18 veterans commit suicide each day
Apr 23rd
By Rick Maze–Military Times 
Troubling new data show there are an average of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department.
Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don’t succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months.
The numbers, which come at a time when VA is strengthening its suicide prevention programs, show about 18 veteran suicides a day, about five by veterans who are receiving VA care.
Access to care appears to be a key factor, officials said, noting that once a veteran is inside the VA care program, screening programs are in place to identify those with problems, and special efforts are made to track those considered at high risk, such as monitoring whether they are keeping appointments.
Popularity: 30% [?]
Panel urges VA to plan now for vets care
Apr 1st
Excerpt: Based on a review of disability claims from past wars, the report says the number of disability claims from recent veterans should peak around 2040.
By Kimberly Hefling – The Associated Press–
WASHINGTON — Looking decades ahead, the Institute of Medicine is urging the Veterans Affairs Department to begin planning now for the long-term health care needs of the estimated 1.9 million veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Specifically, the institute says in a report released Wednesday, not enough is known about what works best in the long term to treat veterans with traumatic brain injuries, often caused by roadside bombs.
While a multitude of public and private programs is available to help the men and women who have served in the recent conflicts, there is little coordination and sparse information about which ones are effective, the report said.
A 16-member panel coordinated by the Institute of Medicine instigated the review of the readjustment needs of troops, veterans and their families at the request of Congress. The institute is part of the National Academies, an independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific matters.
Dr. Victoria Cassano, the VA’s liaison to the institute, said many of the report’s recommendations are “right on.” Cassano said it covers important issues the VA is either already working on or will consider.
The report urged Congress to direct the VA to produce more detailed annual projections of the needs of veterans and their families, so more thorough planning can be done to prepare for an uptick in disability claims and health needs in the decades ahead as the veterans age.
Based on a review of disability claims from past wars, the report says the number of disability claims from recent veterans should peak around 2040.
“It’s going to get worse before it gets any better,” said Ryan Edwards, an economics professor from the City University of New York, who served on the panel. “We’re going to see a larger burden … and it will continue to expand.”
The report praised the VA’s work to establish rehabilitation services for those with traumatic brain injury, which is often called the signature wound of the Iraq war. But it said the VA should sponsor research into protocols for long-term care for those with traumatic brain injury because little research is available.
“It’s an evolving area, and it’s going to need to evolve more to keep up with the patient population,” said Dr. George Rutherford, the panel chairman, who is a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.
Overall, the report said, the VA and Defense Department should better coordinate services available to veterans. It held up as a successful model Military OneSource, a one-stop online and telephone information source for military personnel and their families.
The study said the Defense Department needs to better address troops’ reluctance to report mental health problems and should review how it handles confidentiality when a service member seeks help. It also encouraged the Defense Department and VA to hire more mental health professionals.
It could be helpful for service members returning home from war if there’s an interim place they can go following time in combat to rest and prepare for the adjustment back to the U.S., the report said.
Navy Capt. Edward Simmer said the Defense Department is already looking for ways to address some of the problems discussed in the report. “The things we need to work on, we’ll definitely get started with,” Simmer said.
Simmer is the senior executive for psychological health at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury in Rosslyn, Va.
Next month, the panel starts a second, two-year examination of veterans’ health issues.
Popularity: 26% [?]
VA doctors prohibited from prescribing medical pot
Mar 31st
By SUE MAJOR HOLMES–The Associated Press–
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When Paul Culkin came home to New Mexico after serving with an Army bomb squad in Iraq, he tried counseling and medications offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs to cope with his post traumatic stress disorder.
Nothing worked very well. Then he found a new alternative: marijuana.
New Mexico is the only state that explicitly allows people with PTSD to smoke pot under its medical marijuana law – an issue that is getting attention around the country at a time when traumatized vets are coming home from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in large numbers.
New Mexico’s medical marijuana law has created a conundrum for the Veterans Affairs, which does not allow its doctors to prescribe pot because the drug is illegal in the eyes of the federal government. So, patients like Culkin must seek out an endorsement from a private doctor.
PTSD accounts for more patients than any other of the state’s 16 eligible debilitating conditions approved for medical marijuana treatment.
Culkin wishes the VA could provide it.
