2.      Nebraska Dedicates Its First State Veterans Cemetery. In continuing coverage, an op-ed in the McCook (NE) Daily Gazette (8/13, 6K) by Nebraska treasurer Shane Osborn notes that dedication of the state's first veterans cemetery, at Alliance in Box Butte County.

3.      Maine Schedules Briefings For Female Veterans. In a ReadMedia release (8/13), the Maine Veterans' Services announces that the Advisory Commission on Women Veterans is holding a series of veterans briefings around the state, to provide female veterans with networking opportunities and information on medical, educational, family support, disability and other benefits.

4.      California DVA Plans Women Veterans Conference. The Modesto Bee (8/14, 73K) reports that the California Department of Veterans Affairs "said it will hold its third annual CalVet Women Veterans Conference on Oct. 7-8 in Clovis. The state agency said its conference committee is planning the program and is seeking donations for the conference, set for the Clovis Veterans Memorial Building."

5.      VA Will Test Paperless Claims System In Rhode Island. In continuing coverage, CMIO (8/13, Byers) reports that the VA "has selected its regional benefits office in Providence, R.I. to test a paperless system and new procedures to improve processing of Veterans' claims for disability compensation to support VA's transformation of the claims process for Veterans, their families and their survivors. The pilot, which initially focuses on compensation benefits, is expected to start at the Providence facility in November, with completion in May 2011."

6.      Defense Budget Will Likely Include Some Increased Tricare Premiums. The syndicated "Military Update" column, appearing in the Everett (WA) Herald and elsewhere (8/14, Philpott) reports, "Defense Secretary Robert Gates has signaled that the department's fiscal 2012 budget request to Congress early next year will include recommendations to raise health care premiums for some Tricare beneficiaries. If past proposals are a reliable guide, the target of higher fees is likely to be military retirees rather than active duty families. The Bush administration had tried for three straight years to raise fees for working age retirees. Congress blocked those efforts." In the Pentagon press conference where he debuted proposals to reduce military budget overhead, Gates said that health cost controls would be proposed in the months ahead, stressing that "Health-care reform is on my agenda."

7.      Agencies Advance Use Of Health IT.  Federal Times (8/13, Spoth, 40K) reports on efforts to build the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), "an ambitious project that aims to get federal agencies to use common standards to record and store health records electronically." Doug Fridsma, acting director of office of interoperability and standards within the HHS's Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, "compared the NHIN to the Internet -- a set of services, standards and policies that allows for a free, secure flow of information between diverse sources." He noted that the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments "are using the NHIN to exchange information on veterans and active-duty service members."

8.      VA Pilot Program Aims To Curb Veteran Suicides. The website of Grand Junction, Colorado-based KREX-TV (8/13, Hilsheimer) reports that the Grand Junction VA Hospital "is launching a pilot program aimed at helping veterans who may be thinking about suicide. Starting in August, the VA is putting up signs at Grand Valley Transit bus stops and in GVT buses advertising the suicide prevention hotline number." With 20 signs placed around the city, the Grand Junction VAMC "got the idea from an identical program in Washington, D.C., which ended up reaching thousands," and is the only other VA location thus far to adopt the pilot program.

9.      Researchers Look For Better Ways To Diagnose TBI. The Stars And Stripes (8/13, Robbins) reports, as scientists and physicians are looking for better ways to diagnose traumatic brain injury, "new research could lead to definitive tests that could be used downrange in the next three years, said Ibolja Cernak, a scientist who has studied the effect of blasts on the body for more than a decade." Cernak and other researchers say that blasts produce a different, more complex type of brain injury, in which brain cells "stay inflamed longer after a blast-related concussion than a normal one," which brain imaging may be able to detect. Researchers are also looking for biomarkers in blood or spinal fluid that would indicate mild TBI.

10.    Vietnam Awards Scholarships To Disabled Victims Of Agent Orange. The San Francisco Chronicle (8/13, Haghighi, Waxmann, 318K) reports, "In an effort to raise awareness and provide support for Agent Orange victims and people with disabilities in Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh City Red Cross held a ceremony this week to offer 237 scholarships to children with disabilities. The Aug. 10 ceremony was held at the War Remnants Museum, which chronicles the Vietnam (American) War and its consequences through photography and exhibitions. And it came on Agent Orange Day, which is a day that the US military began spraying the defoliant over lands in South Vietnam." It was Vietnam's second annual observation of Agent Orange Day.

