Cyber War: When the FBI notified the Democratic National Committee in September 2015 that its computers had been cracked by Russian hackers, the computer technician who took the call barely did anything about it, according to a report in the NY Times. The technician said in an internal memo that he wasn’t certain it was the FBI that had called. “I had no way of differentiating the call I just received from a prank call,” he said.

The paper reports that, “What started as an information-gathering operation, intelligence officials believe, ultimately morphed into an effort to harm one candidate, Hillary Clinton, and tip the election to her opponent, Donald J. Trump.”

Russian hackers picked their way through DNC computers for seven months before higher officials were notified and security was tightened. By then, the hackers had collected a trove of embarrassing emails that were given to WikiLeaks and dribbled out on the internet in a slow torture for the Clinton campaign.

The Times reports that, “A low-cost, high-impact weapon that Russia had test-fired in elections from Ukraine to Europe was trained on the United States, with devastating effectiveness. For Russia, with an enfeebled economy and a nuclear arsenal it cannot use short of all-out war, cyberpower proved the perfect weapon: cheap, hard to see coming, hard to trace.”

Stick It: The Department of Energy is refusing a Trump transition team request for the names of all employees who attended meetings about climate change. “We will be forthcoming with all publically-available information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team,” a department spokesman said in a statement, adding boldface for emphasis.

Nation: Federal investigators attribute the cause of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, Calif. to overloaded electrical wires. The building’s occupants basically operated everything off extension cords. Thirty-six people died in the fire. — Ohio Gov. John Kasich vetoed a law that would have banned abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy, but he signed a bill banning abortion at 20 weeks.

World: Italy has convicted two migrant smugglers in the shipwreck that resulted in the drowning of 700 people. The captain, who claimed he was just a passenger, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 years in prison. A man who was identified at the cabin boy got five years.

Permawar: Fighting has broken out again in the Syrian city of Aleppo in the midst of a ceasefire that was to have allowed rebels to safely leave after a long and losing fight. Buses that were to remove civilians are sitting empty.

Syrian soldiers have been reported to be executing civilians as they sweep through formerly rebel-held areas of Aleppo. Many of the dead are women and children.

Eighty-two civilians were reported killed Monday in what a UN official called, “a complete meltdown of humanity.”

Big Chill: Grand Forks, ND, -6; Duluth, MN, 1; Milwaukee, Wisc., 4; Chicago, 9; Buffalo, NY, 15.

The Obit Page: Actor Alan Thicke, who rose to fame as the father on the 1980s sitcom “Growing Pains,” has died of a heart attack at age 69 while playing hockey with his son, Carter. Thicke was one of the classic sitcom fathers. In real life, he was the father of pop star Robin Thicke.

Stupid Is: The President-elect has named former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to run the Department of Energy.

During a 2012 presidential debate, Perry said he would eliminate three departments of government, but couldn’t recall the name of the third.

“Q: You can’t — you can’t name the third one?

Perry: The third agency of government I would — I would do away with Education, the —

Q: Commerce.

Perry: Commerce and, let’s see. I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.”

It was Energy, the department he is now designated to run. Maybe he’ll remember now.

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