Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

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. Capitol in Crisis: Walker’s budget proposal includes funding for veterans. WEAU-TV 13
“Projection wise, this is a viable project and will self-fund itself,” he said. Veterans there could work with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs to get things like hearing aids and eyeglasses. After veterans pass away, their survivors could A provision in Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal would help pay to build and run a new veterans nursing home in the area.  Right now, Wisconsin only has two facilities like it, but the closest-of them is near Waupaca, which is almost 150 miles away from Chippewa Falls.
2. VA Expands Dementia Caregivers Support Program.  Memphis Daily News The US Department of Veterans Affairs announced Wednesday that it’s expanding support nationwide to caregivers of veterans with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia following the success of a proven behavioral intervention
3. Committee Approves Alternative Sentencing for Veterans with PTSD.  Bixby Bulletin
House Bill 1081, by state Rep. John Bennett, would allow a judge to send a military veteran convicted of a crime to the Department of Veterans Affairs for treatment if the defendant was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic
4. New Minnesota Surgery Center for Veterans to Open in St. Cloud.  Becker’s ASC Review  A new ambulatory surgery center which will serve veterans in St. Cloud, Minn., is scheduled to open this year, according to a news release from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. St. Cloud Ambulatory Surgery Center
5. Clallam County backs grant for homeless veterans.  Peninsula Daily  The US Department of Veterans Affairs sent notice of the grant earlier this year. It is based on a US Department of Housing and Urban Development program from federal stimulus funds, Wahto said. “This is a new approach for the VA,” she said.
6. Appointments Set for VAMI and Defense and Veterans’ Affairs. In the Texas Legislature there are two committees whose members address Veterans issues within the state: the Veteran Affairs and Military Installations
7. Some State Workers Don’t See Health Cuts Coming.  WCTV  “There’s probably not a single person in this office who knows anything about this proposal,” said Steve Murray, communications director at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. “This just hasn’t been a large part of the media coverage coming from
8. City cemetery seeks designation as veterans burial area.  Eagle Tribune  According to the Massachusetts Department of Veterans Services, there are three operating veterans’ cemeteries in the state. The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Cemetery in Bourne on Cape Cod is a national cemetery.
9. VFW Reacts to Westboro Supreme Court Verdict.  “The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. thanks the Supreme Court for considering the case, but is greatly VFW Reacts to Supreme Court Ruling on Westboro Baptist Church.
10. Legion laments funeral protest ruling. “While we understand the Supreme Court ruling and we appreciate the sanctity of freedom of speech, we are very

HAVE YOU HEARD?

Spring training gets underway next week in Tucson, Arizona, for the first ever all-amputee standing slow pitch softball team. Comprised entirely of 20 military Veterans and active-duty service members who lost limbs while in military service, the team will showcase their abilities March 11 at 8:00 p.m., at the University of Arizona’s Hillenbrand Stadium. Sponsored by a grant from the University of Arizona, the team was assembled by David Van Sleet, VISN 18 Prosthetic Manager, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Van Sleet expects the game to highlight both the athleticism of the players as well as the high-quality of prosthetic devices offered by VA. “These guys are in incredible shape and they are super competitive,” said Van Sleet. During their game in Tucson, 10 amputee softball players will compete against 10 of the other amputee softball players. Van Sleet noted that for their next game, members of the team will travel to Washington, D.C., in May to take on a team of able-bodied players from the staff of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

IN OTHER NEWS

• Veterans invited to handicap housing event. Veterans and the general public are invited to St. Louis on March 10 for a ….

• Announcing Paralyzed Veterans of America’s 2011 Law and Public Policy Writing Contest.  Paralyzed Veterans of America is pleased to announce its 8th Annual Law and Public Policy Writing Competition. Each year ….

• Island Fishing Trip Great Rehab for Walter Reed Patients.  PVA recently hosted 10 service members recovering from catastrophic injuries at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, for a two-day fishing excursion

• ROA Commends Supreme Court Veterans Employment Rights Decision.   The Reserve Officers Association commends the Supreme Court’s 8-0 decision on March 1^st regarding the first veteran’s employment case to be heard by the High Court since the law’s inception.

• Bill would expand some vets refinancing choices.  A bill introduced in the House would give veterans in five states more options for refinancing their mortgages.

• Supreme Court Eases Benefit Deadline For Veterans.AP The US Supreme Court is allowing Doretha H. Henderson, the “wife of a military veteran who missed a court deadline because of his mental illness,” to “move forward with an appeal after he was denied benefits.” On Tuesday, the high court decided to let Henderson continue the appeal of her late husband, who was “discharged from the armed forces in 1952 after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.”

• Michelle Obama Launching Campaign To Assist Military Families.AP First Lady Michelle Obama “says a new campaign she’s launching on behalf of US troops and their families will encourage the public to step up to help make military families’ lives a little easier.” Mrs. Obama’s campaign, previewed by the First Lady “for the nation’s governors on Monday,” will “center on employment, education, wellness and public awareness.

• USA Today: Pentagon Needs To Do Better Job Handling Sexual Assault Cases.USA Today Three women, including an Iraq vet, are “among 17 current and former servicemembers…who filed suit in federal court last month,” accusing the “Defense Department of a ‘systemic failure’ to prevent rapes and assaults on military bases and even at the service academies, where the next generations of leaders are trained.”

• Lt. Gen. John Kelly, who lost son to war, says U.S. largely unaware of sacrifice.
  Article | Before he addressed the crowd that had assembled in the St. Louis Hyatt Regency ballroom last November, Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly had one request. “Please don’t mention my son,” he asked the Marine Corps officer introducing him.

• GI Bill Changes Could Send Some Veterans Into Deep Debt. Stars And Stripes “In an effort to simplify the tuition formula for veterans headed to college” under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, “lawmakers in December approved a measure to pay a flat rate of $17,500 per year for tuition and fees at all colleges except public schools in veterans’ home states, which are covered in full.” While for “most student vets, the changes mean a sizable boost in the money they receive,” a “smaller group” of them face a “painful cut in funding they thought would be available to pay for classes next year. Veterans groups who had supported the legislation in December are scrambling to find a fix before August, when the new provisions go into effect.”

• For Brain Injuries, A Treatment Gap. USA Today “The issue of how insurers cover brain-injury rehab made national headlines in December, when news reports disclosed that the Department of Defense’s insurance carrier, Tricare, refused to pay for cognitive therapy – a collection of intensive exercises that improve cognitive function – calling it experimental.

• VA To Help Caregivers Of Post-9-11 Veterans. Watertown (NY) Daily Times The “Department of Veterans Affairs announced this month that it is launching a series of new services for caregivers of veterans who became seriously injured or ill after 9-11. As part of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010, an approved family caregiver will be able to receive a monthly stipend, health-care coverage, care-related travel expenses and a break.”

• Homeless Veterans In Rockford Area Soon To Have More Assistance. Rockford (IL) Register-Star “The US Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding its outreach in the area to link homeless veterans to health care, housing and employment resources. Marybeth Urbin was hired in October and works as the homeless-program coordinator for Rockford through the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital,” which “oversees…VA’s primary-care clinic in Rockford.”

• Bill: Submit Complete VA Claim, Get Extra Pay. Army Times “Veterans who submit fully developed disability benefits claims could receive an additional one year of compensation under legislation backed” by US Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Burr’s “proposal comes as veterans service organizations have made reducing the claims backlog their top legislative priority for 2011.” Burr “isn’t the first or only lawmaker with ideas for cutting the claims backlog, but his position” on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee “means his idea will get a serious look when the 2012 VA budget passes through the panel.”