some cases their families, to the long-running civil war in Myanmar’s Kachin state — a war in which soldiers have been repeatedly accused of raping girls and women, but rarely prose- cuted. 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