Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

Veterans!  Here’s your Top 10 News stories of the day compiled from the latest sources

We encourage you to browse our list so that you can take what you want and keep what you need…

1. Pastor pleads guilty to federal fraud.  The State  A Batesburg-Leesville church pastor pleaded guilty last week to embezzling $105519 from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. William C. Padgett entered the plea in US District Court on March 17, according to federal court documents. …

2. Stratford Woman Sentenced to Federal Prison.  Patch.com  In accordance with her fiduciary duties, Pack received funds from the US Department of Veterans Affairs that were to be used solely for the veteran’s care and benefit. Instead, Pack used significant portions of the monthly benefit payments, …

3. Damaged WWII headstones to be replaced by U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.  Corpus Christi Caller Times  Staff at Rose Hill Memorial Park have been contacted by Texas Veterans Commission officials who are helping get the headstones replaced. The US Department of Veterans Affairs will replace damaged headstones, but not without military documents of the …

4. New G.I. Bill Chops Student Vet Benefits.  FrumForum  Daniel Caldwell, a senior at Arizona State University who served four years in the Marine Corps and has written a blogpost critical of the new GI Bill for the Veterans Administration’s website, told me that such a measure would have cut his benefits by …

5. PSC’s Veterans Affairs Office Gives Veterans Tools To Succeed.  eNews Park Forest..Chicago Heights, IL –  Prairie State College’s Veterans Affairs Office gives veterans a supportive environment to aid them in their educational journey. Veterans receive one-on-one counseling, advising and support throughout the entire …

6. Lotto funds for veteran services? Milwaukee News Buzz  By Matt Hrodey Three of the state’s largest veterans groups – the Wisconsin chapters of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans – are siding against the state Department of Veterans Affairs in the debate …

7. Veterans Stand Together – Or Do They? | Uppity Wisconsin.  By Steve Wagener  First, there is State Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs Ken Black. Black has been quite clear in his feelings about the new proposed budget when he said, “I understand that the governor is in a fix,” he said. …

8. Veterans to learn more about Super Clinic.  Opelousas Daily World  American military veterans in south Louisiana will soon have a clearer idea where they will receive more convenient and more comprehensive medical care in the future. The March 31 deadline is approaching for the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ RFP …

9. Veterans check out options.  Salisbury Post  But under a voc-ational rehabilitation and employment program, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs pays veterans like Ward with a service-related disability to go back to college. Ward said Thursday he used to have a career in justice administration as …

10. Veteran meeting draws a crowd.  Seguin Gazette-Enterprise  However, legislation concerning Agent Orange resulted in 200000 additional claims being filed with the US Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Kenneth Little, assistant veterans service center manager in Houston. “We’re working to finish up all …

HAVE YOU HEARD?

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION ANNUAL REPORT NOW AVAILABLE

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report for FY 2010 is now available. This report presents the accomplishments, initiatives, and measurable outcomes of VA’s efforts toward realizing the goals and objectives of VA’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan for FY 2009-2013. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) is proud to lead the effort in cultivating a diverse workforce and inclusive work environment in VA, in collaboration with its three Administrations—Veterans Health Administration, Veterans Benefits Administration, National Cemetery Administration—and our Staff Offices. The Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report provides narrative and statistical information on accomplishments by organization and VA-wide, and includes program output and outcome metrics in a wide variety of equal employment opportunity, diversity, employee engagement, and conflict management areas.

IN OTHER NEWS

• Solano supervisors to focus on services to veterans, their families in April.  Vallejo Times-Herald  The theme of the monthlong effort is “Serving our Veterans, Armed Forces and their Families.” According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, more than 40000 veterans live in Solano County. The county is also home to Travis Air Force Base, …

• Perkins appointed as Deputy Commissioner of Veterans Affairs.  Norwalk Plus magazine  His rich background is a valuable asset that will serve the veterans of our state well.” “It’s an honor and privilege to serve in Governor Malloy’s administration, working on behalf of our state’s veterans,” said Perkins. “As a veteran myself, …

• Veterans told to reach out to returning soldiers.  NewsOK.com  The Veterans Affairs Department, which received $35.9 million of state funds this fiscal year, is seeking an increase of $8.4 million. Most of the money would be used for 126 additional nursing positions in the state’s seven veterans centers and to pay …

• VA Enlists Harsh Critics As It Belatedly Embraces The Web. Stars And Stripes “Eighteen months after writing…heated words” on his own blog about a dispute he had with the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Alex Horton is “now a professional blogger for…VA, working” with Brandon Friedman, “VA’s first director of new media.” Their mission is to revolutionize how…VA interacts with veterans on the Internet, so that veterans can get information, and people with complaints like Horton had can get answers,” as Horton did when Friedman helped him resolve his dispute with VA. Freidman’s team has “launched VA’s official blog, VAntage Point,” which runs uncensored material, even from people dissatisfied with VA and its secretary.

