Well folks, maybe that GAO HUB Zone Ruling will be done away with in the very near future?  Please take a look at the attached HR 5297 - Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.  In particular please refer to Part IV, Sec. 1347 on "Parity."  Looks like the Senate is going forward with the word "May" for all of our small businesses.  Fact is, we need the relief now and although some have wanted the amended legislation to read "Shall" for all small business categories, "May" is being presented in this Bill.  PLEASE follow this Bill closely, especially this Sec. 1347, to see who in the Senate and the House supports Parity and who does not.

 

Prayers and blessings for you and your loved ones and for our dear Troops and their loved ones everywhere.

 

Best...........................Wayne

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1.      Shinseki Honors Beilke By Renaming Minnesota Clinic. The St. Cloud (MN) Times (9/12) says Secretary Shinseki, in honor of US Army Master Sgt. Max J. Beilke -- the last combat troop to depart from South Vietnam, renamed and rededicated the Veterans Affairs Community-Based Outpatient Clinic in Alexandria on Sunday. The Pipestone native "was employed as a civilian at the Pentagon when he was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in 2001."
     KFGO Radio Fargo, ND (9/11) explains on its website that Beilke was working as Deputy Chief of the Army's retirement services when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.
     In a report filed ahead of the renaming event, the AP (9/11) notes that Sen. Amy Klobuchar, among others, plan to join Shinseki as speakers. Shinseki knew Beilke "from their work at the Pentagon, and he escorted Beilke's widow at his burial in Arlington National Cemetery," adds the AP. A report filed Saturday by the St. Cloud (MN) Times (9/11, Calloway) adds few, if any, new details.
     KSTP-TV Minneapolis (9/11, 8:44 a.m. CT) reported, "Sen. Amy Klobuchar and the US Secretary Of Veteran Affairs will be in Alexandria today to name the VA clinic there in honor of Max Beilke, a Minnesota native who was killed on September 11 at the Pentagon."
     KIMT-TV Rochester, MN (9/11, 6:04 p.m. CT) reported, "The Veterans Affairs clinic in Alexandria is being rededicated as the Max J. Beilke community-based outpatient clinic. He died when a hijacked plane hit the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Beilke graduated from Alexandria High School in 1950. He served 22 years on active duty in the US Army and was working as a civilian army employee at the Pentagon."

 

2.      Company Protests VA's T4 Contract. The Washington Post (9/13, Censer, 605K) says that while the "Department of Veterans Affairs has not made any contract awards for its $12 billion, five-year technology and telecommunications program," Vetrepreneur, a" service-disabled, veteran-owned small business based in Herndon," has "already filed a protest, arguing that the solicitation does not favor veteran-owned businesses enough. Vetrepreneur...filed the protest late last month with the Government Accountability Office, according to Ralph White, managing associate general counsel at the GAO." According to the Post, VA "said it is preparing a response that it will submit to the GAO."
     NextGov (9/10, Brewin), which noted that the contract in question is the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) procurement, reported, "In July, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki told the National Veterans Small Business Conference that seven of the 15 prime contractors on T4 would be reserved for veteran-owned small businesses, including four for service-disabled veteran owners."

 

3.      Work Being Done On Second State Veterans Cemetery In Arkansas. KTHV-TV Little Rock, AR (9/12, 10:05 p.m. CT) broadcast, "Work is underway right now on a second state veterans cemetery" in Birdeye, Arkansas. The Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs "reports the first 40 acres should be ready for graves by November of next year." KLRT-TV Little Rock, AR (9/12, 9:26 p.m. CT), WJKT-TV Jackson, TN (9/12, 9:05 p.m. CT), and WPTY-TV Memphis, TN (9/12, 5:04 p.m. CT) aired similar reports, while the AP (9/13) publishes a similar story.

 

4.      Kentucky Officials Dedicate Cemetery. The Portsmouth (KY) Daily Times (9/12, Piatt) reports, "Gov. Steve Beshear and other state officials participated Friday in the dedication of a new state veterans cemetery in Greenup County -- a ceremony that at times was so moved by emotion that the crowd of about 300 attending were obviously caught up in it." The Daily Times adds that the new state cemetery "will serve not only Kentucky, but veterans and their families from southeastern Ohio and western West Virginia as well."

