Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

1.      Ad Campaign Seeks To Spread Word About VA Services. The Army Times (10/12, Maze, 104K) notes that on Monday, the Veterans Affairs Department was to begin “launching a six-city advertising campaign…aimed at spreading the word about available help for newly discharged combat veterans.” The campaign is “part of an effort to address the fact that there are 23 million veterans” in the United States, while “only 8 million use VA services. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, a retired four-star general, former Army chief of staff and combat-disabled Vietnam veteran, has been pushing outreach efforts aimed at smoothing the transition to civilian life for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans by making sure they know about available resources such as disability compensation, medical treatment, education benefits and home loans.”
     The Washington Post (10/12, B3, O’Keefe, 605K) reports, “The first wave of the multiyear ad campaign will cost VA about $5 million, it said.” After noting that a “second ad will start airing before Thanksgiving,” the Post adds, “The first batch of ads are targeted at recent veterans, but future messages will focus on older veterans, VA said.” The “Federal Eye” blog for the Washington Post (10/12, O’Keefe, 605K) offers the same details on VA’s ad campaign.

 2.      Three Suburban Sites Under Consideration For Louisville VA Hospital. In continuing coverage, the AP (10/11) said the “Veterans Administration is continuing to search for just the right property on which to build a new hospital in Louisville, and has added three suburban sites to its list” of possibilities.” The AP pointed out that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki “said in a news release that final site selection may take six to 12 months.” WBKO-TV Bowling Green, KY (10/11, 12:10 p.m. CT) aired a similar report.

3.      South Carolina May Require Fines From Politicians Lying About Military Records. The AP (10/9) noted that both South Carolina Republican state Rep. Chip Limehouse and James Livingston, a Medal of Honor recipient, “say politicians who lie about their military records should be required to pay a $10,000 fine to the state Ethics Commission.” Limehouse “says the bill he is filing…is important in a state that plays a key role in presidential primaries. Limehouse says veterans have pushed for the legislation in reaction to misstatements by Democrat Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal about his service during the Vietnam War.”

4.      Wisconsin Group Gets Grant For Homeless Veterans Program. The Beloit (WI) Daily News (10/10, Gavan, 14K) reports that Rock Valley Community Programs, Inc. says that renovations to the Caravilla Homeless Veterans Transitional Housing Program will begin in mid-month, “thanks to countless donations and the award of a capital and per diem grant from the US Veteran’s Administration. Architectural plans will be drawn up in the next two to three weeks.” The grant was part of the over $41.9 million in grants to community groups announced October 2 by VA Secretary Shinseki that will provide 2.568 beds for homeless veterans this year.

5.      Montana Veteran Honored For Service. The Helena (MT) Independent Record (10/9, Harrington, 14K) reports, “One of the most decorated female veterans in American military history urged Montanans to contribute to the newly christened Montana Military Museum, and to learn from the museum’s displays so the country can make better decisions in the future. At a Friday afternoon dedication of the museum at Fort Harrison, retired Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught of the US Air Force said that artifacts of the country’s military past are crucial for teaching the next generations.” Vaught, an Air Force veteran of more than 28 years, is president of the board of directors of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, which is compiling information on every woman who ever served in the US military.

6.      Veterans Benefits Act Of 2010 Should Help Many. The syndicated “Military Update” column, appearing in the Lake County (CA) News (10/8, Philpott) and elsewhere, reports that the Veterans Benefits Act of 2010 (HR 3219), passed by each chamber of Congress and sent to President Obama for his signature, “has no clear blockbuster initiative. But it improves many veterans’ benefits including some allowances for disabled veterans and various veterans’ insurance options. Employment protections are toughened for those returning to civilian jobs.” The column quotes representatives from the American Legion and Disabled American Veterans praising the bill for its breadth, which encompasses a number of insurance benefit improvements, increased funeral or burial benefits, and expansion of the Servicemembers’ Civil Relief Act in several ways: service members who transferring for 90 days or more to an area not served by their cell phone provider will be able to cancel their contracts without penalty, the Justice Department will be able to bring civil suits for expanded remedies against violators, and service members will also gain a private right of action. The bill does not contain a controversial House-passed provision that would have created a new $1,000 monthly payment for World War II merchant marine members.

7.      Justice Department “Battling To Save” Stolen Valor Act. The AP (10/12, Elliott) reports, “The Justice Department is battling to save a federal law that makes it illegal to lie about being a war hero, appealing two court rulings that the statute is an unconstitutional muzzle on free speech. The fight could be carried all the way to the US Supreme Court, where it would face an uncertain fate, legal analysts said.” After noting that the “Stolen Valor Act makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have won a military medal, whether or not an impostor seeks financial gain,” the AP points out that both a “three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco and a federal district court in Denver have…ruled the law is unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds.” The current issue of the Army Times (10/18, 104K) publishes a similar story.

8.      Burned Vets To Be Eligible For VA Grants. The current issue of the Army Times (10/18, 104K) reports, “Disabled veterans with severe service-connected burns will become eligible for automobile and adaptive equipment grants from the Veterans Affairs Department under an expansion of benefits approved by Congress, and the biggest grants will increase from the current $11,000 to a maximum of $18,900.” The “addition of severe burns and the increase in the grant are part of the Veterans Benefits Act of 2010, but do not take effect until next Oct. 1. Delayed effective dates reduce the cost of the legislation and also give VA more time to plan for the changes.”

9.      VA Grant Will Provide Assistance To Homeless Vets In North Carolina. The Winston-Salem (NC) Journal (10/12, Graff) reports, “Winston-Salem has received a federal grant to help build 30 new transitional-housing apartments for homeless veterans. The $925,000” US Department of Veterans Affairs grant “will be used by the ‘Veterans Helping Veterans Heal’ project, which is coordinated by the United Way and the Ten-Year Commission to End Chronic Homelessness,” to “buy and renovate an existing building.” WXII-TV Greensboro, NC (10/11, 11:02 p.m. ET) aired a similar report.

 10.    Vets Complain About VA’s Ability To Handle Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefit Errors. In continuing coverage, the current issue of the Army Times (10/18, Maze, 104K) reports, “More than 149,000 service members have taken advantage of the ability to share Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits with a spouse or children, even more might use this retention benefit if procedures were less complicated, beneficiaries say.” The Times speaks to veteran Terence Fitzpatrick about problems he has had trying to get Veterans Affairs to pay provide Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to his two sons, then says the difficulty Fitzpatrick “describes in trying to work with VA once problems arose echoes the complaints of many veterans trying to use the education benefits for themselves. Brian Hawthorne of Student Veterans of America said that when errors are made in benefits, ‘it is very difficult to get them changed without third-party intervention’ and that people who answer calls on VA’s GI Bill hot line don’t seem to know how to fix problems or may not have the authority to fix them.”