• VA Defends Its Use Of Social Media Against Claims That It’s Not Reaching Out To Vets. Government Computer News

• VA Secretary Advocates Use Of IT To Curb Costs Associated With Claims. iHealthBeat On Tuesday, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said that prompt adoption of IT across the agency will be necessary to help contain the expected rise in costs from health and benefits claims filed by returning Afghanistan and Iraq war personnel. In his remarks during an American Legion conference” in Washington, DC, Shinseki “said that the economic downturn also is contributing to the rise in claims and added that ‘merely hiring more claims processors won’t give [VA] an added capability to dominate this kind of growth pattern.’ President Obama’s $132 billion VA budget proposal for 2012 includes: $3.1 billion for IT infrastructure, work force and modernized IT systems; and $70 million for development of the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record project.”

• Disabled American Veterans Winter Sports Clinic At Snowmass Looking For Volunteers. Glenwood Springs (CO) Post Independent

• Vice President Joe Biden To Visit Snowmass. Snowmass (CO) Village Sun “Vice President Joe Biden is expected to arrive in Snowmass Village for a family vacation, officials confirmed Wednesday.” Some “have speculated that Biden’s visit, which coincides with the start of the National Disabled Winter Sports Clinic, is not just random.”

• Wisconsin Sets Aside Day To Recognize Medal Of Honor Recipients. AP “Wisconsin residents who have received the Medal of Honor will be honored on today.” Setting “aside a day to recognize Medal of Honor recipients was passed by the Legislature last year.”

• Niantic Man Named Veteran Affairs Deputy Commissioner. New London (CT) Day Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has “appointed Joseph T. Perkins, of Niantic, as Deputy Commissioner of Veterans Affairs.”

• Information Systems Makes It Hard For VA And DOD To Coordinate Care, GAO Says. Federal Computer Week “The two agencies most closely involved in providing medical care for severely wounded combat personnel are faltering because of a lack of compatibility in their information systems, according to a new report” from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). “The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments’ care coordinators cannot readily identify eligible patients for their jointly operated Federal Recovery Coordination Program using existing data sources, states the report issued March 23.

• Female Vets Face Homelessness, Job Loss. WTFX-TV The number “of female vets who are homeless is twice that of women who’ve never served.” However, a non-profit veterans organization has set up ….

• Vermont Female Veterans Share Stories At History Event. Burlington (VT) Free Press

• Female Veterans In County Increase. Olean (NY) Times Herald

• HONOR Center In Southeast Gainesville Provides Safety Net For Homeless Vets. Gainesville Sun “The HONOR Center in southeast Gainesville, where homeless vets can get help, includes a residential facility on the west side of the building and offices on the east side.” Since …

• Southern Maryland Community Calendar. “Veterans Administration mobile center, for veterans and their spouses, health-care plan enrollment, job resources and housing and financial services. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. March 31, Charlotte Hall Veterans Home,” located at “29449 Charlotte Hall Rd.”

• Ceremony Recognizing Former POWs Planned For April 6. Albuquerque Journal A “free and open to the public” ceremony recognizing former prisoners of war (POWs) “will be held from 11 a.m. to noon” at the Raymond G. Murphy Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Albuquerque on April 6th.

• Soldier On Residents In Northampton Excited By Partnership With Veterans Affairs To Build Housing Units. Springfield (MA) Republican Formerly homeless veteran Paul Seibold, who has been “working and living on the campus of Soldier On at the Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center” in Leeds, Massachusetts, “smiled with the prospect of a new place” on the hospital’s campus.

• Patient Advocate Says Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center Needs Work. WAGT-TV Patient care advocate Tim Hollobaugh “spends hours a day helping patients and employees” of the Charlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which, according to Hollobaugh, is “probably the worst hospital” he has “seen as far as giving continuity of care and consistent care” to veterans. In Hallobouh’s “opinion, the recent …

• Savient Gets US Contract For Gout, Weight-Gain Drugs. Reuters Savient Pharmaceuticals said it will supply its gout drug, Krystexxa, and weight-gain drug, Oxandrin, for five years to the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

• WWII Vet Discovers He’s Not A US Citizen. Yahoo “Ninety-five-year-old Leeland Davidson discovered recently that he’s not considered” a US citizen, “despite living nearly 100 years in the country and serving” in the US Navy during WWII.

• Farm Pilots Equine Therapy Program Saratoga War Horse To Help Veterans. Troy (NY) Record Bob Nevins is bothered by the fact that “almost as many active-duty military, National Guard and reservists are now dying by their own hand – from suicide – than from enemy attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq.” So this “spring, he and a team of equine experts will launch Saratoga War Horse, an alternative program based on famed horseman Monty Roberts’ ‘Join-Up’ techniques, better known as horse-whispering.” The “goal is to help returning soldiers get back on solid emotional ground by working through their problems with …

• Army Shines Light On TBI Vision Problems. Army News Service The US Army, “with the support of the Vision Center of Excellence, launched a new Army Traumatic Brain Injury Vision Rehabilitation Initiative in February.” Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a “significant injury of current military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The Army “initiative is designed to ensure” that soldiers “with TBI-associated eye problems are diagnosed and referred, if needed, for comprehensive, functional eye examinations and rehabilitative care.”

• Therapist Honored For Pro Bono Work With Troubled Vets. KPIX-TV “At least one in five Americans who’ve served in Iraq and Afghanistan returns” with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This “week’s Jefferson Award in the Bay Area” goes to East Bay therapist Christina Madlener, who “founded the nonprofit, Veterans Resource, that offers” eye movement desensitization and processing (EMDR) “pro bono for veterans with PTSD.”