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. Veterans shelter hangs in balance. Tbo.com The nonprofit agency had received nearly $500000 from the US Department of Veterans Affairs to provide transitional housing for homeless veterans. St. Jude’s planned to buy a church building on Ridge Road and convert it to a 30-bed transitional housing …
2. Long deployments for Reserves to continue?< The Army is reviewing its strategy for employing the Army Reserve and National Guard after Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom end. Reserve forces make up slightly more than half of the total force of 1.1 million soldiers, and the reservists have pulled their weight in combat deployments over the past decade: over a third of the soldiers deploying have been reservists or guardsmen.
3. Oregon Legislature kills faith healing defense, requires veteran ID. House Bill 3611 would require people submitting death certificates to make reasonable efforts to find out if the deceased was a veteran, served in combat, and if so, where. The US Department of Veterans Affairs released preliminary data that indicates …
4. Enhanced Online News The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has selected Dell from numerous competitive bids to provide client PC technology and services for more than 1200 sites nationwide.New legislation to help veterans get access to health care. Penfield Post The senator introduced legislation today that would improve access to health care and other benefits for veterans by requiring the US Department of Veterans Affairs to inform all new veterans of the benefits in which they are eligible. 
5. Veterans director works to get word out about benefits for ex-military. The Mercury For more information about the many state and federal benefits available, visit the Montgomery County Veterans Affairs website, or US Department of Veterans Affairs, VA.gov
6. Recombinant Partners with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Enhanced Online. News In a 2008 survey of US veterans, 83% favored creating a system like GenISIS, and 71% said they would definitely or probably participate. “Recombinant is pleased to support the US Department of Veterans Affairs in its genomic research program,”
7. North Jersey veterans receive state service medal. NorthJersey.com Any veteran who lives in New Jersey, was a state resident at the time of service and was honorably discharged is eligible for the medal, according to the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and can fill out an application. …
8. PA Veterans Received More than $1.5 Billion in VA Compensation. PR Newswire The DMVA Office for Veterans Affairs’ mission is to provide advice, assistance and resources to Pennsylvania’s veterans and their families, and to provide quality care for residents of the state’s veteran’s nursing homes. If you are a veteran, …
9. Veteran’s Family Asking About Their Money. KGNS She has attempted to speak to those in charge here and across the state but has not gotten word back from them. “The VA here and the clinic they don’t want to respond. The San Antonio fiduciary does not respond and the VA, they don’t respond. …
10.  The Franklin Sun The Veterans Affairs Office in Richland Parish is one of 22 veteran’s service offices headed for the chopping block if budget revisions passed last week by the House Appropriations Committee …War veterans show Games can play important part in recovery USA Today Rose, a 32-year-old Navy Corpsman from Shinnston, W.Va., suffered a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder during a July 2009 explosion in Iraq. By Dana Romanoff, Special for USA TODAY Justin Rose competes in the standing discus …

Have You Heard?

The Presidential Citizens Medal

From The White House

Good morning,

Last year I asked the public to help identify outstanding Americans I should consider for the Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor. After receiving more than 6,000 nominations, I invited 13 outstanding Americans to the White House to receive the medal and be recognized for their service.

It’s time to do it again.

Like last year, we’re looking for Americans who have performed exemplary deeds of service outside of their regular jobs and provided inspiration for others to serve. You can view the full criteria and get started on a nomination here:

Now I know there are thousands of citizens out there who meet these criteria — I read their letters every night, and I meet many of them in my travels around the country.  I also know that many times their contributions go unrecognized.  The 2011 Citizens Medal is a chance to recognize the everyday heroes in your community.

Here are a few examples of Citizens Medal recipients from last year.

Betty Kwan Chinn was homeless as a child in China and became mute. When she came to America, Betty found her voice and her calling. Today, she provides meals to the homeless in her community twice a day as expressions of gratitude to a welcoming nation.

Susan Retik Ger is a widow who lost her husband on 9/11 who found cause in educating and training Afghan widows and their children.
 
George Weiss, Jr. is veteran of World War II who founded the Fort Snelling Memorial Rifle Squad, a group of over 125 volunteers who have performed final military honors at over 55,000 veterans’ funerals.

Their stories are powerful reminders of the impact an individual can have on his or her community and on the world. You can watch them tell their stories in a video gallery on WhiteHouse.gov:

If you know someone like Betty, Susan or George, please take a moment to nominate them for the 2011 Citizens Medal before May 30.