“Oh my God, it would be so helpful,” said Culkin, 30, who heads the New Mexico Medical Marijuana Patients Group formed last December as a support and education group.
If the VA handled all needs – including medical cannabis – care for veterans would improve, he said, because the doctor would know everything about the patient.
“If these guys fought the hardest they could, why not give them the best medicine, or an alternative medicine you can?” Culkin said.
States where medical marijuana use has been approved have been trying to determine what ailments the drug will help. Those efforts have resulted in a mishmash of regulations.
For instance, a Colorado House committee in March rejected following New Mexico’s lead in specifically listing PTSD to qualify for medical marijuana. California doctors can recommend medical marijuana for a variety of conditions and “any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.”
The American Medical Association has called for controlled studies of marijuana for patients whose conditions it might help. The association also wants a review of marijuana’s status as a Schedule 1 drug so clinical research can move ahead.
The Department of Veterans Affairs says it is developing a national policy, and the head of Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access believes a VA policy allowing medical marijuana “is inevitable.”
“We’re all on the same side,” said Michael Krawitz of Virginia. “My goal is a good outcome for the veteran, and that’s their goal.”
“The irony in this … is it’s a common thing for veterans to tell me, ‘The VA is telling me if I just stay away from medical marijuana, we’ll give you all the pills you want, morphine, whatever,’” he said.
Krawitz, 47, was severely injured in a motorcycle accident while stationed in Guam with the Air Force about 20 years ago and eventually received a medical discharge.
He is an advocate for marijuana’s medicinal benefits.
“It makes it so you can put down a lot of the pain pills. It helps with nerve pain, that really bad spasming and twitching.”
He praises the care he’s gotten from the VA, but adds: “I feel sorry for the VA; they’re caught in the middle … They have a clear mandate to take care of veterans.”
Given their inability to get medical marijuana from the VA, New Mexico veterans are finding their own go-to physicians, including Dr. Eve Elting in the central part of the state.
“I have guys coming to see me from all over the state, five or six hours’ drive, just to be legal,” said Elting, of Truth or Consequences. “It’s bad enough they have something that makes life so challenging. On top of that they’re discriminated against, made to feel like they’re doing something wrong.”
Elting said veterans hear about her by word of mouth since she will see people who aren’t regular patients. About a quarter of those who come to her want medical marijuana for PTSD. One day she saw eight veterans – five for PTSD.
New Mexico doctors do not prescribe medical cannabis. Rather, they certify someone has one of the approved conditions and that standard treatment doesn’t work. Patients then apply to the state program. If an application is approved, the patient gets a registry ID card that allows possession of up to 6 ounces of medical marijuana.
A psychiatrist’s diagnosis must be included for PTSD. For chronic pain, X-rays or CT scans are required and both a primary doctor and a specialist have to sign off.
“Even though the VA has prohibited them from signing the documents, I don’t see why a physician treating the veteran would not be willing to sign a piece of paper attesting that the patient had that condition,” said Elting, who did her residency at a VA hospital and serves on New Mexico’s eight-member medical advisory board for the program.
Veterans armed with Elting’s signature would still have to find a private psychiatrist or other specialist to sign.
“Everyone’s happy to give them a million narcotics, anti-psychotics. It’s frustrating,” she said.
Popularity: 33% [?]
A GI-Bill reminder from VA
Mar 25th
Hello, 
Hope you’re having a great afternoon. I wanted to get in touch today to remind you of the benefits of The Post-9/11 GI Bill, and invite you to help spread the word to your readers.
As a military veteran, it’s imperative that you play a proactive role to ensure the educational benefits you, your friends or family have earned are in fact received. The Post-9/11 GI Bill offers terrific benefits, but they are not automatic. The actions taken today will simplify the process and help the VA expedite benefit payments.
I’m contacting you today on behalf of The United States Department of Veterans Affairs to stress the importance of completing all of the necessary steps to ensure the benefits deserved will be paid in a timely fashion! Here’s what needs to be done:
Check your eligibility online at www.gibill.va.gov Submit your application VA Form 22-1990 or 22-1990E.
After you have enrolled in school, check with your School Certifying Official (SCO) to confirm that your VA enrollment certification has been sent to the VA on your behalf. This form certifies your actual enrollment period and triggers your payment. *Here’s a little hint:
the school’s designated SCO will be found in the Financial Aid Department, Admissions and Records Department, or Registrar’s
Office.)
