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.    USAFE commander says ‘resource environment’ to drive Air Force changes.  At a change of command ceremony in March, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe expressed some sadness over the pending departure of the last U.S. Air Force A-10 squadron on the continent. But in an interview this week with Stars and Stripes, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III said emotion plays no role in deciding what stays and what goes as the military consolidates assets in Europe and shifts resources elsewhere.
 
2.    Facebook complicates military deaths overseas.  One spouse learns of her husband’s death in Afghanistan after a message on Facebook. Another unit shuts down its page to avoid similar problems.
 
3.    DOD: Number of sex assault reports holds steady in 2011.  The DOD offers two reporting options for sexual assault victims: restricted and unrestricted. Restricted reports allow victims to seek medical treatment and other services but remain confidential, which means the crimes are not investigated and few details are available.

4.    Louisiana Veterans exemption heads to voters.  The Advocate  If voters approve the proposition, the first $150000 of a qualifying veteran’s home would be exempt. The proposition applies only to veterans who have been rated 100 percent disabled by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, said Richard Blackwell, …

5.    West Michigan veterans call for stop of ‘misleading marketing’ by colleges.  The Grand Rapids Press – MLive.com  More than 9800 student veterans in Michigan used the Post 9/11 GI Bill to pay for college between Aug. 1, 2009 and June 15, 2011, according to data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. In all, they received $79.6 million to cover tuition and …

6.    Highmark and PA Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Partner to Host. MarketWatch   Highmark Blue Shield and the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) are collaborating to host a first-ever local education and employment symposium for veterans.

7.  Coming up on the social scene.  Albany Times Union  “They Marched For Us, We Walk For Them,” the fifth annual walk sponsored by Albany County American Legion SAL and Auxiliary, benefits state VA Hospitals, nursing homes, veteran …
 
8.    Montana’s VA Director Reassigned Out Of State Pending Administrative Investigation.  Billings (MT) Gazette  “Embattled VA Montana Director Robin Korogi has been reassigned to the VA’s regional office in Denver, effective Monday. The move is necessary ‘so the results from an administrative investigation board can be thoroughly reviewed and evaluated,’ said Anita Urdiales, executive assistant to Ralph Gigliotti, director of VA Rocky Mountain Network 19, which includes facilities in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.” The Gazette adds, “VA Montana…has come under growing scrutiny from VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki and VA Undersecretary for Health Robert Petzel.  AP Korogi has been “reassigned to Denver while officials review why an acute psychiatric wing has not yet opened” in a Fort Harrison mental health hospital that was completed last June. Some “former employees at Fort Harrison have said staff morale is low, contributing to the inability to find the needed psychiatrists. Korogi argued in March that the relatively low pay of $180,000 to $190,000 a year along with a national shortage of psychiatrists and the requirement that they be on-call was making it difficult to staff the wing.”
 
9.    Rights Groups To Learn About Military Assaults.  Courthouse News Service  “The Department of Defense and Department of Veteran Affairs must disclose more information about sexual assault on women in the military.” Six “Defense Department offices and five Veteran Affairs offices released a limited number of documents, explaining that they could not or would not respond to all” Freedom of Information Act requests coming from the “Service Women’s Action Network, American Civil Liberties Union and American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.” According to the Courthouse News Service, US District Judge Mark Kravitz “declined to grant the agencies summary judgment” in a case brought to the court by the aforementioned groups, which claim that “sexual assault of women in the military is rampant and unaddressed.”
 
10.   Getting Heavy Drinkers To Quit Before Surgery.  MD News  “A new study of male patients in the Veterans Affairs healthcare system suggests that surgeons should postpone surgery for heavy drinkers in order to make the procedures safer and more effective.” The lead author of the study, which was “published in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons,” is Anna D. Rubinsky. In a statement, she said, “Implementing preoperative alcohol screening and providing proactive interventions could potentially decrease the need for costly postoperative resources and improve patient outcomes.”