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…..

OPM Owning Transparency: People, Processes, and Technology.  OPM Blog

SMART Apps for Health.  Challenge.gov

VA’s Tech Budget Takes Hit; Shinseki Says IT Still ‘Key’.  Executive Gov

The team searched for Americans missing from the Korean War. A specially trained team of U.S. and Chinese archeologists from the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command are working in Guangdong province, China, to continue the search for Americans unaccounted for from the Korean War, according to a Navy release.

Gates finds troops optimistic, and anxious on the front lines.  COMBAT OUTPOST KOWALL, Afghanistan — The next few weeks may be the most important period of the Afghanistan War.

Texas agency says funding cuts would deny help to veterans.  Fort Worth Star-Telegram Those veterans are eligible for compensation from the US Veterans Affairs Department, but because it is such a complicated and confusing process, most veterans enlist the help of experts, including claims counselors from the state commission.

R/X Automation lands $13 million deal.  Boulder County Business Report  The Longmont-based company will use its expertise in inventory management to deliver special machinery to a new US Department of Veterans Affairs facility in Charleston, South Carolina, the company said. The contract award is with the US Department of Placer County Veterans Service secures millions in benefits for local vets.  Placer County Online Rick Buckman, Placer County Veteran Services Officer, was recently commended by the State Department of Veterans Affairs for the benefit payments he has secured for Placer County Veterans, according to a county spokesperson.

In fiscal year 2009-10, Life After War: Perspectives on PTSD From Rhode Island Veterans.  Campus Progress  After six years of road rage and constant guilt Scirocco checked himself into the Veteran’s Affairs Hospital in Providence and was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). A childhood friend of Scirocco’s, who was deployed at the same time Political Notebook: Roch sales tax bills to be introduced.

Post-Bulletin  Tim Walz, Gross shared his ideas on how the US Department of Veterans Affairs can do a better job serving veterans. In particular, Gross talked about some of the bureaucratic barriers he faces while trying to serve local veterans.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

PONZI SCHEMES
“PONZI” SCHEMES PROMISE HIGH FINANCIAL RETURNS OR DIVIDENDS NOT AVAILABLE THROUGH TRADITIONAL INVESTMENTS. INSTEAD OF INVESTING THE FUNDS OF VICTIMS, HOWEVER, THE CON ARTIST PAYS “DIVIDENDS” TO INITIAL INVESTORS USING THE FUNDS OF SUBSEQUENT INVESTORS. THE SCHEME GENERALLY FALLS APART WHEN THE OPERATOR FLEES WITH ALL OF THE PROCEEDS OR WHEN A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF NEW INVESTORS CAN BE FOUND TO ALLOW THE CONTINUED PAYMENT OF “DIVIDENDS.”
THIS TYPE OF FRAUD IS NAMED AFTER ITS CREATOR—CHARLES PONZI OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. IN THE EARLY 1900S, PONZI LAUNCHED A SCHEME THAT GUARANTEED INVESTORS A 50 PERCENT RETURN ON THEIR INVESTMENT IN POSTAL COUPONS. ALTHOUGH HE WAS ABLE TO PAY HIS INITIAL BACKERS, THE SCHEME DISSOLVED WHEN HE WAS UNABLE TO PAY LATER INVESTORS.

TIPS FOR AVOIDING PONZI SCHEMES:

• BE CAREFUL OF ANY INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY THAT MAKES EXAGGERATED EARNINGS CLAIMS.
• EXERCISE DUE DILIGENCE IN SELECTING INVESTMENTS AND THE PEOPLE WITH WHOM YOU INVEST—IN OTHER WORDS, DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
• CONSULT AN UNBIASED THIRD PARTY—LIKE AN UNCONNECTED BROKER OR LICENSED FINANCIAL ADVISOR—BEFORE INVESTING.

PYRAMID SCHEMES
AS IN PONZI SCHEMES, THE MONEY COLLECTED FROM NEWER VICTIMS OF THE FRAUD IS PAID TO EARLIER VICTIMS TO PROVIDE A VENEER OF LEGITIMACY. IN PYRAMID SCHEMES, HOWEVER, THE VICTIMS THEMSELVES ARE INDUCED TO RECRUIT FURTHER VICTIMS THROUGH THE PAYMENT OF RECRUITMENT COMMISSIONS. MORE SPECIFICALLY, PYRAMID SCHEMES—ALSO REFERRED TO AS FRANCHISE FRAUD OR CHAIN REFERRAL SCHEMES—ARE MARKETING AND INVESTMENT FRAUDS IN WHICH AN INDIVIDUAL IS OFFERED A DISTRIBUTORSHIP OR FRANCHISE TO MARKET A PARTICULAR PRODUCT. THE REAL PROFIT IS EARNED, NOT BY THE SALE OF THE PRODUCT, BUT BY THE SALE OF NEW DISTRIBUTORSHIPS. EMPHASIS ON SELLING FRANCHISES RATHER THAN THE PRODUCT EVENTUALLY LEADS TO A POINT WHERE THE SUPPLY OF POTENTIAL INVESTORS IS EXHAUSTED AND THE PYRAMID COLLAPSES. AT THE HEART OF EACH PYRAMID SCHEME IS TYPICALLY A REPRESENTATION THAT NEW PARTICIPANTS CAN RECOUP THEIR ORIGINAL INVESTMENTS BY INDUCING TWO OR MORE PROSPECTS TO MAKE THE SAME INVESTMENT. PROMOTERS FAIL TO TELL PROSPECTIVE PARTICIPANTS THAT THIS IS MATHEMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR EVERYONE TO DO, SINCE SOME PARTICIPANTS DROP OUT, WHILE OTHERS RECOUP THEIR ORIGINAL INVESTMENTS AND THEN DROP OUT.

