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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 2017)
6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2017 WORLD IN BRIEF Associated Press N. Korea denies torturing US detainee Otto Warmbier SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea today denied it cru- elly treated or tortured an American student who was detained for more than year and died days after being released in a coma. The comments published by the official Korean Central News Agency were North Korea’s first reaction to Otto Warm- bier’s death in a U.S. hospital on Monday after it released him for what it called humanitarian reasons. Doctors at the hospital said Warmbier had suffered a severe neurological injury from an unknown cause. Relatives say they were told the 22-year-old University of Virginia stu- dent had been in a coma since shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea in March 2016. His family and others have blamed North Korea for his condition. Warmbier was accused of stealing a propaganda poster. KCNA said the North dealt with him according to its domes- tic laws and international standards. McConnell faces hunt for GOP votes for Senate health bill WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCo- nnell has finally unwrapped his plan for dismantling President Barack Obama’s health care law. Now comes his next chal- lenge — persuading enough Republicans to back the measure and avert a defeat that would be shattering for President Don- ald Trump and the GOP. McConnell released the bill Thursday, drafted after weeks of closed-door meetings searching for middle ground between conservative senators seeking an aggressive repeal of Obama’s statute and centrists warning about going too far. Erasing Obama’s law has been a marquee pledge for Trump and virtually the entire party for years. The bill would cut and redesign the Medicaid program for low-income and disabled people, and erase taxes on higher earners and the medical industry that helped pay for the roughly 20 million Americans covered by Obama’s law. It would let insurers provide fewer benefits, offer less generous subsidies than Obama to help people buy policies and end the statute’s tax penalties on people who don’t buy policies and on larger firms that don’t offer coverage to workers. Supreme Court could reveal action on travel ban at any time WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has almost cer- tainly decided what to do about President Donald Trump’s travel ban affecting citizens of six mostly Muslim countries. The country is waiting for the court to make its decision public about the biggest legal controversy in the first five months of Trump’s presidency. The issue has been tied up in the courts since Trump’s original order in January sparked widespread protests just days after he took office. The justices met Thursday morning for their last regularly scheduled private conference in June and probably took a vote about whether to let the Trump administration immediately enforce the ban and hear the administration’s appeal of lower court rulings blocking the ban. The court’s decision could come any time and is expected no later than late next week, after which the justices will scat- ter for speeches, teaching gigs and vacations. Repair Cafe: ‘We see the value in getting as much life out of products’ Continued use Continued from Page 1A Repair Cafe is the brain- child of Astoria resident and Fort George Brewery’s Director of Sustainability Renee Johnson. She had been involved in similar organiza- tions before in Portland, affil- iated with that city’s Mas- ter Recycler program. The monthly cafes first started in Astoria in March and are slowly growing in size and scope, gaining collaborators, volunteers and people with items in need of repair. “I love the idea of fixing things rather than replacing them and I think this model is relevant pretty much every- where, so why not Astoria?” Johnson said. Since the first Repair Cafe event launched, the group estimates it has helped fix more than a dozen items and diverted several hundred pounds worth of stuff from landfills. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Community The Portland program, after which Astoria’s Repair Cafe is roughly modeled, is itself an American West Coast version of a program first started in the Nether- lands in 2009. The cafes are as much about fixing things as they are about building a community. One of the things Harold Gable says he enjoys about volunteering at Repair Cafe events is the chance to see highly skilled craftsmen at work. “It’s meeting people that I wouldn’t have otherwise, who have talents that I don’t know anything about,” he said. “People are so open and passionate about what they can do and what they can share.” And there’s another bene- fit, too. If something he owns breaks, now he knows who to go to for a repair. Gable sharpens knives, garden tools and other imple- ments for Repair Cafe cus- tomers. Like the other volun- Kelly Green fixes a lawnmower at a recent Repair Cafe. More photos online at DailyAstorian.com Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Becky Tonkin recently volunteered her sewing skills at the Repair Cafe to fix a customer’s pair of jeans. teers, he does this work for free. He doesn’t necessarily want his regular customers — the chefs he sharpens knives for, for example — lining up at a cafe, though. This work, he said, is for people who wouldn’t normally seek it out, who may not have the funds, who might think their scis- sors or knives are too cheap to be sharpened. “Use — as long as pos- sible, when possible,” said Glen Herman, owner of Asto- ria Makers, which has pro- vided space for Repair Cafe events for the past three months. “We see the value in getting as much life out of products — delaying their entry to the landfill and sav- ing the individual from hav- ing to buy a replacement.” The events are a natu- ral fit for Herman’s Astoria Makers space, a business that provides its members with professional tools and work- shop areas for everything from woodworking projects to metal work and screen printing. “Maker spaces count on the collaboration of peo- ple getting together to solve problems,” he said. “Having someone bring in something that’s broken, and have a few people hover around it that have different skills to see what’s wrong and then fix it is satisfying.” He says he plans to con- tinue providing a space for Repair Cafe events “for the foreseeable future, as long as the group wants to use our space.” Repair Cafe volunteer Kelly Green, also with Asto- ria Makers, said people are often too quick to toss out old items, and too eager to buy shiny, new replacements. “I think for a lot of us a lot of (Repair Cafe) is getting people to understand the nature of their stuff,” he said. The next Repair Cafe will take place Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Astoria Makers space, 34706 Produc- tion Lane, across the street from Brim’s Farm & Garden on U.S. Highway 101 Busi- ness. Volunteers will offer a variety of services including garment mending, computer repairs for viruses and mal- ware and diagnostics work, general repairs (toys, furni- ture, tools, etc.) and knife and scissor sharpening. STARTS FRIDAY, JUNE 23! Join us for the Relay For Life of Clatsop County! About the Relay For Life Movement Saturday, July 8 th , 2017 The American Cancer Society Relay For Life movement is the world’s largest fundraising event to end cancer, uniting four million people around the world to celebrate survivorship, remember lives lost, and fight back against this disease. Teams camp out and participate by taking turns walking around a track or path. Symbolizing the battle waged around the clock by those facing cancer, the event empowers communities and individuals to take a stand against the disease and take action by supporting the Society’s lifesaving mission. Astoria High School Track 10:00 am - 12:00 am Register your team today! RelayForLife.org/ClatsopcountyOR Learn about American Cancer Society programs and services. Join others in fighting back against cancer! For more information, contact: nancy.hillis@cancer.org THIS STORE IS CLOSING! BIGGER SAVINGS! 60-80 % OFF ENTIRE STORE! ORIGINAL PRICE * *EXCLUSIONS MAY APPLY. VALID IN-STORE ONLY. SAVE ON EVERY ITEM IN EVERY DEPARTMENT EVERYTHING MUST GO! NOTHING HELD BACK! 361.676.6378 RelayForLife.org | 800.227.2345 1343 COMMERCIAL ST ASTORIA, OR 97103 STORE FIXTURES & EQUIPMENT FOR SALE SEE MANAGEMENT JCPENNEY COUPONS CANNOT BE USED FOR CLOSING STORE PURCHASES. ALL SALES FINAL. NO RETURNS, REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES ACCEPTED. OFFERS VALID AT THIS LOCATION ONLY. DUE TO THE NATURE OF THE SALE, ADS, COUPONS AND DISCOUNTS FROM OTHER JCPENNEY STORES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED DURING THIS EVENT. ITEMS AT JCP.COM ARE EXCLUDED FROM THIS OFFER. INTERMEDIATE MARKDOWNS MAY HAVE BEEN TAKEN. ROP3B-01-3835-0