11.    Researcher Collects Candid Interviews With Female Gulf Veterans. The Huffington Post (8/13, Kors) interviews University of Richmond professor Laura Browder, the author of "Her Best Shot," a historical look at American women and guns, who's now at work on "When Janey Comes Marching Home," which tells the stories of female veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Browder says she began the project as a corrective to the public impression of women in combat during the Gulf War. Browder noted that two best-known female veterans from the Gulf Wars were Jessica Lynch, whose time as a prisoner in Iraq was "pure fiction" as described by the Pentagon, according to Browder, and Lynndie England, the reservist later convicted of mistreating prisoner at Abu Ghraib prison. "For me," Browder said, "what those two stories meant is that there were 235,000 female soldiers whose stories weren't being told." While women in the military are officially barred from combat, but in a war without clearly-defined front lines, "the ban on combat is meaningless." Browder's candid interviews deal with issues ranging from motherhood, PTSD, sexual harassment, reconnecting with family, and dealing with sexism among their fellow soldiers and commanders, and will be on display at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery till September 5.

12.    VA Relocation Is Pushing Out DC Board Of Trade. The Washington Post 's "The Federal Eye" column (8/13, O'Keefe, 684K) reports that the Board of Trade "relocates to make way for Veterans Affairs: With a Friday moving deadline, the business advocacy group is heading out of its 24,000 square feet location as the VA makes fixes."

13.    VA Data Breach Reports Are Being Posted Online.  InformationWeek (8/13, Montalbano) reports, "Once again showing that it's serious about transparency, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun posting reports about data breaches on its website. The monthly reports, which the agency compiles for Congress, list different ways the VA has lost data, such as through lost hardware or misdirected emails." It notes that a report covering the period from July 5 to August 1 "shows the agency lost two PCs, 13 BlackBerry devices and six laptops. It also reported 103 of so-called 'mismailed' incidents, and 90 'mishandling' incidents." The agency "is taking its data breaches seriously enough that VA CIO Roger Baker has begun monthly calls with members of the press to discuss them."

14.    National Cemeteries in Kansas Get Over $1 Million For Improvements. The AP (8/13) reports that VA "says it will use more than $1 million in federal stimulus money to make improvements and buy equipment at three national cemeteries in Kansas. The VA says the money is being used at Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth and Fort Scott national cemeteries in Kansas." The Leavenworth National Cemetery has received $485,564 which it will use to repair a maintenance building, buy a vehicle and repair two historic monuments. The Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery received $201,220 to paint a maintenance building, repair roads and curbing and to buy equipment, while the Fort Scott National Cemetery will get $399,625 for road repairs. KMBC-TV Kansas City, MO, (8/13, 7:15 p.m. EDT), WDAF-TV Kansas City, MO (8/13, 7:06 p.m. EDT), KSHB-TV Kansas City, Mo (8/13, 6:05 p.m. EDT), KTKA-TV Topeka (8/13, 7:08 p.m. EDT) and KWCH-TV Wichita (8/13, 1:05 p.m. EDT) also report the story.

15.    Ceremonies Commemorate 65th Anniversary Of World War II's End. A blog on AL.com (8/13, Daniels) reports, "The Alabama National Cemetery on Saturday will be one of many places across the nation where veterans will mark the 65th anniversary of the end World War II. There will be resolutions, proclamations, the playing of taps and a flyover during the 6:45 p.m. event, said Bob Barefield, chairman of the Support Committee for the Alabama National Cemetery, off Alabama 119 in Montevallo."

16.    Former Official Urges VA Roseburg Healthcare Be Retained As Full-Service Facility. In a guest column in the Roseburg (OR) News-Review (8/13, Becker, 18K), the retired executive secretary at the VA Roseburg Healthcare System writes of the adverse consequences she sees if the downsizing of the local VAMC by the Northwest Veterans Integrated Service Network and the VA Roseburg Healthcare System continues. The changes amount to the "essential elimination of the emergency department and intensive care unit," with the result that local veterans are being referred to private practice providers and to the single private-sector hospital in the area, or to far-flung parts of the state for specialty service. If the Roseburg VAMC is not maintained as a full-service hospital, the area will see economic loss and veterans will have fewer, less convenient choices. The column concludes by urging residents to comment to the Booz Allen Hamilton team researching the issue.

17.    VA Plans First Primary Care Clinic For Portland, Maine Vets. The Portland (ME) Press Herald (8/14, Bell) reports that the Department of Veterans Affairs "plans to open a mental health and primary care outpatient clinic on Fore Street. It would be the first primary care clinic for veterans in the Portland area." The agency expects the facility to open early in 2011.

18.    Overton Brooks Awarded Radiation Oncology Accreditation. The Shreveport (LA) Times (8/14, Brumble, 49K) reports, "Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in Shreveport is among 10 sites in Louisiana to receive an accreditation in radiation oncology from the American College of Radiology." Twelve VA medical centers have this accreditation.