IN OTHER NEWS

Australia Commits $3.3 Million For Vietnam Education Center In US.  Gov Monitor  Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Warren Snowdon, today launched the Australian Government’s commitment of $3.3 million towards a world-first education centre in Washington DC honoring Vietnam veterans

State Vets Home Bill Approved. Hot Springs (SD) Star “Last week’s passage of Senate Bill 52 by the S.D. House of Representatives starts the ball rolling on a new State Veteran’s Home in Hot Springs.” The legislation is now “on Governor Dennis Daugaard’s desk, awaiting.

Bill Would Ease Compensation For Sexual Trauma. Army Times “Veterans who are sexually assaulted, raped or harassed while in the service often find they are ineligible for post-service disability compensation and medical treatment if they

Report Reveals Steep Increase In War Amputations Last Fall. Washington Post “The majority of American soldiers undergoing amputation for war wounds last fall lost more than one limb, according to data presented Tuesday to the Defense Health Board, a committee of experts that advises the Defense Department on medical matters.” Military officials had previously released data

GI Bill Battered. New York Post The Post-9/11 GI Bill, which was “intended to help veterans pay for college,” is “about to have the opposite …

Meeting Shares Promising Veteran Reintegration Practices At College Campuses. Chronicle Of Higher Education “The Post-9/11 GI Bill has brought to colleges not only legions of veterans, but awareness of the need for dedicated services to help them reintegrate ….

Wounded Veteran’s “Dream House” Built Through Volunteer Effort. Tampa Tribune Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay designed and built a home for disabled Iraq veteran Waldemar Alameda. The “home was funded by Sears, designed by …

Disabled Veteran: “Bring My Scooter Back!” WHAM-TV “Police in Newark and Lyons are investigating” the theft of a motorized scooter that the US Department of Veterans Affairs provided to disabled Vietnam vet Ed Tellier. Tellier “made this appeal to the thief: ‘Bring back my scooter …

Health Care Goes Mobile, But Who Pays. AP The US Department of Veterans Affairs “49,000-patient network is part of a quiet revolution in health care dubbed ‘telemedicine,’ aimed at improving care and lowering costs by keeping patients out of hospitals and nursing homes.”

More Agencies Moving Paper Records Into The Digital Realm. Federal Times “The Veterans Affairs Department has stepped up its efforts to automate veterans’ disability claims records and give vets electronic access to their health data.” The VA, which “now boasts more than 185,000 persons who download their health records through VA’s Blue Button,” is “working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Defense Department to make Blue Button technology available to all 8 million …

First Do No Harm. Washington Monthly “In 2002, Dr. Rajiv Jain of the Pittsburgh Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center introduced a commonsense method used throughout Europe to drive down the number of hospital-acquired” methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) “infections: swab the noses of patients before they are admitted, and if they test positive for MRSA, isolate them from other patients.

Army Plans Vision Care EMR For Its Base Retailer Services. Government Health IT “The Department of the Army is gauging industry capabilities for an electronic medical records system (EMR) for its worldwide Army & Air Force Exchange vision care business.” “EMR would have to integrate with clinical systems of the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments,

VA Tries To Clear Backlog Of Exams. Salisbury (NC) Post “The W.G. (Bill) Hefner VA Medical Center, as part” of the Veterans Affairs Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network, “will tackle the growing backlog of compensation and pension exams during three one-week sessions that began this week.” VA hospitals in “North Carolina, Virginia and southern West Virginia have dedicated up to …

Campaign Aims To Open Doors For The Homeless. NPR’s “All Things Considered” San Diego has “joined more than 70 other cities – such as Phoenix, Tucson and Nashville – in a national campaign to get 100,000 chronically homeless people into permanent housing.

Event Showcases Vets Planning To Participate In Wheelchair Games. WPCW-TV “Hundreds of veterans from all over are expected…to attend” the “31st Annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games” this year in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney and “former Steelers Rocky Bleier will be honorary co-chairs”.

Who Can Be Buried At Arlington Cemetery? Washington Times “Department of Veterans Affairs’ Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs L. Tammy Duckworth” is “among the confirmed speakers at the Sea Service Leadership Association (SSLA)’s 24th Annual Women’s Leadership Symposium. The symposium will take place March 15-16, 2011, at the Sheraton Hotel and Marina in San Diego, Calif. The conference is slated to be one of the largest gatherings of women in uniform nationwide.”