Sen. Nelson calls for investigation on Haley VA medical center's covert camera
By William R. Levesque
Times Staff Writer
Friday, August 3, 2012
TAMPA — Sen. Bill Nelson asked the Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general on Thursday to investigate the James A. Haley VA Medical Center's use of a camera disguised to look like a smoke detector in a patient's room.
Nelson sought an inquiry to determine whether Haley had ever used hidden cameras before and whether any other VA hospital had ever done so.
This comes on top of an investigation launched earlier this week by the U.S. House Veterans Affairs Committee. Haley spokeswoman Carolyn Clark said the VA will no longer answer questions about the camera. Its use was first reported in a July 10 story by the Tampa Bay Times.
The VA has sent a response to the committee. Both the VA and committee, chaired by Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Pensacola, refused to provide a copy to the Times.
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Hidden camera found in patient's room at James A Haley VA hospital
Friday, August 3, 2012
Your Wait Time Is 4,116 Minutes, Agency Hot Line Tells Veteran
Your Wait Time Is 4,116 Minutes, Agency Hot Line Tells Veteran
By Kathleen Miller and Nick Taborek
Bloomberg News
Aug 3, 2012
Neeson Levinson says the letter he received from the Department of Veteran Affairs on June 21 placed the future of his 30-employee construction company in jeopardy.
The letter denied his firm, Harbor Services Inc., eligibility to bid on VA contracts reserved for disabled veterans. His company in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, relies on the awards for almost all its $15 million in annual revenue.
Levinson, a 17-year Navy veteran, said he placed eight phone calls to the department’s help desk to find out what was going on. He was greeted each time by an automated message saying his wait time was at least 1,000 minutes, he said. The number he remembers best: 4,116 minutes, or 2.86 days.
“It was comical, but at the same it really bothered me because my business is at stake,” Levinson, who said he’s certified as 50 percent disabled, said in a phone interview.
Levinson’s experience is an example of the problems that lawmakers and advocates say veteran business owners face navigating a new certification system meant to prevent fraud. They say the program isn’t weeding out potential abuse or helping veterans as Congress intended.
Almost 40 percent of the companies listed as owned by veterans in a VA registry haven’t met the eligibility requirements of a 2010 law, the head of the VA office that certifies businesses said during a congressional hearing yesterday.
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By Kathleen Miller and Nick Taborek
Bloomberg News
Aug 3, 2012
Neeson Levinson says the letter he received from the Department of Veteran Affairs on June 21 placed the future of his 30-employee construction company in jeopardy.
The letter denied his firm, Harbor Services Inc., eligibility to bid on VA contracts reserved for disabled veterans. His company in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, relies on the awards for almost all its $15 million in annual revenue.
Levinson, a 17-year Navy veteran, said he placed eight phone calls to the department’s help desk to find out what was going on. He was greeted each time by an automated message saying his wait time was at least 1,000 minutes, he said. The number he remembers best: 4,116 minutes, or 2.86 days.
“It was comical, but at the same it really bothered me because my business is at stake,” Levinson, who said he’s certified as 50 percent disabled, said in a phone interview.
Levinson’s experience is an example of the problems that lawmakers and advocates say veteran business owners face navigating a new certification system meant to prevent fraud. They say the program isn’t weeding out potential abuse or helping veterans as Congress intended.
Almost 40 percent of the companies listed as owned by veterans in a VA registry haven’t met the eligibility requirements of a 2010 law, the head of the VA office that certifies businesses said during a congressional hearing yesterday.
As for Levinson’s calls, Jo Schuda, a VA spokeswoman, said it’s “very likely” he was given the wait time of 4,116 minutes.
“However, that was due to an IT glitch and not the actual waiting time,” Schuda said in an e-mail. “Call volume has been heavy, but not like that.”
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Obama to sign bill to stop military protests at funerals
Congress came up with a bill that will protect families and still protect free speech rights of a hate group. So far, free speech has been protected and gave more rights to the hate group and took away the rights of a family to grieve in peace. Now they can say whatever hateful thing they want but the families do not have to be forced to listen to them or see them.