And last but not least, enjoy the education benefits you earned!
If you or a loved one is planning to use the Post-9/11 GI Bill to attend school anytime this year, action must be taken today. Please let me know if you would be interested in working together to ensure your readers are securing the benefits they are eligible for. For more information please visit: http://www.gibill.va.gov or text GIBill to 99702. And thank you for your service to our country.
All the very best,
Diana
Popularity: 31% [?]
Looking for Virginia Vets who might share their story
Mar 3rd
please contact Ms. Russo. -JustinMy name is Lauren Russo and I live in Charlottesville, Virginia. I am part of a three-woman organization, called Secretly Y’all, that puts on a monthly story-telling show here in Charlottesville. Once a month, we invite real people to tell real stories around a theme. The stories are sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and almost always engaging for our audience (which is usually between 75 and 100 people). You can find out more about us, including listen to podcasts of former month’s shows at http://secretlyall.wordpress.com.
I am writing because our March theme is At War, and I am extended invitations to Veterans’ organizations to tell their members about our show, and encourage them to both come and consider telling a story. You don’t have to be a professional storyteller or actor to tell your story, and we only want stories that are between 5 and 7 minutes long, so doesn’t represent a huge commitment. We would love to have a Veteran’s story represented in our line-up. Considering all they have experienced and sacrificed, we would feel honored if they shared a tiny bit of that experience with our (very respectful and open) audience. Our events are very powerful for the way they open up people’s experiences to an audience of people who would otherwise have no way of knowing what something is really like.
So, I have two humble requests for you. The first is if you could pass this along to anyone you might know in the Charlottesville area (perhaps by posting something about it on your blog?) who might be interested in attending and/or telling a story. And the second is if you think of anyone, either an organization or an individual, in Charlottesville that I could contact to further spread the word about our event and perhaps directly solicit a person to tell a story, I would appreciate it greatly.
You do great work with your website, and I look forward to keeping up with it.
Thank you!
Lauren Russo
Secretly Y’all
http://secretlyall.wordpress.com
Popularity: 38% [?]
For soldiers, single motherhood becomes another battlefield
Feb 26th
The latest flurry of attention toward gays in the military shows that the question of who gets to be a soldier, and why, is sometimes unavoidably moral. So let’s ask that question about another group of soldiers who haven’t attracted as much talk but should: mothers, many of them single, in combat boots — and combat zones.
Consider the case of Spec. Alexis Hutchinson, against whom the Army filed criminal charges in mid-January before granting her an other-than-honorable discharge instead. Ordered to Afghanistan in November from Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia, the Army cook and single mother refused to go. Subsequently, she was arrested and her son temporarily placed in foster care — because, a spokesman explained, she’d had “plenty of time” to find a babysitter while the only parent in his 10-month-old life went off to war.
When Congress passed a law in the 1970s allowing women with dependent children to enlist, a collision between motherhood and soldiering became inevitable. The wonder is not that a mother with a baby might choose the baby. Rather, it is that — given two wars and current military policy — more cases like Hutchinson’s have not erupted.
Popularity: 35% [?]
Vets deserve a piece of jobs bill, VFW says
Feb 26th
By Rick Maze –Military Times–
The nation’s largest organization of combat veterans is demanding changes in the $15 billion jobs bill that passed the Senate on Wednesday because veterans were left out of a package of tax credits and highway projects aimed at increasing employment.
“Despite having more than 1.1 million unemployed veterans, the 60-page package failed to mention ‘veteran’ or ‘veterans’ even once,” said Justin Brown, a legislative associate with the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Brown was referring to HR 2847, the Hiring Incentive to Restore Employment Act, or HIRE Act, that passed the Senate on Wednesday by a 70-28 vote and is pending before the House.
Speaking before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s economic opportunity panel, which is considering legislation that would expand vocational training for veterans, Brown said the VFW “finds it unconscionable that American’s veterans, who have left their families, risked their lives and limbs and left civilian career pursuits behind to answer the nation’s call, do not have the attention of Congress for this important matter.”
