Top 10 News for Veterans from Around the Country – 07-27-08

     1.  Peake "Clears Way" For Advertising Veterans’ Benefits.   The Marine Corp Times (7/27, Jowers) reports, "Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James Peake has cleared the way for VA to purchase advertising in media outlets to get the word out to veterans about their eligibility for benefits." Sen. Daniel Akaka "said he is pleased" with the new policy, because "these announcements will provide another means to reach the entire veterans population." He also "said he is concerned that despite VA’s best efforts to reach out to National Guard and Reserve veterans, ‘it seems clear that some are still unaware of all that VA has to offer and how to access those services and those benefits.’"
      Pilot Program Advertising VA’s Suicide Prevention Begins.   The Biloxi Sun Herald (7/25) reports, "Veterans and other residents of metropolitan Washington, DC, have begun seeing outreach information on buses and inside subway cars about the suicide prevention hotline of the Department of Veterans Affairs." Sec. Peake said of the program, "It takes the courage and strength of a warrior to ask for help. That’s the message of this outreach." The Sun Herald notes that "the ads are the latest outreach tool in a suicide prevention program" which also includes the hotlines creation and an expansion of suicide prevention programs at VA clinics.

2.      Former Mayor Must Repay VA Benefits After Falsifying Record.   The AP (7/27, Parry) reports, "Before and after Robert Levy spoke in a federal courthouse in Camden yesterday, US District Judge Jerome Simandle cited evidence from prosecutors and Department of Veterans Affairs officials that" former Atlantic City mayor Robert Levy "was making up important parts of" his military service claims. "Simandle let Levy off without a prison term, although the disgraced former mayor will have to repay the $25,198 he wrongly got from the government, plus a $5,000 fine, and serve three years’ probation." The judge said, "This case is ultimately a sad case of human failure that was provoked and promoted by being asked as a 17-year-old to do some very difficult and dangerous duty on behalf of their country."

3.      VA Addressing Issue Of Female-Specific Care, Including Assault.   The AP (7/27) reports, "Sexual assault and harassment involving service women is not a new consequence of war. But the sheer number of women serving today more than 190,000 so far in Iraq and Afghanistan is forcing the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs to more aggressively address the issue." In January, "the VA opened its 16th inpatient ward specializing in treating victims of military sexual trauma. And in response to complaints that it is too male-focused in its care, the VA is making changes such as adding keyless entry locks on hospital-room doors so women patients feel safer."

4.      Retirees To Benefit From New Concurrent Receipt Regulations.   The Tacoma News Tribune (7/27, Philpott) reports, "New groups of disabled retirees will soon be able to draw Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) or higher amounts of Concurrent Retired Disability Payments (CRDP) under legislation passed this year. The eligibility review process will involve the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and the services screening thousands of disabled retiree files to determine millions of dollars in additional ‘concurrent receipt’ payments."

5.      Navy SEAL Creates Group To Help Veterans Pursue Public Service Careers.   The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (7/27, O’Connor) profiles Navy SEAL Eric Greitens, who visited wounded soldiers and noticed that, while the vets received many visitors "who thanked the injured for their service… what they didn’t have was someone who told them, ‘We need you, we still believe in you… and we want you to come home and be a contributor to the community." Greitens then "established the Center for Citizen Leadership," using "the $3,500 in combat pay he had earned in Iraq." The group helps "wounded and disabled soldiers pursue careers in public service."

6.      New Veterans Cemetery Named For Army Installation.   In a widely published story, the AP (7/27) reports, "The US Department of Veterans Affairs has announced that South Carolina’s new veterans cemetery will bear the name of the Army installation where it is located. Cemetery director Gene Linxwiler told The State newspaper of Columbia on Friday that the Fort Jackson National Cemetery should be ready for its first burials by late November."

7.      VA Evaluating Contract With Clinic Operators Amid Recent Criticism.   The Wilmington Morning Star (7/27, Ware) reports, "The US Department of Veterans Affairs is evaluating its contract with the private company that staffs the veterans outpatient clinic in Wilmington, a VA official confirmed Friday." Jim Belmont, acting public affairs officer for the VA Medical Center in Fayetteville, said "the contract with Magnum Joint Venture… expires Nov. 28," and "all contracts are reviewed for quality and need on an ongoing basis." The clinic was criticized on Thursday by Lisa Lynch, a laboratory technician at the clinic, who said "the quality of care that our veterans are getting in that clinic is unbelievable."