 

5.      Officials, Volunteers Gather To Hand Out Military Surplus Clothing And Goods. The Wenatchee (WA) World (9/11, Steigmeyer) reports, "Dozens of Veterans Affairs officials and volunteers gathered at the Wenatchee National Guard Armory on Friday to hand out about 68,000 pounds -- $368,000 worth -- of military surplus clothing and other goods to military families. A mobile health clinic was on hand, as well as representatives of several organizations that provide aid and benefits to veterans."

 

6.      Vets Court To Begin Operations In Los Angeles. The KTTV-TV Los Angeles, CA (9/12) website noted that on Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan will "start hearing criminal cases against military veterans charged with nonviolent felonies. The pilot program is meant to give a second chance to veterans who may have gotten into trouble in part due to conditions related to their service, such as post-traumatic stress syndrome, brain injuries and other mental conditions, the Daily Breeze reported." KTTV said some defendants in the court "may be referred to Veterans Affairs, which runs outpatient and clinical care facilities in Long Beach, Lancaster and West Los Angeles."

 

7.      Veteran Fights VA Over Disabled Status Due To Burn Pit Wounds. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (9/12, O'Connor) reports that Iraq veteran Tim Wymore, "one of several hundred veterans across the country who have filed lawsuits contending that dangerous toxins from open-air burn pits operated on US military installations in Iraq and Afghanistan made them sick," is now fighting the Department of Veterans Affairs due to the fact that the VA "has yet to declare Wymore permanently disabled." Wymore said he has three lesions on his brain and one on his eye. The Post-Dispatch adds that "as a result, his family is not eligible for many benefits. Those include medical insurance for his wife and college costs for their three sons. Also, Wymore worries that should he die, the VA will not pay a survivor's benefit to his wife unless she can prove his death is directly related to his military service, a challenge he doesn't want to put her through." The Post-Dispatch also reports that the Wymores "continue to fight" for those benefits and medical care for Tim while the "VA said in a statement Friday that it was continuing to review the case."

 

8.      MilCon-VA "Among The Most Likely" Appropriations Bills To Clear Congress.  CQ Weekly (9/13, Oliveri) reports, "Of the 12 annual appropriations bills, the measure that funds the Department of Veterans Affairs" and "military construction projects seems among the most likely to clear by the end of the regular session. If it does not, it is likely to end up in an omnibus package sent to the president in a lame-duck session." CQ goes on to say the House and Senate versions of the bill, "which are virtual mirror images of each other, would increase funding" for VA, "in part to help pay for new medical claims from thousands of Vietnam War veterans found to have been sickened by the defoliant Agent Orange."

 

9.      Houston Study Links PTSD To Dementia.  Lawyers and Settlements (9/11, Turner) reports that a study "conducted by the VA Medical Center in Houston, the study examined approximately 10,500 veterans aged 65 and older who visited VA (Veterans Affairs) medical centers between 1997 and 1999. Researchers found that veterans who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder were twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia." Lawyers and Settlements adds that the "study found that dementia occurred in 11.1 percent of patients who had post-traumatic stress disorder with no combat injury and in 7.2 percent of patients who had post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered combat injury. In patients with no post-traumatic stress disorder, 4.5 percent without combat injuries developed dementia and 5.9 percent with combat injuries developed dementia." Lawyers and Settlements also reports that "researchers conclude the study by noting that veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder should be screened more closely for dementia."

 

10.    VA Hospital Operating Program For Women Vets With Military-Related Traumas. The Casper (WY) Tribune (9/13, Phagan-Hansel, 25K) reports, "With more than 4,000 women veterans in Wyoming, and an increasing need to meet that demographic nationwide," the Veterans Affairs hospital in Sheridan, Wyoming, has started a Cognitive Process Therapy program that has led to "life-changing" experiences "for women with some of the most serious military-related traumas. 'We're trying to lay the groundwork for the women coming home from Afghanistan today,' said Judy Myers, the Sheridan VA's women's veterans program manager." According to the Tribune, the program is part of a national VA effort to "reach a rapidly expanding population" of female veterans.

 

11.    VA Offers Counseling To Rape Victims.  WDAF-TV Kansas City, MO (9/12, 8:48 a.m. CT) broadcast that as "women serve closer to combat zones, more are being diagnosed" with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After noting that for "most female service members, reports indicate it's rape, not war, that causes PTSD," WDAF said Veterans Affairs has "counseling programs designed specifically for rape victims."