President Obama to sign veterans bill restricting protests at military funerals
Examiner.com
AUGUST 2, 2012
BY: ROBERT SOBEL
President Obama is set to sign a new bill that has just passed congress restricting the ability to protest at military funerals.
After years of dealing with the Westboro Baptist Church showing up at military funerals, a new veterans bill is looking to put an end to their antics. Earlier this week, Congress passed "The Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012." In the bill, protesters won't be able to hold demonstrations two hours before and after a military funeral. The bill also notes that the protesters will have to be at least 300 feet away from the funeral and family members.
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Patriot Guard Leads Solemn Procession for Fallen Army Sgt. Eric Williams
Patriot Guard Leads Solemn Procession for Fallen Army Sgt. Eric Williams
Fort Bragg-based paratrooper killed in Afghanistan arrives at Pendleton for return to Murrieta.
By Maggie Avants and Chris Stone
August 2, 2012
Only weeks before his deployment was to end, Army Sgt. Eric Williams was killed July 23 in Logar Province, Afghanistan—south of Kabul.
Thursday afternoon, his flag-draped casket arrived via private jet at Camp Pendleton with his wife and family present.
On a sun-splashed Tarmac, they witnessed an angels ceremony, followed by a procession of Patriot Guard Riders, a Murrieta Fire Department engine and American Medical Response ambulances to his hometown of Murrieta.
Williams, 27, was a special forces operative deployed with the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, NC.
A flight medic for the Army, Williams kept up a blog that he started in 2008. According to his last blog post dated July 17, he was to be heading home soon.
“This deployment is coming to an end, in a few days we will be on a plane back to the United States to rejoin our family and friends and to try to readjust to a certain semblance of what we think life should be,” Williams wrote. “Cannot begin to describe the things we’ve seen, felt, or heard. We have lost brothers and colleagues.”
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Fort Bragg-based paratrooper killed in Afghanistan arrives at Pendleton for return to Murrieta.
By Maggie Avants and Chris Stone
August 2, 2012
Only weeks before his deployment was to end, Army Sgt. Eric Williams was killed July 23 in Logar Province, Afghanistan—south of Kabul.
Thursday afternoon, his flag-draped casket arrived via private jet at Camp Pendleton with his wife and family present.
On a sun-splashed Tarmac, they witnessed an angels ceremony, followed by a procession of Patriot Guard Riders, a Murrieta Fire Department engine and American Medical Response ambulances to his hometown of Murrieta.
Williams, 27, was a special forces operative deployed with the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, NC.
A flight medic for the Army, Williams kept up a blog that he started in 2008. According to his last blog post dated July 17, he was to be heading home soon.
“This deployment is coming to an end, in a few days we will be on a plane back to the United States to rejoin our family and friends and to try to readjust to a certain semblance of what we think life should be,” Williams wrote. “Cannot begin to describe the things we’ve seen, felt, or heard. We have lost brothers and colleagues.”
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Camp Pendleton Marine to get Navy Cross posthumously
MILITARY: Camp Pendleton Marine to get Navy Cross posthumously
By TERI FIGUEROA
North County Times
A Camp Pendleton Marine will be posthumously awarded the Navy Cross ---- the nation's second-highest award for combat heroism ---- for his efforts, while under enemy fire, to save three injured service members in Afghanistan's Sangin province in 2010, a military spokesman said Thursday.
Sgt. Matthew T. Abbate's family will accept the award on his behalf at a ceremony at Camp Pendleton next week, said Capt. Justin Smith, spokesman for the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
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By TERI FIGUEROA
North County Times
A Camp Pendleton Marine will be posthumously awarded the Navy Cross ---- the nation's second-highest award for combat heroism ---- for his efforts, while under enemy fire, to save three injured service members in Afghanistan's Sangin province in 2010, a military spokesman said Thursday.
Sgt. Matthew T. Abbate's family will accept the award on his behalf at a ceremony at Camp Pendleton next week, said Capt. Justin Smith, spokesman for the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
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