The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans is almost 15.8 percent, higher than the average 10.6 percent overall unemployment rate, as well as the 11.8 percent rate for foreign-born U.S. citizens — a sore point among veterans groups such as the VFW.
Popularity: 41% [?]
Shinseki “Fighting To Reduce” Red Tape For Vets Seeking Benefits
Feb 24th
Wayne’s Daily Veteran Update–
Greetings good folks.
Hoping you and your loved ones are well. Lets keep up with those Prayers and Blessings for our Troops and their loved ones everywhere.
Best………………….Wayne
VA News for Tuesday, February 23, 2010
1. Shinseki “Fighting To Reduce” Red Tape For Vets Seeking Benefits. In continuing coverage, KITV-TV
Shinseki Urged To Take On Bureaucracy While Attempting To Reduce Claims Backlog. In a related editorial, the Wheeling (WV) Intelligencer (2/23, 19K) notes Shinseki recently “told the Associated Press he will make it a priority this year to reduce backlogs in processing veterans’ disability claims.” The Intelligencer urges Shinseki not to “shirk from the bureaucratic battles he will have to wage to keep that promise. Our veterans are worth it.”
2. Lawmakers Urge VA Support For New Fisher House In
3. White House Calls For Health IT “Task Force.” Government Health IT (2/23, Mosquera) reports, “The White House Friday called for a government-wide health IT ‘task force’ to strengthen coordination of health IT among federal agencies that hold key roles in carrying out the administration’s plans for a digital healthcare system. The plan, issued in a memo” from Office of Management & Budget Director Peter Orzsag and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, “sets up a way for agencies with heavy healthcare agendas to participate formally in planning health IT adoption projects set in motion by passage of the HITECH Act last year.” The memo, which was addressed to several Cabinet secretaries, including Veterans Affairs’ Eric Shinseki, “asked the secretaries to choose a senior leader from their agencies to represent them on the task force and to send HHS their choices within five days.”
4. Homeless Vets Facility In
5. Stimulus Funds To Pay For Upgrades At Several VA Facilities. The Newport News (VA) Daly Press (2/23) reports, “The Hampton VA Medical Center will receive funds to replace fire alarm and nurse call systems through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the US Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday. The $1.5 million project to upgrade the two systems was awarded to Adira Construction Inc., a small, veteran-owned business” in
A separate AP (2/23) story reports, “Federal stimulus funding will pay for $5.4 million in construction upgrades at the Department of Veterans Affairs Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System. A White House news release says the upgrades include replacement elevators and dumbwaiters, a replacement roof and an updated exterior finish to several buildings at the…facility,” which is located in
The KTVN-TV
The Salisbury (NC) Post (2/23, 21K) notes that on Monday, US Sen. Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) “announced that the Hefner VA Medical Center in
6. Turnaround At VHA Praised. While being interviewed on CNN’s No Bias, No Bull
7. Following Efforts At VA, USDA, Army Explores Telemedicine At Some
8. Ad Campaign Part Of VA Plan To Attract “Best And Brightest.” In its “Federal Eye” blog, the Washington Post (2/23, O’Keefe, 684K) says, “If you’ve watched the Olympics or other big events on television in recent weeks, then you’ve likely seen ads with doctors and nurses talking about careers with the Department of Veterans Affairs,” which “plans to hire a mix of medical professionals and clerical staffers to fill roughly 105,000 positions by the end of 2011.” During “an interview on Monday,” VA Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould said, “It’s a big number and a great opportunity for us to try to attract our fair share of the best and brightest.” The Post adds, “Virtually unanimous political support for the department’s planned growth should calm the nerves of weary applicants, Gould said.” The Washington Post (2/23, 684K) also publishes some of Gould’s interview responses.
9. Veterans Affairs Secretary Pledges No Cuts In Services. A letter from
10. Home For Mentally Ill Vets Opens In
11.
12. Some
13.