 

12.    Company Wins VA Contract For Architect And Engineering Services. Near the end of "Government Contracts Awarded," the Washington Post (9/13, Mizell, 605K) reports, "Aecom Technical Services of Alexandria won a $1.1 million contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs for architect and engineering services."

 

13.    Construction "Booming" At St. Cloud VAMC. The St. Cloud (MN) Times (9/13, Sommerhauser) says, "Construction is booming" at the St. Cloud Veterans Affairs Medical Center, "where more than $80 million in projects are scheduled this year and next." The Times adds, "All these projects will help the St. Cloud VA treat its mushrooming patient load, said Barry Bahl," the hospital's director, who attributed the increase to the aging of Korean and Vietnam vets, as well as new vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Bahl "said those trends are driving growth in the VA system nationally."

 

14.    Pentagon Joining Suicide Prevention Coalition. The AP (9/11, Jelinek) reported, "Struggling with sharp increases in suicides among US military forces, the Pentagon is joining a new national effort to reduce the number of Americans who take their own lives." On Friday, Defense Secretary Robert Gales and "Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appeared at the National Press Club in Washington to launch the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention," which, according to the AP, is a "coalition of public and private groups...dedicated to reducing suicides across" the US population."
     Marines Have Highest Rate Of Suicide Among Any US Military Service. The Los Angeles Times (9/10, Perry, 681K) said the US Marine Corps has the "grisly distinction of having the highest rate of suicide of any US military service." One factor behind the suicides may be "the unrelenting stress of back-to-back deployments," followed by "relationship, family and money problems, run-ins with authority figures, and a sense of isolation."

 

15.    Recovery Act Funds Has Helped Tomah, Wisconsin, VA Care For Veterans.  WXOW-TV LaCrosse, WI (9/11) reports on its website that the Tomah Veterans Assistance Medical Center has been able to continue to care for soldiers returning from the war while also continuing to expand due to "money from the president's recovery act." WXOW-TV adds that he fund has also allowed the "VA has been able to do more, in a shorter amount of time."

  

16.    VA Hospital To Recognize Former POWs, Families Of Those Still Missing .The North Dakota-based Forum Of Fargo-Moorhead (9/13) reports, "The Fargo Veterans Affairs Medical Center will conduct a ceremony on National Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Recognition Day at 10 a.m. Friday at 2101 N. Elm, Fargo, in the third-floor auditorium." During the event, former "prisoners of war and the families of those still missing in action will be recognized."

 

17.    After Being Told Of Certification Requirement, Man Stops Bringing Dog To VA Hospital. The KSFY-TV Sioux Falls, SD (9/12) website said, "For two and a half years, Terry Westerbur has been bringing his dog Earl" to the Veterans Affairs "hospital in Sioux Falls." But that stopped "after Westerbur got a letter from...VA stating he could no longer bring Earl as of August thirty-first. That's because they now require all dogs to be certified with an organization and they're going through the Delta Society of Therapy Dogs," an organization Westerbur "refuses to join," because, as he puts it, he will be "obligated to go where" Delta Society tells him to go.

 

18.    Community Fair To Honor Heroes. The Murfreesboro (TN) Daily News Journal (9/11, Bell) reports, "Those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and men and women who gave their lives fighting for freedom will be remembered Saturday during the annual Rutherford County Community Fair." The Daily News Journal adds that the fair will be hosted by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office.

 

19.    Blue Star Mothers Gather At Flint, Michigan, Museum. The Saginaw (MI) News (9/12, Longley) reports, "On Saturday, some of them gathered at the Sloan Museum to archive their history in the city where it all began. Blue Star Mothers from various Michigan chapters submitted old yearbooks, photos and member rosters to preserve their stories for generations of Blue Star Mothers to come."

 

20.    Blue Star Memorial Marker Dedicated In Upstate New York.  WKTV-TV Utica, NY (9/11) reports on its website, "The Clinton Garden Club and American Legion Helmuth-Ingalls Post 232 of Clinton dedicated a Blue Star Memorial marker outside of their post in Franklin Springs Saturday morning, on the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks." WKTV-TV adds "Commander Frank Savino of the American Legion Post 232 said, 'I think there's maybe 26 in the country and I think we're 27th or somewhere in that area. So this is really an honor as far as I'm concerned.'"