Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1.      VA To Review Agent Orange Claims Submitted By “Brown Water” Vets. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser (9/30, Cole) reported, “The Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed to review the cases of 16,830 ‘brown water’ Navy and other Vietnam-era veterans whose disability claims related to the herbicide Agent Orange were denied, US Sen. Daniel Akaka’s office said.” Akaka, who “said…VA denied claims without properly determining whether veterans served in Vietnam’s inland waterways, referred to as ‘brown water,’ or in other locations where they may have been exposed to Agent Orange,” had expressed concern about the rejected claims in a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. According to the Star-Advertiser, Akaka praised VA for agreeing to conduct the case reviews.
     Meanwhile, the syndicated “Military Update” column, appearing in Stars And Stripes (9/30, Philpott), said a recent hearing allowed Shinseki to “explain his decision to add three diseases – ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and B-Cell leukemia – to the list of ailments presumed caused by herbicide exposure in the Vietnam War. He did so, noting how the law directs him to establish presumption of service connection ‘without regard to the projected costs or the existence of independent risk factors.’ Days after the hearing,” a spokesman for Akaka said Akaka is “studying possible improvements to the presumptive disability decision-making process.”

 2.      VA Using Innovation Competition To Develop Pilot IT Projects. In its September-October 2010 issue, Government Health IT (10/2, Buxbaum) magazine said an idea from a Veterans Affairs doctor to display “patients’ mug shots prominently” in their electronic charts, in the hopes of ensuring that healthcare providers choose the correct patient records, was “one of 26 winning” ones “submitted in the Veterans Health Administration Office of Information and Technology Innovation Competition announced by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki earlier this year. The department has earmarked $15 million to develop pilot projects with an eye toward an eventual national rollout of the successful ones.” According to the magazine, the winners of the innovation competition “sought to incorporate existing technologies to make VA healthcare better.”

 3.      Vet’s Mom “Elated” By Congressional Passage Of Burial Legislation. The AP (10/1, Miga) says Denise Anderson, a “Massachusetts mother who lost her only son in Iraq,” has “won her nearly two-year fight…to be buried alongside” him. Anderson, who “said in a phone interview Thursday with The Associated Press,” that she is “elated” with the result of her effort, was the “driving force behind” the Corey Shea Act, a “bill that Congress approved on Wednesday allowing some parents of fallen soldiers to be buried next to their children in national military cemeteries.” Under the bill, which “now goes to President Obama’s desk,” parents “would be allowed burial space if their deceased veteran sons and daughters,” who “must have been killed in battle or in preparation for battle,” had “no living spouse or minor children, and if there is available…gravesite” space.

The Attleboro (MA) Sun Chronicle (10/1, 17K) notes that Anderson, a Massachusetts resident, was Corey Shea’s mother, while the Mansfield (MA) News (10/1, Gallotta) points out that a spokesman from the office of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) “said the act should be signed by the president within about a week.” The Boston Globe (10/1, Bender, Fish, 253K) says the bill was sponsored by Kerry and US Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). WBZ-TV Boston, MA (9/30, 11;10 p.m. ET) broadcast that while the Corey Shea Act “covers national cemeteries managed” by VA, it “does not include Arlington National Cemetery, which is managed” by the US Army.

 4.      Bill Passed In House Would Require Jobs-Related Drop-Down Menu On VA Website. In its “Death, Taxes & Politics” blog, the Jacksonville-based Florida Times-Union (9/30, Dixon, 126K) noted that on Wednesday, the US House passed a bill that “would require the Veterans Administration to develop a drop-down menu on its homepage to give veterans easier access to job options.” The Times-Union said the bill, which “passed on a unanimous 425-0 vote,” was sponsored by US Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), who said in a statement that VA’s online job portal was “built…without thinking about the customer, our veterans.”

 5.      Congress Approves Extension For Stop-Loss Payment Applications. The Army Times (10/1, Maze, 104K) reports, “Congress is giving service members and veterans a little more time – until Dec. 3 – to apply for the extra pay that is owed them if their active service was involuntarily extended between the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Sept. 30, 2008.” The extension for stop-loss payment applications is “part of the stop-gap spending bill that keeps the government running because lawmakers left the Capitol without passing any of the 13 regular appropriations bills needed to fund federal agencies, including the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs Department. Under the temporary spending bill, most agencies will be able to keep spending in the new fiscal year at fiscal 2010 levels.”

 6.      Schwarzenegger Signs Vets Cemetery Legislation. The Salinas Californian (10/1, 14K) reports, “The Central Coast Veterans Cemetery planned for the former Fort Ord got a major boost Thursday,” as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger “signed Assembly Bill 1757 into law.” The legislation “allows state money to be released as it becomes available for each phase of the construction project, and it authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to proceed with design, development and construction as needed.” The KSBW-TV Monterey, CA (9/30) website published a similar story.”

 7.      Construction May Start Soon On New Vets Cemetery In Alabama. The WKRG-TV Mobile, AL (9/30, 5:10 p.m. CT) broadcast, “Construction on a new, state-operated veterans cemetery in Baldwin County could begin in less than a month,” because on Thursday, county officials said they have been able to acquire all mineral rights from landowners in the area where the cemetery will be built. According to WKRG, the county officials said they will finalize paperwork next week.

 8.      Virginia AG Distributing Campaign Funds To Several Veterans Support Programs. According to the Roanoke (VA) Times (10/1, Sluss), Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is “giving several veterans support programs,” including the “Virginia Veterans Care Center in Salem and the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Dublin,” the “campaign funds he received last year from an alleged identity thief who ran a suspect veterans charity organization.” On Thursday, Cuccinelli “said…he is distributing $55,700 to ‘outstanding programs where we know the money will make a positive impact and benefit veterans and their families around the commonwealth.'” The “donations slightly exceed the total contributions Cuccinelli received last year from a man who used the name Bobby Thompson and claimed to be the director of a nonprofit group called the US Navy Veterans Association,” which became the subject of investigations by “Virginia and several other states…after news reports raised questions about the existence of its members and how the group spent millions of dollars in reported donations.” The “Virginia Politics” blog for the Washington Post (10/1, Helderman, 605K) notes that the Fisher House in Richmond, Virginia, will receive $10,000 from Cuccinelli.

 9.      VA Chooses Maine, Montana For Project Access Received Closer To Home. The Bangor (ME) Daily News (10/1, Lynds, 50K) says a US Department of Veterans Affairs “pilot program in northern Maine will allow veterans in that region to receive greater access to health care closer to home.” In a Thursday announcement, US Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME) “said…that health care services will be contracted with a non-VA provider in Aroostook County. The pilot program, called Project Access Received Closer to Home, or Project ARCH, was included by Michaud in a bill he worked to pass in 2008 called the Veterans’ Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act.” The Billings (MT) Gazette (10/1) reports, “Billings has been selected” by VA “as a pilot site” for Project ARCH.

10.    White House Apologizes For Denying Tour To Decorated Vet’s Family. The AP (10/1) reports, “The White House apologized Thursday for turning the family of a Medal of Honor recipient away from an exclusive tour last week because the late veteran’s 10-year-old grandson was wearing shorts.” Along with his grandson, the widow of Vernon Baker, the “last surviving black Medal of Honor winner from World War II, were turned away, as was another “winner of the military’s top award,” Thomas Norris, “because he was not previously cleared for the tour.” The AP points out that White House spokesman Adam Abrams said the Baker family and Norris have been invited back to the White House.