14. Former VA Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty To Unlawfully Prescribing Controlled Substances. The AP (2/23) reports, “A former psychiatrist at the Veterans Administration hospital in
15. Memorial Honors Japanese-American Internees, Veterans. The AP (2/23) reports, “A new memorial now stands” in
The Merced (CA) Sun-Star (2/23, Gaines, 16K) reports, “During Saturday’s ceremony, Japanese-American veterans who served in the military intelligence service as Japanese interpreters and the Asian American 442nd Combat Infantry Regiment were honored. ‘While their families were behind barbed wire, more than 33,000 young Japanese-American men enlisted or were drafted in the
16. Flag-Raising To Commemorate
17. WWII Female Pilots To Be Honored. The Air Force Times (2/23, Spoth) reports, “As World War II raged,” the Army Air Forces allowed hundreds of women “to take domestic military flying jobs that freed up male pilots to serve overseas, but their service was unappreciated and was kept secret for decades. Now, after years of lobbying, the Women Airforce Service Pilots will be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on March 10.” The Times adds, “Nearly 300 of the original 1,102 woman pilots are still alive, and about 130 are expected to attend the March 10 medal ceremony, according to Marilla Cushman of the women’s memorial foundation.”
18. “Most Heavily Decorated”
19. Wounded Warrior Program Advocate Added To
20. Couple Hopes To Improve Care For Returning Vets. On its website, KGTV-TV
21. Hefner VAMC To Host Creative Arts Festival Next Month. The Salisbury (NC) Post (2/23, 21K) reports the
22. Why Did Sgt. Thomas Die? The Lexington (NE) Clipper-Herald (2/22) published a story that originally appeared in the Omaha (NE) World-Herald (2/22, Hansen).
23.
24. Cuellar Talks About Van For Local Veterans. The Seguin (TX) Gazette-Enterprise (2/22, Maloney, 5K).
25. Author Helps First Black Female POW Tell Tale. The AP (2/23, Fox) reports, “In helping” Iraq vet Shoshana Johnson write “I’m Still Standing”, her autobiography, “Fort Meade Media Relations Chief Mary L. Doyle not only exposed the world to the plight of the country’s first black female prisoner of war,” she “furthered her own budding literary career.” Doyle “said she hopes eventually to be able to write books and novels full time.”
26. When Johnny (Or Jane) Marches Home. The Albany (NY) Times Union (2/23, Fitzgerald).
27. Joseph Stack’s Daughter Calls Him A Hero, Then Retracts Statement. In continuing coverage, the KXXV-TV
28. Half-Scale Replica Of
29. Brothers Asked To Guard Tombs. In continuing coverage, the KRIV-TV
30. On the Hill for February 23, 2010:
The House votes on a number of commemorative resolutions as well as a bill to allow Native Hawaiian government reorganization.
The Senate continues to consider a package of infrastructure funding and tax breaks intended to create jobs.
Hearings continue in both chambers on the fiscal 2011 budget and appropriations.
House: Convenes at noon for legislative business.
Under suspension of the rules:
H Res 1066 , H Res 1059 , H Res 1048 —
H Res 1074 — Miep Gies
H Res 944 — Religious minorities in
HR 3695 — Missing persons database
H Con Res 227 — Urban crimes awareness
H Res 274 — National Nutrition Month
Draft — African-American contributions
Subject to a rule:
HR 2314 — Native Hawaiian government reorganization
Postponed suspensions:
H Res 1039 — American Heart Month
H Res 1046 — Black History Month
Senate: Convenes 10 a.m.
Weekly caucus lunches: 12:30-2:15 p.m.
Roll call votes possible.
HR 2847 — Job creation package
Markup
House Rules considers rules for floor debate of a draft bill to repeal the antitrust exemption for health insurance companies. 3 p.m., H-313 Capitol
Hearing Highlights
Senate Armed Services hearing on the fiscal 2011 budget for the Army, with Army Secretary John M. McHugh . 9:30 a.m., G-50 Dirksen
House Armed Services hearing on the fiscal 2011 budget for the Air Force. 10 a.m., 2118 Rayburn
Senate Budget hearing on war costs and the proposed Pentagon budget. 10 a.m., 608 Dirksen
Senate Environment and Public Works hearing on the proposed fiscal 2011 budget for the EPA, with EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson . 10 a.m., 406 Dirksen
House Transportation and Infrastructure hearing on stimulus spending projects. 10 a.m., 2167 Rayburn
Joint Economic hearing on job creation and economic growth, with Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas W. Elmendorf. 11:30 a.m., 2325 Rayburn
House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on proposed fiscal 2011 spending, with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan . 1 p.m., 2359 Rayburn
31. Today in History:
- 1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.
