News
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By Leo Shane III, Military Times Staff Writer | 12:10 p.m. EST December 31, 2014
The Veterans Affairs Department boasted another dramatic drop in its backlog of benefits claims in 2014, but will need an extra boost in coming months to meet its goal of zeroing out the payout delays by the end of 2015.
The backlog — the number of first-time VA benefits claims unresolved for more than four months — sits at around 245,000 cases, according to departmental data. That's down more than 160,000 cases in 2014 and more than 250,000 cases since the start of 2013.
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By Kellie Lunney
November 6, 2014
Government Executive
VA Secretary Bob McDonald on Thursday defended his commitment to holding employees accountable and firing them when necessary and according to the law.
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By Leo Shane III
Military Times Staff writer
Oct. 9, 2014 - 12:37PM
Four Veterans Affairs senior executives being dismissed this month are the first to face the department’s controversial new firing authorities, approved by Congress in July.
VA leaders are also promising they won’t be the last.
The four — VA’s deputy chief procurement officer and facility directors from Pittsburgh, Alabama and Georgia — have all been the subject of investigations into mismanagement and records manipulation.
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A Veterans benefit outreach was held at the Turtle Mountain Community College Auditorium in Belcourt on September 4th with representatives from the Minot Vet Center; Brenda Bergsrud, ND DVA; Grand Forks CBOC; Military Outreach, NDNG Family Assistance Coordinator, Lutheran Social Services, VA Home loan program and VA Voc Rehab. Veterans were also educated on Agent Orange presumptive conditions and benefits.
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By Martin Matishak - 07/19/14 11:14 AM EDT
With only two weeks to go before the August recess, Congress has yet to take action on legislation that would renew the pilot program before it expires on Sept. 30.
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Stacy Kaper
National Journal
June 12, 2014
The Senate’s passage Wednesday of legislation intended to stop veterans from dying waiting for health care is likely to be Congress’s last major reform bill for the year to address failings in veterans’ services or clean up the embattled Veterans Affairs Department.
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By Patricia Kime
Military Times Staff writer
May. 14, 2014 - 10:20AM
Marine Cpl. Jacob Schick was an early casualty of the Iraq War, his body blown apart by an anti-tank mine in Anbar province in 2004.
The force of the explosion threw Schick through the soft top of his unarmored Humvee, blew off his right leg, shredded his left and ripped off portions of his arm and fingers.
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By Jeff Schogol
Staff Writer
Veterans advocates are denouncing an opinion piece in the New York Times that draws links between veterans and white supremacist groups in attempting to explain the actions of the suspected gunman in a recent and deadly shooting outside a Kansas Jewish center.
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Categories: VA BenefitsFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 19, 2014
WASHINGTON- Veterans and active-duty military personnel with service-connected amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, are now presumed medically eligible for grants up to almost $68,000 to adapt their homes, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today.
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Categories: VAFeb 24, 2014 | by Michael Hoffman
An internal investigation found the Department of Veterans Affairs' data security is so poor a data breach is "practically unavoidable" within 18 months, according to a draft of the VA's report.
"It's practically unavoidable that a data breach to financial, medical, and personal Veteran and employee protected information may occur within the next 12 to 18 months, with no way of tracking the source of the breach," according to a report obtained by Military.com and first reported by CNBC.