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

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1.   Germany ending landmark mission in Bosnia.  The last two German soldiers serving with the EU peacekeeping mission in Bosnia will fold their country’s flag in Sarajevo on Thursday and wrap up their participation in 17-year-old efforts to pacify the country.
 
2.   Korea’s Park apologizes for abuse during her father’s rule.  Korea’s Saenuri Party presidential candidate Rep. Park Geun-hye publicly apologized to the people who suffered under the iron-fisted rule of her father, Park Chung-hee, in a move to ward off controversy over her historical views and regain her frontrunner status.
 
3.   Community working together to find deployed soldier’s lost dog.  For one solider, the search for his missing dog isn’t just bringing together his friends and family, but an entire community of people who have never met him.
 
4.   Inmates train dogs for disabled veterans.  Through a partnership with America’s VetDogs, incarcerated veterans and other inmates at Maryland’s Western Correctional Institution will train three puppies to serve as service dogs for disabled veterans.

5.   VA secretary visits Colorado discuss plans to end homelessness among veterans.  The Republic  The number of homeless veterans is declining as the Veterans Affairs Department works to eliminate the problem by 2015, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said Tuesday. Shinseki visited a VA Community Resource and Referral Center for homeless …

6.   St. Cloud VA plans mental health expansion.  Finance and Commerce  The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that over the next five years more than 1 million active duty military personnel will join the ranks of America’s 22 million veterans. Specifically, VA officials in St. Cloud say they’re seeing an …

7.   Rep. Miller: Obama’s Approach to Helping Veterans Not Going to Work.  NewsMax.com  Responding to recent allegations of lavish conference spending within the Department of Veterans Affairs, Miller said that during tight fiscal times, there has to be a change in mindset at the agency when it comes to the budget. “Training is necessary …

8.   Stand Down offers short-term support to homeless vets, but.  healthycal.org  Even as a Senate bill was signed into law in August requiring the California Department of Veteran Affairs to have a more comprehensive strategic plan on meeting the needs of homeless veterans, those service officers working on the ground know how hard …
 
9.   Three States Investigating DVNF’s Chief Fundraising Company. CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 The Disabled Veterans National Foundation (DVNF) has “been under investigation by the Senate Finance Committee as a result of our reporting showing little, if any of the…tens of millions it’s received in donations over the years, actually went to help disabled veterans.” The foundation is also “part of even larger investigations involving its chief fundraising company,” the New York-based Quadriga Art. Quadriga is being investigated by the “Charities Bureau of New York State Attorney General’s Office,” California’s Attorney General, and the state of Florida.  CNN Video of Quadriga’s chief executive officer stating, “At the start of this year, my board asked me to have an independent audit done to see how much money we’ve made serving the DVNF and to date, my company has not made a profit.”
 
10.    Assembly Panel OKs Bills To Speed Foreclosures, Give Vets Preference For COAH Housing.  Philadelphia Inquirer  “Measures giving veterans preference when applying for affordable housing and to speed foreclosure proceedings involving abandoned homes were approved by the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee on Monday.” The “bill directs the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing to develop rules giving veterans with low to moderate incomes a preference when seeking housing that is subsidized as affordable.” Veterans also receive similar preference when they apply for civil service jobs.

Have You Heard?

VA Secretary Shinseki Meets With Tribal Leaders

On Sept. 25, VA Secretary Shinseki was the keynote speaker at the National Indian Health Board Annual Consumer Conference in Denver. The conference involved a Veterans track with tribal consultations on health/benefits services to American Indian/Alaskan Native Vets.
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