Today’s Local News for Veterans
What’s Inside
1. Shinseki Says Major Change Is Needed At VA.
2. Duckworth To Be Nominated For Leadership Position In VA.
3. Colleges Form Groups To Assist Vets.
4. Iraq Vet Sewing Quilts For Wheelchair Games Participants.
5. Suicide Said To Be Less Of A Problem For Utah National Guard Than For Army.
6. Panel Discussion On Veterans’ Issues Held In Oregon.
7. Budget Fails To Fund Connecticut Veterans Health Registry.
8. Former Lawmaker Appointed To Lead Kentucky VA.
9. VA Hospital Offers Presentation On Buffalo Soldiers.
10. Land Set Aside For State Veterans Cemetery In Mississippi.
HAVE YOU HEARD?
VA offers veterans with government life insurance policies a VA Insurance Homepage — www.insurance.va.gov – that provides a variety of self-service functions to help them get the most out of the veterans insurance programs. For example, veterans can view their policy information, apply for loans against their policies, apply for Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance, apply for Veterans’ Group Life Insurance, calculate the amount of life insurance they need, and ask questions about, or request action be taken on their policy. In 2008, there were 92,881 first-time visitors to VA insurance Web sites. Over 87,000 users registered for Self-Service in 2008 by requesting PINs, which are required for certain transactions. To date, 327,418 users have registered and utilized Self-Service to manage their government life insurance policies.
1. Shinseki Says Major Change Is Needed At VA. The AP (2/5, Yen) reports, "New Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki is launching a top-down review of his embattled department, saying major change is needed soon to ensure the ‘highest levels of integrity, transparency and performance.’" During testimony given Wednesday to a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Shinseki "also reiterated his promise to submit a ‘credible and adequate 2010 budget request’ in the coming weeks that will be cost-effective while fully sensitive to veterans in need."
All-Electronic Claims System A Goal For Shinseki. In a later version of this story, the AP (2/5, Yen) reports Shinseki also "said Wednesday he is trying to reduce the six-month delays in paying veterans’ disability claims, and he wants to move quickly toward an all-electronic claims system that could speed up the process." Shinseki "said the VA is looking at a major switch that would phase out paper processing, possibly by 2012. In the meantime," the department "will hire 1,100 more staff this year to deal with the backlog of cases, which typically involve paper stacks ‘going halfway to the ceiling,’ he said." A similar story was posted to CNN’s Political Ticker (2/4, Levine) blog.
Shinseki Expresses Preference For "Timely" Budget. CQ (2/5, Johnson) says during his appearance on Capitol Hill, Shinseki "hedged…on the idea of providing two years of funding for veterans’ programs in 2009, despite his earlier embrace of the notion." Veterans’ "advocacy organizations are pushing the two-year budget in order to alleviate long waits for treatment, personnel shortages and construction delays that they say can result when lawmakers fail to pass appropriations bills by the Oct. 1 start of each fiscal year." But on Wednesday, Shinseki told the House Veterans Affairs Committee that his "preference would be for a timely budget." After the hearing, Shinseki "said he is not opposed to advance funding," but "his statements could signal that the new administration is having second thoughts about a strategy it previously touted." 2. Duckworth To Be Nominated For Leadership Position In VA. In continuing coverage, the Politico (2/4, Brown) reported, "President Barack Obama will nominate Tammy Duckworth," a disabled "Iraq war veteran, to serve as an assistant secretary in the Department of Veterans Affairs." In her new post, Duckworth, who currently serves as director of the Illinois VA, would "direct the department’s public affairs, internal communications and intergovernmental relations." The Politico noted that Duckworth had earlier been "mentioned as a possible VA secretary, but that job went to retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki." The Decatur (IL) Herald & Review (2/4, Erickson) published a similar story.
The George Washington (GW) University Hatchet (2/5, Bales) says that during an interview it conducted with Duckworth in November, she "expressed frustration with the challenges veterans confront — obstacles she has experienced first hand. ‘When I talk about problems facing veterans, or when I talk about the bureaucracy that our veterans have to wade through in the federal VA, or when I talk about the hardships that thousands have to go through, I talk from experience,’ Duckworth said."
Duckworth Praised By Fellow Iraq Vets. The final story in Al Kamen’s Washington Post (2/4) "In The Loop" column said that on Tuesday, Iraq veterans "applauded Duckworth’s nomination." Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and
Afghanistan Veterans of America, spoke highly of Duckworth, saying, "She understands the challenges facing this generation of wounded warriors as few others possibly can."
Gould Also Chosen For Top VA Post. Rieckhoff’s comments were also reported in Stephanie Gaskell’s "War Zone" blog for the New York Daily News (2/4), which noted, "Obama also named Afghanistan veteran Scott Gould, a former naval intelligence reservist, as a VA deputy secretary."
