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. Women Veterans: A Legacy of Service. The origins of honorable female service dates back to the birth of the nation. See how women from past conflicts have paved the way for women serving in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan today. View video
2. Veterans showcase talent at Lovell FHCC Creative Arts Festival.  TribLocal  About the Lovell FHCC: The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center is the nation’s first fully integrated medical facility between the US Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. Established on Oct. 1, 2010, the facility
3. VA accelerates plan for caregivers.  The Associated Press   — The Veterans Affairs Department said Wednesday that help is on its way as early as this summer for family members of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have been waiting for a long-delayed program to help care for severely wounded
4. Vets can find help at resource fair.  Danville Commercial News  Also, the East Central Illinois Community Action Agency office, Goodwill Industries, veterans‘ service organizations and local military recruiters will attend. Other DACC representatives include the Office of Financial Aid and Veteran Affairs,
5. Hospital and Outpatient Care for Veterans Released From Incarceration to. Dentistry IQ
   SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under 38 USC 1710(h), VA is not required “to furnish care to a veteran to whom another agency of Federal, State, or local government has a duty under law to provide care in an institution of such government.
6. Veterans Admininistration promises help following exclusive 5 On Your. NewsNet5.com
   After contacting NewsChannel5, our investigation found similar cases across the country involving veterans who served at McMurdo Station in Antarctica in the 1960s and 70s. As a result, both the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Sen
7. Landover resident starts support group for area veterans.  Washington Post  The group holds it meetings mostly to share information on how veterans can receive health benefits through the US Department of Veterans Affairs. “I just had a dream,” said Staggs, who suffers from hypertension as a result of post-traumatic stress
8. Connecticut lags in vets’ disability compensation.  TheDay.com  More than 20200 Connecticut veterans are receiving disability compensation for injuries and illnesses connected to their military duty, according to data obtained from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. “It’s very vital, especially in these …
9. Commissioners form Veterans Advisory Committee.  Clearfield Progress  By Jeff Corcino Staff Writer At their meeting yesterday, the Clearfield County Commissioners announced they are forming a Veterans Advisory Committee to assist in the operation of the county’s Veterans Affairs Department. The commissioners said they
10. Mobile Vet Center Returns to Serve Tri-County Region This Month.  Bay Net  Approximately 43 former military personnel and veterans in the Tri-County area visited the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Mobile Vet Center to connect with services for veterans during the Center’s most recent visit in February.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

“SOCIAL SECURITY 101: WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

Are you a college student or young worker getting started on your career? Curious what that FICA tax is that comes out of your paycheck? Want to know how Social Security can help young people? The Social Security Administration (SSA) will answer these questions and more during their upcoming webinar, “Social Security 101: What’s in it for me?”  The webinar is designed to reach college students and young workers around the country and will focus on Social Security issues of special importance to them – disability and survivors insurance, financing principles of the program, how workers and their families qualify for coverage, and steps to plan and save for their financial future. The webinar will also include live Q&A session.  Watch the interactive broadcast on Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. EST. Participants can RSVP and view the webinar by going to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/webinars/social_security_101.html

IN OTHER NEWS

• McLawhorn to chair VA panel.  The State  By JEFF WILKINSON – [email protected] James T. McLawhorn Jr., president and CEO of the Columbia Urban League, has been named chairman of the US Department of Veterans Affairs‘ Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans. The committee is an advocate

• Last US Veteran of World War I Dies.  The New American Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki observed: We have lost a living link to an important era in our nation’s history. But we have also lost a man of quiet dignity who dedicated his final years to ensuring the sacrifices of his fellow doughboys …

• Pennsylvania Veteran Owned Business News « Veteran Owned Business. Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs Office: Wilkes-Barre VAMC … Be licensed under State or local authority as a personal care home

• VA Accelerates Plan For Caregivers. AP “The Veterans Affairs Department said Wednesday that help is on its way as early as this summer for family members of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have been waiting for a long-delayed program to help care for severely wounded veterans.” However, “didn’t satisfy senators unhappy about how many families will be helped.”

• Murray Criticizes Shinseki For Delay In Implementing Program. McClatchy The situation is “angering many families of wounded veterans and many members of Congress, who are accusing the Obama administration of dragging its feet.”

