Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News – August 29, 2013

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.McLemore to head Texas Veterans Land Board.  Times Record News “Texas veterans couldn’t ask for a better advocate to fight on their behalf,” … Secretary at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, serving until 2008
2.Oklahoma veterans have high rate of suicides.  Enid News & Eagle The increased numbers and rates of suicides come at a time when the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has received budget increases for mental health …
3.83-year-old pleads not guilty to falsifying Veterans Affairs travel.  Bangor Daily News The Bangor Daily News is not naming the person who drove Brundage to Augusta because … He also could be ordered to pay restitution to the Veterans Affairs.
4.Dayton, Trotwood Women Plead Guilty to Tax Fraud Charges.  WKEF ABC 22 … U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs identified, … buying your next car, including price quotes and your latest

5.   Hasan sentenced to death for Fort Hood massacre.  The man who killed 13 people and wounded 31 others in the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base in modern history has been sentenced to death.

6.   50 years later, another march on Washington remembers MLK’s dream. Standing at ground zero on the civil rights movement’s battlefield of justice, President Barack Obama challenged new generations Wednesday to seize the cause of racial equality and honor the “glorious patriots” who marched a half century ago to the very steps from which Rev. Martin Luther King spoke during the March on Washington.
 
7.   Fort Drum places memorial at site of 1947 fire that led to Feres Doctrine.  The courage of Capt. Francis H. Turner was on the minds of his daughters Elizabeth V. Barbee and Carolyn T. Leps on Monday as a memorial was dedicated to him and four other soldiers who died in a Dec. 10, 1947, barracks fire that led to the Feres Doctrine legal precedent.
 
8.   Review under way after comedian’s performance at Lakenheath.  Comedian Mitch Fatel thought he ended his tour of U.S. bases in Europe earlier this month on a high note. He started his tour cautiously, knowing his sex-centered humor might not be appropriate for a military audience. But he said the audiences lapped it up and commanders loved it, pressing commemorative coins on him.
9.   Anthony Principi: Wounded Vets Deserve Better.  Hyperlink to Article Wall Street Journal: Abraham Lincoln’s words light the path of America’s eternal responsibility to those who have served in uniform. But we have lost our focus on Lincoln’s command: Veterans and their families wait far too long for the benefits they have earned. Too often, this is because those who have been injured in military service—including our most recent vets—must wait in line with those who served but were not wounded.
10.  Legion Convention: Chairman of House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Vows to Keep the Pressure on VA to Reduce Claims Backlog.  Hyperlink to Article Fort Mill Times (The American Legion):  The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reduced its benefits claims backlog by 144,000 in the past five months. While that’s commendable to the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, it’s not enough to relax in that endeavor.
 

Have You Heard?

How the Cloud Helps Veterans
Stephen Warren, VA’s acting Assistant Secretary, Office of Information and Technology (OIT), recently appeared on NBC4 Washington’s GovInnovate to discuss how OIT’s progressive use of cloud technology allows VA’s IT infrastructure to remain agile and secure. He specifically highlighted the role cloud-based solutions play in VA’s commitment to eliminate the benefits backlog by 2015.
Mr. Warren noted that cloud computing is one of the key aspects of the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS), and that it has allowed OIT to quickly deploy solutions that will enable VA to eliminate the benefits claims backlog. Mr. Warren further explained that while VA uses a private cloud to keep Veteran data protected, there are other mission areas where VA is exploring the potential use of public cloud services, which could result in cost savings. Watch the full interview with Mr. Warren at NBC4 Washington.