Veterans News for Thursday, April 7, 2011

1.    Gates to warn Iraqis that time is running out to delay withdrawal.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on likely his last Iraq visit before leaving office, is expected to tell the countrys leaders that they must act soon if they want U.S. troops to remain beyond the Dec. 31 deadline to withdraw.

2.    U.S. troops in Afghanistan suffer more catastrophic injuries.  Newly released combat statistics from last year reveal an unprecedented number of castastrophic injuries suffered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan, according to an L.A. Times story.

3.    Researcher Doggedly Pursues New Treatments for Traumatic Brain Injury Patients.  Newswise   Both projects are funded, in part, by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Rehabilitation Research and Developmental Service. One of the studies is a double-blind, randomized trial in which family members and loved ones of the patients play very ...

4.    Official: Troops' pay would be withheld until shutdown is resolved.  Troops worldwide would remain on duty if the federal government shuts down Friday, but would only receive pay through April 8 until the crisis was resolved, a government official with knowledge of Pentagon plans said.

5.    Military, NGOs teaming up to deliver aid to earthquake victims.  The U.S. military and private charities have been joining forces to distribute aid to tsunami-battered communities in northern Japan.

6.    More military veterans studying at local colleges.  Anderson Independent Mail  In its peak year of 1947, veterans made up almost half of college admissions, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. By 1956, nearly half of the nation's 16 million World War II veterans had received education or training through the bill. ...

7.    Brown Presses VA Benefits Nominee on Ohio's Persistently Low Benefits Ranking.  Media Newswire   Sherrod Brown ( D-OH ) pressed for solutions to Ohio's persistently low benefits ranking for veterans. Ohio ranks third from last in the average amount of money that a disabled veteran receives from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, according to ...

8.    Woman indicted for embezzling more than $600000 from veterans accounts.  WSFA
The document states the Tuskegee attorney had been appointed as a trust holder for several individuals receiving benefits from the Fiduciary Program of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). That program oversees benefits paid to ...

9.    Rockford woman pleads guilty in benefits fraud case.  Rockford Register Star  By Anonymous ROCKFORD undefined A Rockford woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of making false statements on a US Department of Veterans Affairs pension form. Jeannine E. Snider, 66, admitted that she received more than $43000 in fraudulent VA ...

10.                       Parish, state dedicate new Veterans Service Office.  Shreveport Times  State Secretary of Veterans Affairs Lane Carson, also a combat-wounded Vietnam War veteran, was offered a building by the Caddo Parish Commission not long after learning the old office would have to close. The move not only is to a vastly refurbished ...

11.                       Veterans van program needs funds.  Herald and News  Korean War veteran Don Partridge, uses the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs' van program about once a month to get to doctor's appointments in White City. Ron Stein is one of about a dozen local volunteers who ...

12.                       Treat Alaska vets in Alaska if possible.  Juneau Empire  Many of our local vets have to travel to Seattle or elsewhere for medical treatments, despite the availability of those treatments within the state at private facilities. This is due to current Veteran's Administration practices that route patients to ...

13.                       House Committee Nixes Changes To Ind. AP  "A proposal to tighten requirements for Indiana's popular 21st Century Scholars program for low-income students is in limbo after a legislative committee removed it from a package of revisions to college financial aid programs."

14.                       Veterans' Van Program In Jeopardy. Klamath Falls (OR) Herald & News  "thousands of Oregon veterans...use the Oregon Disabled American Veterans' free shuttle program to get to medical facilities around the state." The "program, however, is in jeopardy. Oregon DAV Commander Brigitte Marker said the van service was scheduled to cease at the end of March due to a lack of donations before the national DAV stepped in two weeks ago, awarding a one-year operational grant to keep the vans running."

15.                       Lawmaker Wants To Increase MT Veterans' Employment Opportunities. KXLH-TV "A bill moving through the state Legislature could increase employment opportunities for Montana veterans. The Bill would allow veterans to apply for scholarships through the Department of Labor for short term job training." The "bill has already passed the Senate, and had its first hearing in the House on Monday."

16.                       Vouchers For Homeless Veterans Face Budget Ax. San Francisco Chronicle  The "fiscal 2011-12 budget proposed in the House of Representatives by the Republican majority would eliminate funding for all 10,000 vouchers that the government plans to issue for veterans next year. The program that generates the vouchers, a joint project of the departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, is the only one of its kind."

17.                       How Long Can Widow Keep Military Insurance, ID's?  "Sgt. Shaft" column for the Washington Times  Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki is "encouraging interested colleges and universities to join" VA in "participating in the Post-9/11 GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Program for the upcoming 2011-2012 academic year. 'Through shared responsibility, VA and our Nation's colleges and universities are working together to ensure that our Servicemembers, Veterans and dependents receive the education benefits they have earned,'" said Shinseki. "The Yellow Ribbon Program is a provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill that allows degree-granting institutions to voluntarily enter into a formal agreement with VA to fund tuition and fee expenses that exceed either the annual $17,500 private institutions cap recently instituted by Congress or the in-state tuition and fees charged out-of-state residents attending public institutions."

