Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 8-7-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. Obama Says Reform Will Not Diminish Tricare, VA Benefits, GI Bill Could Be Expanded.  
2. Shinsekis Participate In Summer Reading Initiative.  
3. VA Nurse Preparing For Deployment To Iraq.  
4. Veterans Tell Walz They Are Concerned About Availability Of Resources.  
5. Stratton VAMC, Football Team To Hold "Welcome Home Heroes" Event.  
6. "Boisterous" Veterans Push For Q And A On Healthcare Reform.  
7. Truman Veterans Hospital Soon To Break Ground On $25 Million Project.  
8. Veterans Eager To Hear About New Clinic In Arkansas.  
9. Lawmaker Announces Plans For New VA Clinic In Texas.  
10.  New Veterans Center Open In Montana. 

1.      Obama Says Reform Will Not Diminish Tricare, VA Benefits, GI Bill Could Be Expanded.   In his syndicated "Military Update" column, appearing in Stars And Stripes (8/7), Tom Philpott reports, "President Barack Obama says his push to reform the nation’s health care system will not diminish health benefits for service families or retirees who use Tricare, or for veterans who rely" on Veterans Affairs hospitals and clinics. Philpott also notes that Obama, who made his comments when he "and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki sat down with a small group of journalists who cover pay and benefit issues for military members, retirees, veterans and their families," was "asked if he would support a legislative change to the new GI Bill to make National Guard members activated under Title 32 in response to domestic emergencies or homeland security missions eligible for the education benefits." The President "gave a qualified yes, saying he didn’t know all of the details ‘my budget people’ are discussing with congressional committees in their effort to end various glitches in last year’s law."

2.      Shinsekis Participate In Summer Reading Initiative.   In continuing coverage, the Washington (DC) Examiner (8/6, Champa) reported, "President Obama’s national volunteer campaign entitled ‘United We Serve’ is focusing on literacy," with the "Department of Education’s summer reading initiative…called ‘Read to the Top!’" The initiative’s "goal is to incite young readers in all communities to turn of the television and pick up a book. Recently, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and his wife, Patricia Shinseki, to read to more than 100 children in grades pre-K through 4." The Examiner noted that according "to Ed.gov, ‘the weekly reading campaign will continue through the summer."

3.      VA Nurse Preparing For Deployment To Iraq.   On its website, Milwaukee Public Radio (8/6, Toner) noted that on Thursday, 51-year-old Russell Seager, a nurse from the Veterans Affairs medical center in Milwaukee was schedule to begin "training for deployment to Iraq. At the VA," Seager "treats veterans suffering from mental health problems related to their war experience. In Iraq, he’ll work to address those problems when they first appear." As "for his own well-being," Seager "says the toughest thing is leaving behind his patients at the VA. ‘Their first question is, ‘Who’s going to take care of me?’ And I have to tell them right now I’m not sure because it hasn’t been determined yet. But one thing I can reassure them is that I work in a tremendous environment and I know they’ll do the right thing,’ Seager says."

4.      Veterans Tell Walz They Are Concerned About Availability Of Resources.   On its website, KEYC-TV Mankato, MN (8/6) reported, "Veterans and active troops shared their concerns at a roundtable meeting" Thursday with US Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN). With "many veterans getting older and an influx of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan," the "group expressed concern that resources may not be readily available for those in need of medical assistance."

5.      Stratton VAMC, Football Team To Hold "Welcome Home Heroes" Event.   On its website, WXXA-TV Albany, NY (8/6) said the Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center "and the New York Giants hold a ‘Welcome Home Heroes’ event Friday at Giants Camp at U-Albany. Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom vets are invited to attend the autograph day," which "will be held from 2:30 to 4:30" in the afternoon.

6.      "Boisterous" Veterans Push For Q And A On Healthcare Reform.   The Whidbey (WA) News Tribune (8/7, Whalen) reports US Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) "was confronted by a boisterous crowd of veterans" Thursday "morning at the American Legion Hall in Oak Harbor. Rather than the planned talk about veteran services, the event quickly dissolved into a Q and A about healthcare reform. Many people in the standing-room-only crowd Aug. 6 appeared agitated after a speech by Deputy Director DeAnne Dietrick" of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Healthcare. The "talk was designed as a roundtable, with speeches from a panel of local experts on veterans issues, but the crowd was worried there would be no time to question Larsen," who "needed to leave at noon for a tour of the Jacob Ebey House in Coupeville." The Tribune notes that crowd members "tried to drown out" one speaker "by clapping him off the stage before he finished his presentation." The "other panelists" then "drastically shortened their speeches to under two minutes after further heckling by crowd members," who eventually got to ask Larsen numerous questions.

7.      Truman Veterans Hospital Soon To Break Ground On $25 Million Project.   The Columbia Missourian (8/7, Williams, 16K) reports Truman Veterans Hospital "is set to break ground in Pershing Park on Aug. 10 beginning construction on a $25 million project – its biggest ever." The "project includes a 27,000-square-foot addition to the existing building and 12,000 square feet of renovations. The new building will house an operating room suite with five operating rooms." The "suite is being funded with money allocated by the Department of Veterans Affairs." The Missourian notes that the "project was held up by a five-month court battle between" the VA "and a construction company challenging the legality of the bidding process."

8.      Veterans Eager To Hear About New Clinic In Arkansas.   On its website, KATV-TV Little Rock, AR (8/6) reported, "The Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System plans to open an outpatient clinic by the end of September." And on Thursday night, "hundreds of veterans dropped by the Carmichael Community Center in White County" to attend a "town-hall style meeting" and "find out more about the project. So many veterans showed up, they had to hold two separate meetings."

9.      Lawmaker Announces Plans For New VA Clinic In Texas.   The Austin (TX) Business Journal (8/7) reports US Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) "held a press conference on Thursday afternoon announcing plans for a new veterans clinic that will replace the existing one in East Austin by 2012." Veterans Affairs officials "say they have outgrown the existing Austin clinic at 2901 Montopolis Dr." The Journal adds, "Construction should begin" on the new clinic "next year and be complete by mid-2012." KTBC-TV Austin, TX (8/6, 9:23 p.m. CT) and N8-TV Austin, TX (8/6, 9:03 p.m. CT) aired similar reports.

10.    New Veterans Center Open In Montana.   In continuing coverage, the Flathead Indian Nation’s Char-Koosta News (8/7, Azure) reports, "St. Ignatius has a building to house" American Legion Post 106, "thanks to the Salish Kootenai Housing Authority" and the Mission Valley Honor Guard (MVHG). But the Mission Valley Veterans Center "is not just for members of the American Legion" or the MVHG, it is for all veterans, "according to the MVHG’s Leo Tellier. The News adds, "Lloyd Jackson, the tribal Veterans Administration representative, visits the Mission Valley Veterans Center twice a month to assist veterans seeking help with the morass of VA paperwork." Jackson "said that the VA has gone through some enormous changes in the past 10 years and in the last three years the changes have been for the better. There are now veterans clinics located in Kalispell and Missoula that veterans can now go to instead of Fort Harrison, near Helena."