8.      Wyoming Creates Veterans Advocacy Program To Augment Federal Services.   The Casper Star-Tribune (7/27, Rupp) profiles Leon Chamberlain, a veteran who works with a Wyoming veterans advocate program created because "people thought veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan needed more help than what the federal government offers." The program also aims to help families, because the VA "has a lot of services for veterans but not for the families. The advocates can help link the families to more local resources."

9.      Officials Considering Leasing VA-Owned Property.   The AP (7/27) reports, "Veterans Affairs officials are considering a plan under which several unused buildings at its Marion health care campus could be leased to developers and used for new purposes. Potential uses could include senior housing and assisted living facilities, with the VA offering 75-year leases on the buildings."

10.    Local Center Receives Grant To Promote Employment Of Wounded Veterans.   The Jackson County Floridan (7/27, Kern) reports, "Some area veterans will soon have help finding employment under the wing of Life Management Center of Northwest Florida. The center was recently awarded a $60,000 grant from The Able Trust to develop a program that will promote employment opportunities for veterans who have mental health diagnoses or substance abuse problems."

11.    Texas VA Administrator Retires.   The Big Spring Herald (7/27, Reagan) reports, "Michael Bell, who has led the West Texas VA Health Care System which is comprised of the local hospital and clinics in its outlying service area since 2006, announced his resignation this week. … In the wake of Bell’s departure, Chris Bacorn has been named acting director of the WTVAHCS." Meanwhile, "recruitment of a permanent medical center director has begun. The process is likely to take at least three or four months, officials said."

12.    Researchers Say PTSD May Soon Be Diagnosed With Brain Imaging.   The San Francisco Chronicle (7/27, Berton) reports, "San Francisco physicist Norbert Schuff [recently] captured his colleagues’ attention when he presented colorful brain images of US soldiers who had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan and were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder." The images showed damage to several parts of the brain. "As the technology of brain imaging improves and the resulting data are refined, doctors believe that one day they will be able to look at a computer screen and see PTSD as clearly as they now see a brain tumor." According to the Chronicle, "Schuff’s research is at the forefront of a bold push by the Department of Defense to address PTSD."

13.    Veteran’s Widow Calls For End To SBP-DIC Offset.   In an op-ed for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (7/27, Salie), Deanna B. Salie, the wife of a veteran killed in Iraq, argues that the SBP-DIC offset "is supposedly intended to prevent double dipping from two similar benefit plans. But the Survivors Benefit Plan and Dependents Indemnity Compensation are provided for different reasons, and the offset leaves many military families with no survivors’ benefits at all. Others receive only the pittance that’s left over after the offset is deducted." She supports "two bills [that] are pending in Congress," which "would eliminate the offset and help the families of our fallen."

14.    Mortgage Bill Heads To Bush’s Desk After 72-13 Passage In Senate.   On Saturday morning, the Senate passed the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 on a 72-13 vote, with 15 senators not voting.      The AP (7/26, Davis) reports, "Congress approved mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners Saturday as part of an election-year housing plan that also aims to calm jittery financial markets and bolster the sagging economy. President Bush said he would sign it promptly, despite reservations. The measure, regarded as the most significant housing legislation in decades, lets homeowners who cannot afford their payments refinance into more affordable government-backed loans rather than losing their homes." The President "had withdrawn his veto threat earlier in the week over $3.9 billion in neighborhood grants. He contended the money would benefit lenders who helped cause the mortgage meltdown, encouraging them to foreclose rather than work with borrowers."
      On its front page, the Washington Post (7/27, A1, Montgomery, Kane, 696K) reports that even as a "huge bipartisan majority in the Senate voted yesterday to send a sprawling housing bill to the White House, economists, consumer advocates and other analysts said the package of programs for struggling homeowners and shaken mortgage lenders is unlikely to relieve the foreclosure crisis that is driving the nation toward recession." Economic Policy Institute economist Jared Bernstein said, "This is not the end of the housing crunch. Housing prices have already fallen 15 percent and they need to fall 10 percent more. This bill isn’t going to change that equation."

15.    Soldier’s Funeral Draws Hundreds In Massachusetts.   The AP (7/26) reports, "Hundreds of mourners trekked up a flag-lined street Saturday for the funeral of Army Staff Sgt. Alex Jimenez, whose body was found 14 months after he and two fellow soldiers were captured during an ambush in Iraq. His father, Ramon ‘Andy’ Jimenez, wore his son’s dog tags around his neck, and his mother, Maria Duran, placed a cross atop his casket inside St. Mary of the Assumption Church, where the future staff sergeant had received his First Communion. … Waiting at the foot of the church steps were Gov. Deval Patrick, Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray and U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, Massachusetts Democrat, who represents the city in Congress."