3. Colleges Form Groups To Assist Vets. The St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press (2/4, Rathbun) said University of Wisconsin-River Falls (UW-River Falls) "has put together a task force to examine what the school can do to help them make the transition to student life. ‘What we did was to take a look not only at the programs we have for veterans right now, but also at the tremendous influx of veterans that we will have coming back,’ said Rick Bowen," chairman of the UW-River Falls Chancellor’s Committee on Veterans Affairs. The "expected boom in veteran enrollment at UW-River Falls and schools across the country is credited" to the new GI Bill passed in 2008.
The Bedford (IN) Times-Mail (2/4, Nolan) reported, "Military veterans seeking help navigating the maze of benefits available to them under a new version of the GI Bill will soon have help from" Indiana University’s "newly created Veterans Services Coordinating Committee," which "will work with all eight IU campuses throughout the state." Committee chairman Kirk White, IU’s director of community relations, "said he expects the committee will meet before the end of the month. And they’d better get to work fast, he said, adding that the National Guard unit he serves with has been alerted for a possible second deployment to Afghanistan."
4. Iraq Vet Sewing Quilts For Wheelchair Games Participants. In his Denver Post (2/4) column, William Porter profiled Iraq veteran Juliet Madsen, who has "a 14-foot-long sewing machine in her basement – courtesy" of a Veterans Affairs "vocational rehab program – and a quilt with the image of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on her living room wall." Madsen "is smack in the middle of a project she dreamed up on the way home from one of her VA sessions. Her goal is to sew 200 quilts and auction them off to help underwrite some of the more than 550 contestants expected at the Paralyzed Veterans of America National Wheelchair Games in Denver next year."
5. Suicide Said To Be Less Of A Problem For Utah National Guard Than For Army. On its website, KTVX-TV Salt Lake City, UT (2/4) said that while the US Army "overall has seen increases in suicide rates for the fourth consecutive year, the Utah National Guard has not experienced the same trend," perhaps because Utah Guard soldiers, airmen, "and families typically receive pre- and postmobilization briefings on suicide awareness and prevention, as well as follow-up classes during deployment. Other resources available to Utah National Guard members and their families include a full-time licensed clinical social worker, mental health counselors, suicide-prevention counselors, the Post-Deployment Health Reassessment program, Veteran transition-assistance advisor," the Department of Veterans Affairs, "and civilian practitioners."
6. Panel Discussion On Veterans’ Issues Held In Oregon. The Gresham (OR) Outlook (2/4, Cullivan) said that during a panel discussion on veterans’ issues held late last month in Gresham, panelists, which included Paul Evans, chairman of the Governor’s Veterans Services Task Force in Oregon, "talked about such issues as employment, suicide, post-traumatic stress syndrome, women veterans’ issues, counseling, and proposed legislation to assist vets." The Outlook noted that Evans, an "Air Force veteran of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars," said Oregon, which he maintained "has done a better job than most states at reaching out to veterans," could still "do better."
7. Budget Fails To Fund Connecticut Veterans Health Registry. The Fairfield County (CT) Weekly (2/5, Bromage) reports, "Like most Gulf War vets," the US Department of Veterans Affairs "refuses to test" Melissa Sterry "for exposure to depleted uranium or other chemical toxins she was exposed to in the Middle East. So Sterry turned to the state government, and in 2005 helped Connecticut become the first state in the nation to craft a law to test returning combat troops for exposure to battlefield health hazards, including depleted uranium." Connecticut’s law "would also establish a veterans health registry to catalog mysterious symptoms crippling war vets," but the Weekly "has learned that Gov. Jodi Rell, through her budget office, quietly killed funding for the veterans health registry."8. Former Lawmaker Appointed To Lead Kentucky VA. In continuing coverage, the Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal (2/4, Gerth) noted that on Monday, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear appointed former US Rep. Ken Lucas "as the commissioner of the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs." The 75-year-old Lucas, an Air Force veteran, "replaces retired Army Gen. Les Beavers, who…retired in December."
9. VA Hospital Offers Presentation On Buffalo Soldiers. KSFY-TV Sioux Falls, SD (2/4, 6:15 p.m. CT) broadcast, "February is Black History Month," and on Wednesday, the Veterans Affairs medical center in Sioux Falls "helped to celebrate it by offering a presentation on Buffalo Soldiers." The Sioux Falls (SD) Argus Leader (2/4) noted that the event was "made possible with a grant" from the South Dakota Humanities Council.
10. Land Set Aside For State Veterans Cemetery In Mississippi. In continuing coverage, the WTOK-TV Meridian, MS (2/4, Bowers) website reported, "Seventy-five acres of land in Newton County…has been set aside to become a cemetery for veterans" of the US military. Funding for the facility, "which will be the only state veterans cemetery in Mississippi," comes "from the VA Cemetery Program Grant," state grants, "Mississippi Legislative appropriations, and private and corporate donations." WTOK (2/4, 6:32 a.m. CT) also covered this story during a report aired early in the morning on Tuesday.
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