19.    Veterans Counseling Center To Get Trial Run. The Hemet, California-based Valley Chronicle (8/13, Hand) reports that the Hemet City Council "this week gave approval for a one-day-a-week test run of a veterans counseling center at the Simpson Center that Councilman Jim Foreman believes will blossom into a full-time operation with a comprehensive menu of services. Foreman, himself a retired Army veteran, got the idea from Doug Allmen of the Temecula Vet Center, which will operate the Hemet satellite office to gauge the need in the San Jacinto Valley."

KLAX-TV Alexandria, LA (8/13, 11:05 p.m. EDT) reports that Louisiana will also celebrate and remember V-J Day with an event in Baton Rouge.

20.    Gillibrand Obtains Posthumous Medals For Brooklyn WWII Veteran. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (8/13) reports, "After a Brooklyn veteran's family discovered toward the end of the soldier's life that he was owed war medals for his service during World War II 60 four years ago, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) honored the family's request to secure the medals in his memory." At the American Veterans Memorial Pier in Brooklyn, Sen. Gallibrand presented the medals to the family of William Danner McGuinness, who died in 2009.

21.    WW II Veterans Invited To Tour D.C. Memorials. The Knoxville News Sentinel (TN) (8/14, 116K) reports that the seventh HonorAir Knoxville flight will bring World War Ii veterans to Washington, DC on October 6.

22.    Site, Plans For Disabled Veterans Memorial Win Approval. A Newswire Today release (8/13) announces that the National Capital Planning Commission at a July hearing approved the final site and building plans for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial. The US Commission of Fine Arts last year approved the memorial's design.

23.    HP Sponsors DAV Service Offices On Wheels. Computer trade website Notebooks.com (8/13, Lanier) reports that Hewlett Packard is "helping disabled veterans get the benefits and services they've earned through their sacrifices to the country." The computer maker is providing HP Elite notebooks and HP all-in-one printers to mobile service offices run by the Disabled American Veterans, which lat year traveled over 114,000 in visiting 727 mostly rural towns to assist more than 18,000 veterans.

24.    Blue Star Mothers Chapter, Other Group Work To Get Clothing To Recuperating Troops. The Hanover (PA) Evening Sun (8/13, Deinlein, 19K) reports that the local chapter of the Blue Star Mothers group and the Notre Dame Club of Gettysburg are working together "to collect items for injured troops recuperating at a hospital in Germany." The new clothing they collect will be sent through another non-profit, Soldiers Angels, to troops recovering in Landsthul Regional Hospital.

25.    Marine Greenskeeper Creates "Most Patriotic Golf Hole" in America.  FOX News (8/13, Ross) profiles the "most patriotic golf hole" in America, the 190-yard, par-three 11th hole at the Sleepy Hollow Golf Course in Charles Town, West Virginia. From the sign by the tee area that reads "Dedicated to all Veterans both Past and Present," to dozens of American flags and other red, white and blue markers, the uniquely decorated hole is the creation of part-time greenskeeper and former Marine Jim Dodson, who also worked for more than four decades as a barber at the Martinsburg VAMC.

26.    Morehead City Selected As Regional Site For Veterans Day Observances.  NEWS14-TV Charlotte, NC (8/13, Rao) reports that the Department of Veterans Affairs "picked four North Carolina towns as regional sites for the observance of Veterans Day this year, including Morehead City, Charlotte, Fayetteville and Warsaw.

27.    On the Hill for August 14, 2010:

The Senate is adjourned until Monday, Sept. 13.

The House is adjourned until Monday, Aug. 9, when it will convene at 7 p.m. in a pro forma session. No votes are expected.

Senate:  Not in session.

House:  Not in session.

28.    VA Hearings as of August 14, 2010:

Hearing on September 15.  HVAC will hold a hearing entitled, “Personality Disorders Discharges: Impact on Veterans’ Benefits.” 

Hearing on September 16.  The Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity will hold a hearing to receive an update on the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. 

Hearing on September 16.  HVAC, Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs will hold a hearing on “VBA Claims Processing Training Requirements.” 

Hearing on September 22.  The American Legion will give its annual briefing on its legislative agenda before a joint hearing of SVAC and HVAC.

Hearing on September 23.  SVAC Oversight Hearing:  “VA Disability Compensation:  Presumptive Disability Decision-Making.” 

Hearing on September 23.  HVAC, Subcommittee on Health, will conduct a hearing on “VHA Contracting and Procurement Practices.” 

Hearing on September 29.  HVAC, Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing on pending legislation.