Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1.      Shinseki To Appear At Clinic Naming Celebration. The Minneapolis Star Tribune (9/11, Brunswick) reports that Veterans Affairs Secretary Erik Shinseki will appear at the celebration of the official naming of the Max J. Beilke Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic. The Tribune adds that Shinseki is a personal friend of the Beilke, a 9/11 victim.

 2.      New Veterans Affairs Office In Nebraska Holds A Ceremony. The Lincoln (NE) Journal Star (9/11, Pascale) reports that a new 50,000 square foot office that the VA said will “add about a hundred jobs…by the end of the year” had a ceremony celebrating its opening in Nebraska. The Journal Star adds that “about 300 people, including government officials, Veteran Affairs employees and numerous veterans, crammed into a meeting space for the ceremony.”

 3.      VA Approves $2.8 Million For Three Gulf War Illness Research Projects. The Wadena (MN) Pioneer Journal (9/11, Anderson) reports, “The Department of Veterans Affairs has approved $2.8 million to fund three new research projects that focus on testing or developing new treatments for illnesses affecting veterans who served in the Gulf War 1990-1991. The research incorporates recommendations of the department’s Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses Task Force.” The Pioneer Journal adds, “The studies are expected to take between two to five years to complete.”

 4.      New Report Says FLITE System Off-Track Due To Lack Of VA Manager Participation. Federal Computer Week (9/10, Lipowicz) reports, “Managers at the Veterans Affairs Department didn’t participate in key conference calls with a contractor — submitting written comments instead — that resulted in missed opportunities to keep a pilot project for the department’s Financial and Logistics Integrated Technology Enterprises (FLITE) financial management IT system modernization on track, according to a new report.” The Computer Week adds that Belinda Finn wrote in her report that “many development problems could have been better dealt with if VA employees and the contractor ‘spent more time working side-by-side in a collaborative environment instead of in an environment that encouraged passing documents back and forth.'” The Computer Week also adds that “Overall, Finn concluded that the VA did not adequately monitor contractor performance, foster collaboration, provide staffing or ensure that necessary software was available while overseeing a pilot project in the ‘FLITE’ financial modernization program.”

 5.      Indiana Man Accused Of Masquerading As A Veteran To Scam Money. The AP (9/10) reports, “A man masquerading as a down-on-his-luck soldier needing travel funds scammed good Samaritans out of nearly $500 before police caught up with him, a prosecutor said Friday.” The AP adds, “James Schuder, 43, of Indianapolis, faces seven misdemeanor counts each of deception and panhandling. He was being held on $14,000 bond Friday at the Johnson County Jail in Franklin, about 20 miles south of Indianapolis. Seven counts carry maximum penalties of a year in jail and $5,000 fines. The others have penalties of 60 days and $500 fines.”

6.      Prudential Insurance Sued Over Veteran Life-Insurance Claims. Bloomberg News (9/10, Rosenblatt) reports, “Prudential Insurance Co. of America was sued over claims it earns interest of more than 5.69 percent on veterans’ life-insurance policies and pays beneficiaries only 1 percent.” Bloomberg adds that the “insurer, a unit of Prudential Financial Inc. ‘paid to beneficiaries on the accrued claims only one percent interest on the accrued monies as of the day of death or traumatic injury of the insured,’ according to the lawsuit, filed today in federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts.” Bloomberg also reports that the “suit seeks class action, or group, status. It was brought by Kevin and Joyce Lucey, the beneficiaries of a $250,000 life insurance policy for their son, Jeffrey Lucey, a former member of the armed forces who died in 2004, according to the suit.”

 7.      Malone Selected To Become A Guardian During Tennessee Valley Honor Flight. The Army News Service (9/11, Ford) reports that Sophia Malone, a “US Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command employee,” “is among the 40 guardians selected out of 800 applicants to accompany World War II veterans on the final Tennessee Valley Honor Flight scheduled for Sept. 11.” The Army News Service adds that she “will accompany retired Army Lt. Col. Ed Ottman, Navy Technical Sgt. 5 Gene Mahoney and Army veteran Leonard Brooks on their flight to visit the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.”

 8.      First Clinic For Women Veterans Opens In Portland, Oregon. The Oregonian (9/11, Sullivan) reports, “For the first time, Worthington and other women veterans can get checkups, cancer and osteoporosis screenings, gynecologic treatment (from infertility to six weeks postpartum) and talk about their mental health all in one new Center for Women’s Health.” The Oregonian adds that women “are the fastest-growing military population, with 21,245 female veterans in Oregon and southwest Washington.”

 9.      Former WWII Prisoner Of War Invited Back Into Japan. KGTV-TV San Diego (9/10) reports on its website that Lester Tenney, “a local Army veteran who survived as a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II” is “heading back thanks to an invitation by the Japanese government.” KGTV-TV adds that Lester, a La Costa resident, “survived the war in the Philippines, including the infamous Bataan Death March, and survived three years of slave labor in a Japanese coal mine” and since then has “helped organize a drive at La Costa Glen Retirement Community to send care packages to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

 10.    Funeral Services For Navajo Code Talker Have Been Rescheduled. The AP (9/10) reports, “The memorial service for Allen Dale June originally was set for Monday in Page. Tribal officials say the funeral now will be on Wednesday morning and June still will be buried in his hometown of Kaibeto on the Navajo Nation.”