Veterans affairs

FILE - In this July 31, 2020, file photo, letter carriers load mail trucks for deliveries at a U.S. Postal Service facility in McLean, Va. The success of the 2020 presidential election could come down to a most unlikely government agency: the U.S. Postal Service. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Lawmakers: Postal changes delay mail-order medicine for vets

Aug. 14, 2020 12:17 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Policy changes that slow delivery at the U.S. Postal Service are taking a toll on military veterans, who are reporting much longer wait times to receive mail-order prescription drugs, according to Democratic senators. In a letter Friday, the 31 senators take aim at new Postmaster General...

FILE - This May 2018 file photo shows an aerial view of the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, Mass., where dozens of residents died from the coronavirus during the 2020 pandemic. An independent investigation released Wednesday, June 24, 2020, said the home's leadership made

Gaps in federal oversight add to virus woes at vets homes

Jul. 29, 2020 2:33 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Big gaps in federal oversight of long-term care facilities for aging veterans may have contributed to rampant coronavirus infections and more than 200 deaths at state-run homes, according to a congressional watchdog agency. The Government Accountability Office found the U.S. Department of...

This photo released Tuesday, July 14, 2020, by the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority shows Reta Mays, a former nursing assistant at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, W.Va. Mays, pleaded guilty Tuesday to intentionally killing seven patients with fatal doses of insulin. She was charged with seven counts of second-degree murder and one count of assault with the intent to commit murder of an eighth person. She faces life sentences for each murder. (West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority via AP)

Fifth lawsuit filed in deaths at West Virginia VA hospital

Jul. 28, 2020 1:42 PM EDT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The number of lawsuits has grown to five involving the sudden deaths of seven patients at a West Virginia veterans hospital where a former nursing assistant admitted to intentionally giving them wrongful insulin injections. A federal lawsuit was filed Monday in the March 2018 death...

FILE - In this March 18, 2020, file photo a National Park Service worker picks up trash along the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol are seen in the distance in Washington, at sunrise. Nearly 3,000 federal workers have filed compensation claims for having contracted COVID-19 on the job, a number that is expected to double by early next month, according to a Department of Labor review. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Report: 2,866 COVID claims, 48 deaths among federal workers

Jul. 27, 2020 5:16 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 3,000 federal workers have filed compensation claims for having contracted COVID-19 on the job, a number that is expected to double by early next month, according to a Department of Labor review. Through mid-June, families of 48 federal workers had filed death claims with the...

President Donald Trump speaks with Terry Sharpe, known as the

Trump welcomes 'The Walking Marine' to White House

Jul. 27, 2020 2:46 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday welcomed a Marine veteran to the White House as he completed his 300-mile walk to the nation's capital to raise awareness about the problem of veteran suicide. Terry Sharpe, 69, was met at the Washington Monument by Karen Pence, the wife of Vice President...

Fourth lawsuit filed in VA hospital deaths in West Virginia

Jul. 23, 2020 12:10 PM EDT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A fourth lawsuit has been filed involving the sudden deaths of patients at a West Virginia veterans hospital where a former nursing assistant admitted giving them wrongful insulin injections. A federal lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the death of Robert Lee Kozul Sr. at the Louis A....

Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., together with other lawmakers and supporters speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill about ending sexual harassment and assault in the U.S. military and Department of Veterans Affairs Tuesday, July 21, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Nearly 1 in 4 VA employees report sex harassment, audit says

Jul. 22, 2020 6:16 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 1 in 4 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs say they have been subjected to unwanted sexual comments and other harassment — one of the highest levels in federal government — and an audit says the Trump administration has not been doing enough to protect...

FILE - In this May 27, 2020, file photo, a medical worker wearing personal protective equipment cleans gurneys in the emergency department intake area in New York. Hospital data related to the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. will now be collected by a private technology firm, rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a move the Trump administration says will speed up reporting but one that concerns some public health leaders. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

Coronavirus data is funneled away from CDC, sparking worries

Jul. 15, 2020 7:01 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Hospital data related to the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. will now be collected by a private technology firm, rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a move the Trump administration says will speed up reporting but one that concerns some public health...

FILE - In this April 24, 2018 file photo, Ronny Jackson leaves a Senate office building on Capitol Hill in Washington. Jackson, President Donald Trump’s former White House physician and onetime pick to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, won the Republican nomination for a U.S. House seat in Texas on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in an election that unfolded amid an alarming spread of the coronavirus. The retired Navy rear admiral defeated agriculture advocate Josh Winegarner in a primary runoff in the deeply red Texas Panhandle. Jackson will face Gus Trujillo, who won Tuesday's Democratic nomination for the 13th congressional district in Texas, in the November general election. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Trump's former doctor wins House GOP nomination in Texas

Jul. 15, 2020 9:29 AM EDT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former White House physician and onetime pick to head the Department of Veterans Affairs won the Republican nomination for a U.S. House seat in Texas in an election that unfolded amid an alarming spread of the coronavirus. Ronny Jackson, a retired Navy...

Fired VA staffer admits to murdering 7 patients with insulin

Jul. 14, 2020 6:32 PM EDT

A former staffer at a veterans hospital in West Virginia pleaded guilty Tuesday to intentionally killing seven patients with fatal doses of insulin, capping a sweeping federal investigation into a series of mysterious deaths at the medical center. Reta Mays, a former nursing assistant at the Louis A. Johnson VA...

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