- 1739 – Richard Palmer is identified at York Castle by his former schoolteacher, as the outlaw Dick Turpin.
- 1778 – American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.
- 1820 – Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.
- 1836 – The Battle of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.
- 1847 – Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista – In Mexico, American troops under General Zachary Taylor defeat Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
- 1854 – The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.
- 1861 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C., after the thwarting of an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland.
- 1870 – In the
- 1883 – Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.
- 1900 – In South Africa, the Boers and British troops fight in the Battle of Hart’s Hill.
- 1903 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States “in perpetuity”.
- 1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world’s first service club.
- 1917 – First demonstrations in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.
- 1918 – First victory of Red Army over the Kaiser’s German troops near Narva and Pskov. In honor of this victory, the date is celebrated from 1923 onward as “Red Army Day”; it is renamed Defender of the Fatherland Day after the fall of the
- 1919 – Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.
- 1927 – The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies in the
- 1941 – Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.
- 1944 – The Soviet Union begins forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia.
- 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a commonly forgotten U.S. Navy Corpsman, reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize and become the model for the national USMC War Memorial.
- 1945 – World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, freed the captives of the Los Baños internment camp.
- 1945 – World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.
- 1945 – World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.
- 1945 – World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed by a raid of 379 British bombers.
- 1945 – World War II: The Verona Philharmonic Theatre is bombed by Allied forces. It would later be re-opened in 1975.
- 1947 – The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is founded.
- 1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
- 1955 – First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
- 1958 – Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
- 1966 – In Syria, Baath party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin Hafiz, also a Baathist.
- 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
- 1980 – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran’s parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.
- 1981 – In
- 1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.
- 1987 – Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
- 1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground phase of the war.
- 1991 – In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d’état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
- 1992 – The Socialist Labour Party is founded in the nation of Georgia.
- 1997 – A small fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.
- 1998 – Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and “Crusaders“; the latter term is commonly interpreted to refer to the people of Europe and the United States.
- 1999 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.
- 1999 – An avalanche destroys the Austrian
- 2005 – In Slovakia, a two-day meeting dubbed “Slovakia Summit 2005” takes place between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This occasion marks the first visit of a sitting American President to the Slovak Republic since its establishment in 1993.
- 2005 – The controversial French law on colonialism is passed, requiring teachers to teach the “positive values of colonialism”. After public outcry, it is repealed at the beginning of 2006.
- 2006 – Dubai Ports World agrees to postpone its plans to take over management of six
- 2008 – A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit crashes on Guam. It is the first operational loss of a B-2.
Popularity: 60% [?]
Nye: $750 a Month is Too Much, Too Fast
Feb 22nd
Washington, DC – Congressman Glenn Nye (VA-02) is asking the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to
ease the burden on local veterans.
Last week, the VA announced that it will ask veterans who received $3,000 emergency payments under the Post 9/11 GI Bill to begin repaying the money – at a rate of up to $750 per month. The emergency payments were issued last year to veterans whose tuition benefits from the Post 9/11 GI Bill were delayed due to processing backlogs at the VA.
On Monday, Nye sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, asking the VA to reduce the repayment rate from $750 per month to a rate of no more than 20% of each veteran’s monthly living stipend. For veterans receiving the lowest living stipend, this would mean a repayment amount of $132 per month.
“Asking our veterans to repay $750 a month is too much, too fast, especially when many veterans are struggling to get back on their feet after their benefit payments were delayed last fall,” said Congressman Glenn Nye. “The idea of this program is to help our veterans get ahead, not to bury them in debt and paperwork. The VA should implement a realistic repayment plan that eases the burden on our veterans so they can focus on getting a college education.”
When the Post 9/11 GI Bill program went into effect last fall, many veterans found that their tuition and living benefits were delayed for weeks or months due to extended processing backlogs. After students were forced to take out personal loans or run up credit card debt in order to pay bills while waiting for their benefit checks, the VA issued one-time, emergency payments of $3,000 to help veterans make ends meet.
These emergency payments were an advance against future benefits – not an additional bonus – and they must eventually be recouped by the VA. In mid-February, the VA announced on its web site that it would begin deducting $750 from veterans’ monthly benefit payments.
Popularity: 51% [?]
