Veterans! Here’s your Top 10 Newsstories 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.   Veterans eligible for communication aids.  The Virginian-Pilot  A veteran with a hearing or speech loss and proof of an honorable discharge. — A veteran with a hearing or speech loss and documentation of a service-related disability rating from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. — A surviving spouse or …

2.   U. opens research center for veterans’ neuro issues.  The Brown Daily Herald  The center was made possible by a $4.5 million five-year grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in June. The center, located … In his keynote address, Joel Kupersmith, chief research and development officer at the Department of …

3.   Mobile Vet Center To Stop at 10K Race.  Wheeling Intelligencer  A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Mobile Vet Center will make a stop in Wheeling Nov. 10 during the annual Veterans Day 10K Race, according to Michael Novotney, a readjustment counseling technician at the Wheeling Vet Center located along W.Va.
 
4.   Veterans Face Benefits Quandary.  CQ Weekly  “The culture that keeps many military victims of sexual assault from reporting the crime and seeking justice can hurt them again when they seek benefits as veterans – an issue that lawmakers and the Department of Veterans Affairs are trying to resolve.” Some lawmakers say VA administrators are not consistently applying recent guidelines changes that make it easier for sexual assault-related claims to get approved. The agency, however, “maintains that better training of claims screeners…will help” in this area. But supporters of proposed congressional legislation that would broaden “VA’s standards to make veterans eligible for benefits if a medical professional diagnoses them with a mental health condition that is related to their own accounts of sexual” trauma “say legislation is still needed to level the playing field.”
 
5.   Uncertainty Surrounds US Military Effort To Address Sexual Violence Within Its Ranks.  CQ Weekly VA “estimates that roughly a fifth of the female veterans it screens each year report having experienced sexual trauma while in the military.” Still, a debate has developed that “rests on the question of whether the armed forces – where loyalty and fraternity are deeply ingrained values and resistance to outside interference is the norm – can remake itself and, most important, police itself on matters of sexual violence.” Both sides of the debate “acknowledge that it isn’t yet clear whether the military is at a true tipping point such that a change in culture is systematically spreading down through the services’ ranks.”

6.   Without Resolution.  CQ Weekly “There is a strong chance that Congress may simply extend the stale fiscal 2012 appropriations laws for another six months through another continuing resolution.” CQ Weekly adds, “The Veterans Health Administration has estimated that operating under a one-month CR resulted in more than $1 million in lost productivity at its medical centers and more than $140,000 in additional work for the agency’s central contracting office. ‘Clearly you hamstring efficient and effective government’ with CRs,” said Paul L. Posner, director of George Mason University’s Centers on the Public Service in Virginia and a former top budget researcher at the Government Accountability Office. Posner added, “You’re absolutely raising costs” and “reducing the ability to get things done efficiently.”
 
7.   CR For 2012 Appropriations Would Likely Impact VA IT Plans.  CQ Weekly A CR for fiscal 2012 appropriations would mean that Veterans Affairs “would likely be hard-pressed to keep its IT efforts on track. Those programs include the problematic effort to integrate electronic health records with the Defense Department, a move aimed at easing the servicemembers’ transition from active duty to the VA health care system.” A CR for fiscal 2012 appropriations could also affect the “Veterans Business Administration’s effort to develop a new, nearly paperless benefits management system that is aimed at cutting claims processing times in half.”
 
8.   Program Helps Explain Benefits To Veterans.  Houma (LA) Courier “A health and benefits fair for veterans sponsored by the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Terrebonne Parish Main Library” in Houma. The fair “will provide local veterans and their families with a comprehensive overview of their benefits and the many resources available.”
 
9.   War-Torn Veterans, Their Dreams, And A Yoga Instructor.  Lincoln (NE) Journal Star  In the “dusty, opaque gymnasium at the Lincoln VA every Wednesday at 3 o’clock”, Liz Merey teaches yoga to a group of Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The idea to make Merey a yoga instructor at Veterans Affairs’ facilities in Omaha and Lincoln came about when Dr. Terry North, director of PTSD services across the Nebraska and Iowa healthcare systems, “and Dr. Jocelyn Ritchie contacted Dr. Dan Libby, a psychologist and postdoctoral fellow at Yale, and found he’d been experimenting with yoga classes for PTSD patients at a Connecticut VA. Ritchie then reached out to Merey, her friend, and the two sat down and designed an instructional plan mirroring Libby’s.”

10.  IG Finds Flaws In VA Security.  Federal Times, “The Veterans Affairs Department is not effectively managing or securing sensitive health data it shares with partnering universities and research organizations, according to an Oct. 23 inspector general report.” The agency “agreed with the IG’s recommendations to create a model for protecting data exchanged with outside organizations, to ensure research organizations meet security standards for protecting data, and to improve security network interconnections.”

Have You Heard?

Earlier this month, the US Chamber of Commerce held its 300th Hiring Our Heroes job fair, leading to 10,400 jobs for Veterans and spouses. And they’re just getting started.

Below you’ll find a list of hiring events from November 1 through November 29 in 400 communities. If you’re looking to attend one of the fairs, double check to make sure the date hasn’t changed since being posted. Each event should have a link to more information on the time and location, as well as registration information.

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