• VA Operating Caregiver Support Line. Washington Times The “Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is increasing its support to caregivers with a new, toll-free telephone line for the caregivers of veterans of all eras. ‘The families and loved ones who care for severely injured veterans deserve the highest level of support,’ “At VA, we consider” such individuals “important partners in our efforts to care for and rehabilitate our nation’s heroes.”

• Shinseki To Lawmakers: VA Requesting $3.16 Billion For 2012 IT Budget.Bloomberg News “The US Veterans Affairs Department is requesting $3.16 billion for information technology in fiscal 2012, a decrease from its $3.3 billion request the previous year ”   Secretary Shinseki, making his comments during the Senate hearing on Wednesday. Shinseki “told the US Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that the department made a ‘sound business decision’ last year to shutdown technology programs related to a financial accounting system and a data warehouse.”

• Vets Panel Chairman: Protect Benefits, Cut Fat. Army Times The “new Republican chairman” of the House Veterans Affairs Committee “pledged…to protect benefits and services for veterans. But Rep. Jeff Miller, a five-term congressman said he has asked military and veterans groups to help him find places where VA is wasting money, but so far has not heard specifics.”

• Disabled Veterans About Funding, Claims. Pensacola (FL) News Journal Disabled American Veterans asked Congress for help Tuesday in funding programs fairly and reducing delays in deciding benefits claims” by the Veterans Benefits Administration, which “faced 770,291 claims for disability compensation and pensions on Jan. 11. Veterans told a joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees.

• Legion: ‘Treat the root’ of VA claims backlog. Testifying before a March 2 congressional hearing on the Department of Veterans Affairs fiscal 2012 budget proposal, The American Legion called upon VA to “treat the root” of the disability claims backlog problem.

• Missouri Governor Orders Flags Lowered For Last Surviving Doughboy Of World War I. AP Flags are “being lowered in Missouri after” the recent death of state native Frank Buckles, the “last surviving American to serve in World War I.” Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon “ordered flags lowered through March 8 at state buildings in Harrison and Vernon counties, and at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City. Nixon also ordered flags lowered on state buildings in all 114 counties and the city of St. Louis on the day of Buckle’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery,” a date that “will be announced later.”

• Buckles’ Sculpture Being Made.Bucks County (PA) Courier Times A “Bucks sculptor is crafting a bronze sculpture” of Buckles. Master sculptor Gregory Marra “aims to have the funds in place in order to have the finished sculpture ready to unveil by Veterans Day.” He is “also hoping to raise another $200,000 to make a copy of the sculpture that would be placed in Bucks County.”

• British WWI Vet Celebrates 110th Birthday. AP “One of the last two known veterans of World War I celebrated his 110th birthday Thursday with at least three generations of family and a contingent of navy officers in dress uniform.”

• Wounded Female Vets Heal At Ranch In Texas. NBC’s Today Show “With America fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are a lot of vets,” including many women, who are “coming home with both visible and invisible scars.”

• AMA Board Member Answers Military’s Call To Duty. American Medical News Dr. Raj S. Ambay, a major in the US Army Reserve, is “scheduled to leave for Iraq on March 4 for his second deployment, his first overseas.” Ambay is “being called on…as a plastic surgeon” to help “treat those serving in Iraq.” Currently he is a “plastic surgeon at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital” in Tampa, Florida.

• Area Veteran Battling VA Over Covering Agent Orange-Related Health Problems. Southeast Missourian Vietnam vet Charles Phillip Jestus is “among several veterans who in recent weeks have shared with the Southeast Missourian their concerns and accusations about the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system, a system they assert is riddled with incompetence and in bureaucracy.” The 63-year-old Jestus, a Cape Girardeau resident who was exposed to the “deadly chemical Agent Orange” in Vietnam ….

• VA Seeks Contractor For E-mail Migration.IT Business Edge The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for a contractor to move 600,000 of its employees to a cloud-based e-mail and collaboration system. Dubbed ‘Big 4’ for the number of data centers that are required to host the system,” VA “plans to use its existing Microsoft licenses for SharePoint and Exchange. This seems to indicate that Microsoft is a strong contender for the contract,” although it “may find itself in another contentious battle with Google.”