Center for Investigative Reporting - Jack Cornelius sat in a wingback chair in his living room in the small town of Hinton, Okla., pointed a .22-caliber Sears, Roebuck & Co. rifle at his left temple and pulled the trigger. When his wife, Hinton Mayor Sheryl Ann Cornelius, arrived home that evening, he was slumped in [...]
Here's Craig Newmark's gameplan for fixing the VA claims backlog that is struggling making the transition from paper files to a digital records system. « Read More
Congresswomen Jackie Speier and Barbara Lee are hosting this year’s Veterans Fix-It event. They are collaborating with the American Legion War Memorial Commission to bring assistance to veterans for their issues with the VA. Attendees will be able to pose questions for Jackie Speier and Barbara Lee and work with their staff representatives to [...]
Center for Investigative Reporting – A top Department of Veterans Affairs official told a congressional committee today that the agency’s decision to temporarily shutter and retrain staff at its troubled Oakland office proved so successful that the agency has employed the same tactics to speed the delivery of benefits to disabled veterans in Los [...]
Today, during the House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on care for Gulf War veterans we heard more disturbing news regarding VA practices, this time in the area of research into ailments that continue to plague Gulf War Veterans over 20 years after their return. An epidemiologist, formerly of the VA, testified that data was [...]
This Congressperson is not alone. We all want answers and we recognize the fact that our veterans deserve a system that exhibits the urgency their issues demand. ABC News – U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said the system for handling veterans’ disability claims is broken and he wants the head of the Department of [...]
Our veterans continue to have problems with the VA processing their paperwork. Backlogs continue to plague student veterans waiting on GI Bill pay and college student workstudy programs. For students who are dedicating their time to studies while working, it’s incredibly frustrating to worry about whether rent will be paid on time. It detracts [...]
NY Times – One desk, clean and empty, suggested a recently retired employee. The other, piled high with brown folders wrapped in rubber bands and bristling with color-coded tabs, screamed “backlog.” Two desks, occupied by people doing the same work: processing veterans’ disability claims. But on one, a new technology based on digitized records [...]
NY Times – For Dennis Selsky, a Vietnam-era veteran with multiple sclerosis, it was lost documents. It seemed that every time he sent records to the Department of Veterans Affairs, they disappeared into the ether. For Mickel Withers, an Iraq war veteran with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, it was a bureaucratic foul-up. The department [...]
After stepping up to serve our country, veterans should not be shortchanged access to their benefits. In no other area, in or out of government, would this wait time be acceptable. So why is it okay for veterans? The Veterans Benefits system is extremely complex and difficult to navigate, particularly for those veterans suffering from [...]
"Swords to Plowshares' training course to become an apprentice carpenter.. will give me stability, great income and the training I need for the future." « Read More
