Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 12-08-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. AP Reports On One Year Since Obama Announced Shinseki As His VA Secretary Choice.
2. Officials "Bristle At Acknowledging" Defoliant, Illnesses Connection In Vietnam.
3. Vietnam Vet Honored.
4. Burials To Begin Early Next Year At Washington Crossing National Cemetery.
5. Texas Lawmakers Promise To Focus On Veterans’ Issues.
6. Veterans Protest Cuts That Forced Closures At Soldiers’ Home. 
7. State Institution Workers In New Jersey May Be Required Drug Testing.
8. Quinn Expresses Regret Over Missing Ceremony For New Homeless Shelter.
9. Hampton VAMC Hosts First Of Planned Quarterly Forum.
10. IG States the VA Must Focus More On Patient Safety As It Deals With VistA Outages.

1.      AP Reports On One Year Since Obama Announced Shinseki As His VA Secretary Choice. The AP‘s (12/7) noted that "one year ago" yesterday, then President-elect Barack Obama "introduced retired Gen. Eric Shinseki as his choice to head the Veterans Affairs Department."   

2.      Officials "Bristle At Acknowledging" Defoliant, Illnesses Connection In Vietnam. In continuing coverage, the Chicago Tribune (12/8, Grotto) reports, "Decades after the Vietnam War ended, the question surrounding the use" of Agent Orange and other defoliants by the US military "is the impact on the health of untold numbers of Vietnamese." The government has spent $13.7 billion last year on disability payments for more than 1 million Vietnam veterans, many of whom were exposed to herbicides.  

3.      Vietnam Vet Honored. On its website, KSTU-TV Salt Lake City, UT (12/7) reported, "A special program, ‘Wreaths Across America,’ on Monday honored fallen soldiers and Utah troops serving in the military over the holidays." The ceremony, held at the Utah State Capitol, "honored troops serving overseas with a wreath of flags to remain on the west side of the building throughout the holidays. A purple heart was also awarded" to Vietnam vet Allen Malo, "who had been overlooked for decades."   

4.      Burials To Begin Early Next Year At Washington Crossing National Cemetery. Pennsylvania’s The Advance (12/8, Schlatter) reports, "Between Jan. 18 and 22, 2010, the first burials at the more than 205 acre site will take place at the Washington Crossing National Cemetery at 830 Highland Road in Upper Makefield Township.   

5.      Texas Lawmakers Promise To Focus On Veterans’ Issues. The Houston Chronicle (12/8, Fikac) reports leaders in the Texas Senate promised to focus on Texas veterans’ employment, education and mental health needs as they work toward the 2011 regular legislative session.  

6.      Veterans Protest Cuts That Forced Closures At Soldiers’ Home.  The Springfield (MA) Republican (12/8, McLaughlin)  More than 100 veterans came out Monday night at City Hall to protest  the $500,000 in cuts which forced an outpatient clinic and pharmacy to close at the Soldiers’ Home of Holyoke on Dec. 1.
 

7.      State Institution Workers In New Jersey May Be Required Drug Testing. The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger (12/8, Livio) reports that "potential workers and existing staff at" New Jersey "state institutions would undergo drug testing under" S2493, "legislation a Senate health committee approved" on Monday.   The proposed measure will now be heading to the full Senate for a vote."  

8.      Quinn Expresses Regret Over Missing Ceremony For New Homeless Shelter.  AP (12/8) reports that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn "says he regrets missing a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a new 32-bed homeless shelter that will serve veterans in Chicago." He "said he didn’t make Monday’s event because a campaign appearance he had with West Side Chicago elected officials ran over time." Quinn "also says he regrets he didn’t get to see Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth at the homeless shelter.

9.      Hampton VAMC Hosts First Of Planned Quarterly Forum. The Newport News (VA) Daily Press (12/8, Lessig) reports, before Thanksgiving, leaders at the Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center held a meeting to talk about the future. The forum "attracted about a dozen patients and even more hospital staff. Some patients aired their personal complaints, while others said they owed their health to doctors in that room 

 10.    IG States the VA Must Focus More On Patient Safety As It Deals With VistA Outages. Federal Computer Week (12/8, Lipowicz), The Department of Veterans Affairs needs to make patient safety a higher priority as it deals with outages and the aging infrastructure of its electronic health record system, according to a new report from VA’s Office of Inspector General.  Five recommendations for improvements were made in the report. According to Federal Computer Week, VA "officials agreed" with the recommendations to improve the "VA’s Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA)."