Shelley Marshall Toronto's Mental Wellness Loft Being Forced to Move?

Mental Wellness Loft in Leslieville is being forced out by its landlord
Since March a tight community has been built around the loft
CBC News
By Ieva Lucs
Posted: Jul 09, 2017

A purpose
To keep the loft running Marshall raises money by touring with her one-woman show Hold Mommy's Cigarette, a play that advocates for suicide awareness. Marshall's father died by suicide when she was seven and she attempted suicide herself 17 years ago. It's her goal to get people talking openly about suicide and depression.

"It's not like I'm trying to go out and save someone's life, but to just be a vessel to guide them in a direction. It just gives me purpose and value," said the artist.

Marshall said she has hundreds of letters from people who have been positively affected by both the loft and her work.

Jason Marshall transformed the top of the space (top) into the Mental Wellness Loft into a home for him and his wife Shelley (bottom). (Shelley Marshall/submitted)

The Mental Wellness Loft, a free space in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood open to the public as a creative sanctuary from the stresses of everyday life, is being forced to close its doors.

The centre is also Shelley Marshall's home.

The artist, writer and mental wellness advocate, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and stays inside for days a time due to anxiety, started afternoon drop-in sessions there earlier this year because it was her dream to create a space to help people just like her.

Participants can do yoga or paint, sing and dance, or just watch episodes of Nurse Jackie.

But now, the lease has expired and the landlord has asked everyone to leave.

Marshall's husband Jason renovated the stark white space on Carlaw Avenue himself. He started by building a stage (a must-have for his performer wife) with a lighting grid and sound system. Next was a bathroom and kitchen so the two of them could live there comfortably. Overall they spent $25,000 remodeling the space.
read more here

Congress Planning on Hurting Veterans Again?

Veterans groups despair Medicaid cuts to vets

Richmond Register

• Kery Murakam
• July 8, 2017

WASHINGTON — The battle over the future of Medicaid in the Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has given little attention to how reduced funding will affect military veterans.

Veterans groups are now speaking out, saying rolling back financial support for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the low-income and vulnerable, could put at risk the 1.7 million veterans receiving Medicaid benefits.

Contrary to popular belief, they report, less than half of America’s veterans, about 43 percent, get health insurance coverage from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Those that don’t qualify have either served less than two years or have non-military related injuries, according to the Congressional Research Service. Still, others qualify but rely on private insurance for supplemental coverage or because they live in rural areas far from the nearest VA hospital.

In addition, about 660,000 spouses of veterans get health coverage through Medicaid, according to an estimate by Families USA, a pro-Affordable Care Act group, based on Census figures.

Paralyzed Veterans for America wrote to senators last week urging them not to pass the Republican health care bill that would also put millions of other Americans at risk if Medicaid is scaled back.

read more here

Veteran Killed At Bank Standoff Lost VA Benefits

Police Identify Georgia Bank Standoff Suspect
KTVN News
Posted: Jul 07, 2017

Earlier on Friday, WSB-TV reports Easley called the station saying he had a bomb and two people with him inside the bank. He also told the station that he was nearing homelessness after the Department of Veterans Affairs stopped his monthly disability payment.

The man who was fatally shot by an officer after claiming to have a bomb inside a suburban Atlanta bank has been identified.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified the suspect as 33-year-old Brian Easley releasing the name after notifying the man's family. Officials did not indicate a hometown and GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles described Easley as a "transient."
read more here

Funeral For Heroic Vietnam Veteran Otha Orr

Funeral for murdered Vietnam veteran held Saturday
WXIA
Tim Darnell
July 8, 2017

ACWORTH, Ga – The funeral for a Vietnam veteran who was shot and killed last week was held Saturday.

Otha Orr, 73, was murdered on Thursday while helping his niece move away from a man that her family called an abusive ex-boyfriend.

On Thursday, Orr and his younger brother arrived at an apartment on Peeples Street in Atlanta to help their niece move out of an apartment she shared with her ex-boyfriend, 57-year-old Donald Ray Woods.

The family said the three were confronted by Woods when they tried to enter the apartment. According to an arrest warrant, the niece told police he "quickly ran inside and emerged with a weapon."

That's when witnesses said Woods pistol-whipped her uncle. That uncle told police he saw Woods take the safety off of the gun and fire one shot. He said Orr came over to help get the gun away from Woods.
read more here

Cincinnati Bell Rejecting Veteran's PTSD Service Dog?

Wounded Marine vet says boss won't let him come to work with PTSD service dog
FOX News
July 8, 2017

“Despite repeated effort we have yet to receive any information regarding the current status of Yaunce’s condition and its effect on his ability to perform his duty,” Cincinnati Bell told Fox and Friends.

An ex-Marine awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded in combat says his bosses won’t let him come to work with his trained service dog.

“I was told by my supervisor that HR said that if I showed up with the dog I’d be fired,” Yaunce Long told Fox and Friends Saturday.

Long said he installs phone lines for Cincinnati Bell in Ohio. He has a service dog, named C4, to help him control anxiety caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He was diagnosed with the condition after a 10-year stint in the Marines in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was with counter-intelligence.

Long said that each day for a week he was sent home without pay when he showed up with C4.
read more here