18.                       Gates, Shinseki Agree To Joint Electronic Records. American Forces Press Service “Two years after they joined President Barack Obama in announcing plans to create a Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki have agreed to create a joint common platform for their departments' electronic medical records. Gates and Shinseki agreed in concept to create the joint common platform during a March 17 session, giving their staffs an early May deadline to come up with an implementation plan, VA Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould told American Forces Press Service."

19.                       Defense Passes On Web-Only Traumatic Brain Injury Tests. NextGov  "A new tool to measure traumatic brain injury will work over the Web but will not require Internet access so it can be used in combat zones with limited or no connectivity, the Defense Department personnel chief told Congress" in a "report late last month." In "another report submitted to Congress last month, the Defense-Veterans Affairs Interagency Program Office said computer systems installed at the James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, a jointly managed VA-Navy medical facility in Chicago cannot automatically manage pharmacy orders."

20.                       US Vets' Heart Failure Death Rates Seem To Be Improving. HealthDay "Elderly US veterans are far less likely to die after hospitalization for heart failure than they were in the late 1990s, a new study indicates." For the study, which is "published in the April 5 online edition of the journal Circulation: Heart Failure," researchers "examined data on more than 21,000 veterans aged 80 and older who were hospitalized at least once for heart failure between 1999 and 2008. They found that ...

21.                       New Program Offers N.J. Veterans Free Consultations With Doctors With Military Service. Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger "The 1,500 members of the New Jersey National Guard who have returned from combat over the last 18 months will get the chance to meet with a doctor to discuss coping with the 'invisible' wounds of war: post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, officials announced" this week.  "A program launched...by the New Jersey Medical Society and the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs is recruiting doctors who have served in the military themselves and are willing to volunteer their time to meet with service members, said Donald Cinotti, the society's president,"

22.                       Conference Held, Supporting Female Vets. WDIO-TV Duluth, MN   "Women who have served in the military were the focus of an event" this week in Duluth. The "We Fight the Same Fight conference drew about 60 female veterans along with service providers and organizations that work with them. The goal is to connect women with programs that can help them."

23.                       Get Vets To The Clinic. Pensacola (FL) News Journal "Santa Rosa County wants help getting veterans to medical appointments at the military clinic in Pensacola. The county is looking for corporate funding and other sponsorships for the 'Vets to VA Clinics' program that would help shuttle veterans who do not have transportation from Santa Rosa County to the Joint Ambulatory Care Center in West Pensacola."

24.                       VA Hospital Helps The Community Food Bank. KMPH-TV  "A friendly competition" at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Fresno "brought in a lot of canned food items to help the hungry. The department that collected the most food got to be in charge for a day, but the real winner was the Community Food Bank, which collected the donations. 'This is a spectacular year because although doing it for 12 years we usually got three, four, five tons. I think last year we got six tons. This is 8.8 tons of food,' said Al Perry with" the VA hospital.

25.                       VA CIO Erred In Firing Martinez, Judge Rules. Federal Computer Week "Roger Baker, CIO and assistant secretary for information and technology at the Veterans Affairs Department, was wrong to fire a former deputy assistant secretary in the information and technology office, a federal administrative judge has ruled. The VA must reinstate Katherine Adair Martinez, former deputy assistant secretary for information protection and risk management, to that position, effective retroactively to Feb. 5, 2010, ruled Lynn Yovino, administrative judge with the Merit Systems Protection Board on April 1. Martinez, who worked in the Bay Pines, Fla. field office, was the subject of an August 2009 report from...VA's inspector general" that "said investigators had determined that Martinez misused her position, abused her authority, engaged in prohibited personnel practices, failed to provide proper contract oversight and did not fulfill her duties as a contracting officer's technical representative."

26.                       An Overdue Welcome. Powell (WY) Tribune

27.                       Veterans Court One Step Away From Reality. Pierce (WI) County Herald  "The Pierce County Veterans Court is now one step away from becoming reality after the Finance and Personnel Committee approved its creation Monday." In "addition to the Veterans Court, the Pierce County Veterans Mentor Program will also be established." The "all-volunteer program to be run by the Veterans Mentor Program Committee along with the Veterans Service Office" is "designed to provide mentor support to the veterans involved."

28.                       VA To Participate In Pilot Program. Alexandria (LA) Town Talk

29.                       VA Clinic Siting Expected To Wind Up By Year's End. Eugene (OR) Register-Guard

30.                       Small Group Gathers To Protest Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center. WJBF-TV

31.                       West Linn Plans To Install Two New Bus Shelters For Local Veteran Clinic, Food Pantry Transit Riders. Oregonian

32.                       Woman Allegedly Killed By Husband In Mount Pleasant Worked At Saginaw VA Hospital. Saginaw (MI) News

33.                       Habitat Surprises Veteran With Home. Savannah (GA) Morning News

34.                       Navy Veteran The Inspiration For "Eddie And Bingo: A Friendship Tale." Ventura County (CA) Star

35.                       88-Year-Old Ala. World War II Veteran Awarded Medals For Service. AP