Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1. Official Says VA Innovation Competition Was “Tremendous.” Federal News Radio (6/22, Kubota) reports Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki “recently announced the selection of 26 winning ideas in the Innovation Competition. Dr. Peter Levin, Senior Advisor and Chief Technology Officer” with the department, “told Federal News Radio” that the competition “was a tremendous, tremendous thing.”

2. Illinois VA Names Wheelchair Athlete Veteran Of The Month. In continuing coverage, the AP (6/21) said 35-year-old Darwin Coligado, “who competes as a wheelchair athlete,” has “been named the June veteran of the month” by the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. Coligado “is a peer mentor for the Great Lake Adaptive Sports Association and a member of the Paralyzed Veterans of America.”

3. Agent Orange Case Set Up Oil Spill Fund Paymaster As “Go-To” Settlement Lawyer. In continuing coverage, NPR (6/22, Greenblatt) reports, “After President Obama extracted $20 billion” from British Petroleum “last week for an escrow fund that will be used to cover damages from the Gulf Coast oil spill, it was almost a given that he would turn” to Kenneth Feinberg as paymaster. In his 2005 memoir, Feinberg “wrote about the…settlement” of a class action lawsuit brought against a number of chemical companies by Vietnam War vets, a case that “set up Feinberg’s career as the go-to lawyer for settling thorny disputes.” According to NPR, Feinberg wrote, “Neither side was completely happy,” which “of course means it was a good settlement.”
The Wall Street Journal (6/22, King, 2.08M), meanwhile, notes that Feinberg predicts the BP compensation fund will be more complex than any other victims’ funds he has been in charge of, including the one generated by the Agent Orange liability litigation.

4. Mobile Vet Centers Make Stops In Georgia, Montana. According to the Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer (6/22, Gordon, 39K), 25-year-old Iraq veteran Ritchie Chess “said he’s seen many soldiers like himself struggle to make a smooth transition from the battlefield to the home front. That’s why the Department of Veterans Affairs created Vet Centers.” After noting that James Dickey, a “readjustment counseling technician for Vet Centers, said the organization’s mobile fleet – dubbed Mobile Vet Centers – focuses on under-served areas where permanent centers are not established,” the Ledger-Enquirer points out that on Monday, VA “dispatched…one of its 50 Mobile Vet Centers to the PX on Fort Benning to provide readjustment counseling, outreach, education and referral services to combat veterans and their families in order to help them make a satisfying post-war transition to civilian life.”

5. Afghanistan Vet Writes Book About Sharing Name With Convicted Cop Killer. While appearing as a guest on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report (6/21, 11:51 p.m. ET), Wes Moore, a decorated Afghanistan veteran, discussed his “book called ‘The Other Wes Moore,'” which is about another man, also named Wes Moore and from the same neighborhood as the author, who is “currently serving a life sentence in prison for the tragic murder of a police officer.” Moore told the program that his book is a “cautionary tale about what exactly happens as we make our decisions and what the ramifications for all of our decisions are and how important it is to have people in your life who are helping you make right decisions.”

6. Petition Drive Against Stalin Bust At D-Day Memorial Underway. In continuing coverage, the Washington Times (6/22, Watson, 77K) reports, “Opponents of the recently installed bust of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va., are not backing down and have started a worldwide petition” that “calls on the officers and board of directors at the National D-Day Memorial Foundation to remove the bust. It had received 616 confirmed signatures as of Monday afternoon, with confirmation pending on more than 200 other signatures. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, with assistance from the Joint Baltic American National Committee, intends to marshal public opinion against the board’s decision, said Karl Altau, the committee’s managing director,” who also “said that while no goal has been specified, 10,000 signatures would be ‘terrific.'” Fox News’ Fox And Friends (6/21, 8:34 a.m. ET) broadcast, “Officials at the memorial say the Stalin bust is part of a larger effort simply to tell the story of the Second World War.”

7. National Infantry Museum Draws More Than 400,000 In First Year. The AP (6/22) reports, “Attendance at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus is running well above projections after a year of operations, according” to the National Infantry Foundation, which runs the museum. Jerry White, the foundation’s president, “said attendance for the first year exceeded 400,000,” although the income generated by that attendance has been lower than the foundation have hoped would be generated. The foundation “needs an additional $10 million to $11 million to complete work on the museum.”

8. Groundbreaking Ceremony To Be Held For VA Clinic In Louisiana. The Alexandria (LA) Town Talk (6/22, 30K) reports a groundbreaking “ceremony is set for 8 a.m. Wednesday for the future construction” of a Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic, which will be “located on La. Highway 467 North in Leesville. The Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk are hosting Wednesday’s ceremony,” which will guest speaker “Roger D. Welch, acting director of the Alexandria Veterans Affairs Medical Center.”

9. Haley Staff Impressed By 10-Year-Old’s Gift To Spinal Cord Injury Patients. According to the Tampa Tribune (6/21, McKenzie, 196K), Tyler Barat “was the man of the hour during the June 14 celebration” of the US Army’s “235th birthday at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital. While the 10-year-old wasn’t on the agenda to speak, his presence and his presents wowed the audience that consisted mainly of hospital staff, doctors and troops being treated at the hospital’s spinal cord injury unit,” who received “toiletry items and gift cards” from Barat. The Tribune said the youngster had bought the gifts with his own birthday money.

10. York VAMC Police Officer Honored. The Murfreesboro (TN) Daily News Journal (6/22, Ragland-Hudgins) reports the Rutherford County Crime Stoppers “recognized officers of the year,” including Scott Miller of the York Veterans Affairs Medical Center, “during a Monday luncheon.”