Sincerely,

President Barack Obama

More Veterans News

1. WatertownDailyTimes.com To qualify, property owners must have an award letter acknowledging disabled status from Social Security, the Railroad Retirement Board, US Postal Service or US Department of Veterans Affairs or a certificate from the state Commission for the Blind and …AP “Rolling Thunder, a non-profit group that draws attention to American troops who fought in wars and are still unaccounted for, is organizing a motorcycle ride this weekend to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The ride and demonstration” will take place on Sunday in Washington, DC.  Rolling Thunder Group To Stage Weekend Ride, Demonstration In DC. 
2. Louisville Courier-Journal “About 300 motorcyclists, comprised of military veterans and their supporters, will arrive around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday at the Robley Rex VA Medical Center to visit with patients.” The “motorcyclists are participating in the annual pilgrimage called ‘Run for the Wall.’ Each year in May the riders come together in an ongoing effort to increase public awareness and support for American prisoners of war and those missing in action.” 
3. CQ “The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved a fiscal 2012 Military Construction-VA spending bill that would provide $1.3 billion less in discretionary funding than President Obama requested.” The “draft measure, approved by voice vote,” would “increase overall funding for veterans’ health and benefits programs while decreasing funding for military construction.”
4.  Politico More “active-duty soldiers and veterans have died from suicide than from combat wounds over the past two years – and Congress wants to know why the Veterans Administration has not done more to prevent it.” On Wednesday, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee “will put the question…to Janet Kemp, national suicide prevention coordinator at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The impetus for the committee hearing: a ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this month that lamented the VA’s ‘unchecked incompetence’ in dealing with the mental health of veterans.”
5. Air Force News Service “Officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs announced May 17 that special disaster assistance may be available to veterans with VA-guaranteed home loans who have been affected by recent tornados.” Eric Shinseki, VA’s secretary, commented on the assistance, stating that his agency “wants to do everything” it “can to help veterans and their families during this difficult time. It is important for veterans to be aware of their rights and understand there are many resources available to help them recover from this disaster.”
6. New Computer Technology Part Of VA Plan To Reduce Claims Backlog. Molokai Dispatch “Tim Dyhouse wrote a article in the April 2011 issue of VFW magazine, about how the VA hopes new computer technology, better business practices and greater employee accountability are going to be the keys to reducing its claims backlog.” Veterans Affairs “wants to eliminate all pending compensation and pension claims by 2015, and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki wants all claims processed within 125 days at a 98 percent accuracy rate.”
7. Oregon House Backs Restoration Of Medical Services At Roseburg VA.< Roseburg (OR) News-Review “The Oregon House of Representatives unanimously passed a measure Monday urging the US Department of Veterans Affairs to restore the Roseburg VA Medical Center to a full-service hospital with an intensive care unit.” The “measure now heads to the Senate.” The legislative “action was taken as Veterans Affairs Secretary Erik Shinseki decides on the future of medical care at the Roseburg hospital.”
8. North Jersey Veterans Receive State Service Medal.< Bergen (NJ) Record “Plenty of contrasts were evident among a group of 50 war veterans who assembled Tuesday for an awards ceremony at Paramus Park Mall – from the depth of the lines in their faces to the parts of the world in which they served. But the event, organized by the state Department of Military and Veteran’s Affairs, was meant to acknowledge the things the veterans had in common, including a debt from Uncle Sam.” “As their family members, shoppers and local officials looked on, the veterans approached a podium, one by one, and received state medals recognizing their service.”
9.  USA Today 198 “men and women from all military branches competed last week in the second annual Warrior Games, held at the US Olympic Training Center and other venues in Colorado Springs. The Games, with events ranging from track and field to wheelchair basketball, showcased a can-do sports culture that has taken root among combat-wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and helped many in their recovery.” The “confluence of these veterans’ ambitions with increased government funding” from The Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs, “more support and expertise from organizations such as the US Olympic Committee, and dramatic advances in adaptive sports equipment has made sports a more prominent part of veterans’ rehabilitation than in previous wars.”
