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.   Tensions again rising between Afghanistan, Pakistan.  The continuing rocket attacks from Pakistan on eastern provinces of the country have cost two high-ranking officials their jobs and threaten to further destabilize the country’s fragile central government.
 
2.   Business philosophy helps military trim costs.  Imagine a massive trucking operation at a sprawling airfield where the drivers are forced to wait for days because they don’t know where to go, racking up huge fees as a result.
 
3.   Fanfare at one new VA hospital, delays at another.  A $600-million VA hospital opens in Vegas, while a new facility in Orlando is at least a year behind schedule.
 
4.   Experimental X-51A WaveRider set for test flight at Mach 6.  Since test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947, engineers and scientists have dreamed of ever-faster aircraft. Now, they face one of their toughest challenges yet: sustaining hypersonic flight — going five times the speed of sound or more — for more than a few minutes.

5.   Veterans Affairs faces probe of spending on two conferences.  GovExec.com  … the Veterans Affairs Department is under investigation for allegedly spending $9 million on two human resources training conferences at which employees may have received improper gifts, according to a Federal Times story published Monday night.

6.   Pretend ‘Hero’ Dr. Phil smacked down by military mom over PTSD show.  Fort Worth Star Telegram (blog)  Elizabeth Benson wrote in a blog for VAntage Point (Dispatches from the U.S. Department of Gunner Veteran Affairs) that at a time when veteran unemployment is “so high and employers comment that they are wary of hiring vets he decided to completely …

7.   Rick Weidman Calls on Congress to Sync VA, SBA Contracting Rules.  ExecutiveGov  A top official at a veterans advocacy group believes Congress should standardize control of contracting rules between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Small Business Administration, Federal News Radio reports. Rick Weidman, executive director …

8.   NC State Veteran’s Home nears completion.  Beaufort Observer  He said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs covers roughly 50 percent of the cost of each resident’s daily stay in the home and other costs of living in the home can be covered by Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance or family funds. “These …

9.   Federal Workers Fret About Jobs As Sequestration Looms. Washington Post “Workers in many corners” of the Federal government are concerned about losing their jobs if automatic sequestration budget cuts are made at the start of 2013. The Post notes that “despite White House assurances this spring that all programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs would be protected from sequestration,
 
10.  Event Attracts Hundreds Of Veterans In Need. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review  “More than 60 service organizations gathered Saturday at Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship on Pride Street for Stand Down 2012 to provide help for homeless veterans and their families. Among the sponsors of the fifth annual event were Veterans Leadership Program, Operation Safety Net and the VA Healthcare for Homeless Veterans.” One of the more than 500 people who attended the event was Iraq veteran Michael Morell, who “said…VA has helped him in his battle with addiction and his recent homelessness.” Al Mercer of the Veterans Leadership Program said he thinks VA is “making a tremendous effort to reduce homelessness.”

Have You Heard?

Medical Foster Homes Provide Alternative Long-term Care

Currently, 74 VA facilities in 36 states have an active VA Medical Foster Home Program, with hundreds of caregivers opening their homes to Veterans who would otherwise be in a nursing home. Read one caregivers story here.