10. Air Force News Service “Since Sept. 11, 2001, the number of service members processing through the Disability Evaluation System has increased.” Manpower was increased in the US Air Force to meet this need, AFNS adds, “Further improvements in Air Force disability evaluations are coming as the Air Force implements the Integrated Disability Evaluation System at all bases by the end of September, officials said.” Officials “said the IDES was developed to increase transparency, eliminate redundancies and discrepancies between service disability evaluations and the Department of Veterans Affairs disability claims process, and to decrease the time between an Airman’s separation or retirement from military service and the start of Veterans Affairs disability benefits.”
11. CNN Problems at home experienced by Iraq veteran Shane Parham, who has post-traumatic stress-disorder (PTSD). “About 20 percent of service members who’ve returned from Iraq and Afghanistan test positive for PTSD, studies show. They display the same symptoms as Parham and get into the same kind of trouble involving alcohol, drug abuse and domestic violence,” and y many of them “are at risk for suicide”
12. Las Vegas Review-Journal The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Combat Trauma Conference is scheduled to take place on Wednesday and Thursday of this week at the school’s Richard Tam Alumni Center. Elizabeth Gifford of the VA Palo Alto Health Care System is scheduled to speak at the conference, which aims to help professionals assist female veterans facing problems like post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, military sexual trauma, and homelessness.
13. Veterans Affairs encouraged Pam Cuthbert, director of veterans programs at Goodwill, to “apply for a grant to help pay for a housing complex for homeless veterans” in Michigan. The “grant, which will cover a portion of the cost of the land and construction, was awarded in October and construction of the $1.8 million project is now underway in Gaylord.” The “center is expected to open in August,” after which time candidates will be “evaluated by the VA for eligibility.”Washington Times John Fales urged Veterans Affairs, the “Department of Defense, and the appropriate House and Senate committees to investigate…allegations” from a reader about the Red Hat Mission, conducted by the US Army in 1971. According to the reader, the mission involved sending “shipments of 55 gallon drums…to Johnston Atoll from Okinawa.” The reader says this resulted in soldiers being “exposed to Agent Orange” and radiation poisoning.
14. VA Doctor Honored For Improving Field Of Cardiac Medicine. Washington Times Congratulations “to Dr. Robert Jesse, principal deputy under secretary for health for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), who has been honored by a leading professional association for his work to improve emergency cardiac care.” The Raymond D. Bahr Award of Excellence “was presented by the Society of Chest Pain Centers, best known as a grassroots effort to bring emergency physicians together to improve early cardiac care.” The “group said Dr. Jesse’s work in developing an innovative risk-based triage protocol for patients has contributed significantly to the field of cardiac medicine.”
15. AP Office of the Inspector General survey has come out “two years after the Veterans Affairs hospital in Murfreesboro was cited for potentially exposing thousands of vets to infection from unclean colonoscopy equipment. The report says the Tennessee Valley Health Care System, which runs the VA hospitals in Nashville and Murfreesboro, needs to improve its quality management. That same failure was noted in 2009.” Tennessee Valley Health Care System spokesman Christopher Alexander commented on the report, stating, “Quality patient care was never an issue. The recent recommendations in the quality management arena identified improvements that can be made to our committees and monitoring structure.”
16. WWAY-TV “Veterans in Wilmington got some help” with their healthcare on Tuesday. The Rural Health Team from the Veterans Affairs hospital “in Fayetteville visited the VFW post on Carolina Beach Road,” which gave “vets a chance to enroll” in the VA healthcare system. The same team will be in Brunswick County Thursday, at the “VFW on Carter Drive in Calabash from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.”
17. Fresno Business Journal “The Disabled American Veterans Charities of Central California is donating almost $38,000 to the VA Central California Health Care System in Fresno, the nonprofit announced. The funding will allow for 30 televisions for fifth-floor patients and three 50-inch TVs for medical beds, plus a glove distribution center for nuclear medicine, where physicians diagnose diseased areas using radioactive dyes.” The “formal donation of $37,533 will take place at 11 a.m. Friday, May 27, at the VA hospital.”
18. Forest-Blade “Emanuel Rangers Chapter No 2318, United Daughters of the Confederacy visited the residents of the Old Timers Lodge Community Living Center” at Dublin Veterans Affairs Hospital. The “residents were served a variety of refreshments and UDC members enjoyed visiting with residents. The ladies donated several boxes of items to be distributed to the Veterans as needed.”
19. YNN-TV
20. Minneapolis Star Tribune