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Veterans' calls to VA suicide hotline went into voicemail or put on hold SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Some veterans' calls to the VA's suicide prevention hotline in Canandaigua went into voicemail or were put on hold, according to an investigation. The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General found more than 20 calls were routed to voicemail at a backup call center where staffers were unaware of the voicemail system and did not return the calls. The Veterans Crisis Line, operated by the Canandaigua VA Medical Center, has answered more than 1.86 million calls since it was started in 2007...

A new poll has been released for the State of Virginia, and it confirms a lot of the conventional wisdom about how the race is shaping up. Virginia is a Super Tuesday state and is probably a pretty good representation of how many of the Southern Super Tuesday states are thinking right now. On the Democrat side, Hillary leads Bernie Sanders, but by less than you would expect, at 52%-40%. You would think that, of the Southern states, Virginia might be especially friendly territory to Hillary, given that one of her stooges is Governor and given the increasingly high number...

An open carrier in Virgina is reported to have had his handgun stolen in Newport News, on January 29th, 2016.  The location is listed as on the 6000 block of Jefferson Avenue, and is said to have happened about 8 p.m.  From dailypress.com: The victim, a 37-year-old Hampton man, told police he was robbed as he walked across Jefferson Avenue to the lot at the Windsor House after visiting a friend at the Travelers Inn. He was wearing his handgun in a holster, open carry, on his hip, Eley said.The man said he was approached from behind by two...

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead of apparent natural causes Saturday on a luxury resort in West Texas, federal officials said. Scalia, 79, was a guest at the Cibolo Creek Ranch, a resort in the Big Bend region south of Marfa. According to a report, Scalia arrived at the ranch on Friday and attended a private party with about 40 people. When he did not appear for breakfast, a person associated with the ranch went to his room and found a body. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery said he was among those notified about Scalia's death. "I was told...

As we have reported several times in the past (including here and here), the Veterans Administration (VA) has been reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) the identities of its beneficiaries who have been assigned a "fiduciary" to manage their benefits. The VA claims that such determinations constitute an "adjudication of mental defectiveness" under federal law, thereby prohibiting the beneficiary (presumptively for life) from acquiring or possessing firearms. The NRA has for several years been supporting legislation to correct this unjustified infringement on Second Amendment rights, including the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act (H.R. 2001, Rep. Jeff...

(CNN)Sen. Bernie Sanders touted his record on veterans' issues during Tuesday's debate, citing his position as the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs when Congress provided billions of extra dollars to boost healthcare for veterans last year. "We went further in than any time in recent history in improving health care to the men and women of this country who put their lives on the line to defend us," Sanders said Tuesday, referring to $15 billion given to the Department of Veterans Affairs to decrease wait times and reform the troubled agency. Yet some veterans groups and...

The conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton is the candidate with the honesty problem. But on at least one important issue, Bernie Sanders isn't shooting straight. Sanders falsely claims he's been leading the fight to save veterans from the corruption and deadly medical care delays at the Veterans Affairs Department - a message intended to resonate with New Hampshire's large vet population. The truth is, as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Sanders sabotaged VA reform. Sanders' allegiance is to public-sector unions, and to serve them, he betrayed vets. You wouldn't know that from his campaign-trail boasts. The next...

RICHMOND — A package of bills in the gun deal Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) struck with Republican lawmakers advanced Friday, putting the agreement on a path to final passage next week despite a continued outcry from gun control advocates. The deal would expand the rights of concealed carry handgun permit holders in Virginia and around the country in exchange for tighter restrictions on domestic abusers and voluntary background checks at gun shows. A House panel joined the full Senate in passing all three bills as of Friday. A floor vote in the House could come as early as Tuesday.

A high-ranking Department of Veterans Affairs official on Tuesday defended the VA's failure to discipline two employees accused of misconduct, and blamed the outrage over their lenient treatment on "considerable external pressure" by the media and Congress to punish personnel who may not have done anything wrong. Sloan Gibson, deputy VA secretary, praised a judge's recent decision in personnel cases that stopped the demotions of Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves, two VA officials accused of together stealing more than $400,000 in benefits from the government. ... According to the inspector general, Graves had pressured a colleague to leave his job...

January 31, 2016 FoxNews.com The Wounded Warrior Project, the charity for wounded veterans, has been placed on Charity Navigator’s watch list over accusations of using donor money toward excessive spending on conferences and parties instead of on recovery programs, according to CBS News. According to the charity’s tax forms, obtained by CBS News, spending on conferences and meetings increased from $1.7 million in 2010, to $26 million in 2014, which is the same amount the group spends on combat stress recovery. Charity Navigator is a watchdog organization that evaluates charities in the U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette, who returned...

This rendering provided by the Georgetown Business Improvement District shows what the Potomac River would look like if an aerial cable car system were installed alongside the Key Bridge. (Courtesy Georgetown Business Improvement District) WASHINGTON - It sounds like a wild idea - a Gondola carrying area residents and tourists over the Potomac River from Rosslyn to Georgetown and back again - but it could soon become reality. The hope is that it would ease congestion on the Key Bridge, especially since, according to the Washington Post, some 50,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day. Today the project is one...

Not only are IRS executives above the law, so are executives in the Veteran's Affairs (VA) business. A Chicago appeals judge has reversed The Department of Veterans' Affairs demotion of one of two senior executives who allegedly misused their positions to rip off over $400'000 from American taxpayers. Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) senior executives Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves abused the authority of their positions to relocate to cushy jobs with the same salary and hefty relocation expenses Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves were demoted as a result of a VA inspector general report that found the VBA spent $1.8...

An Inspector General report last year found Grave abused her position of power by orchestrating a move from the East Coast to Minnesota and wrongly racked up $130,000 in taxpayer-paid moving expenses. The VA attempted in November to discipline Graves by cutting her pay and demoting her to an Arizona veterans’ facility. Graves appealed the decision with the Merit Systems Protection Board, a panel that protects federal merit systems and employees against abuses by agency management. This week, a judge found in a 41-page decision that the VA was inconsistent in doling out discipline to Graves and reversed her demotion....

Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Congressmen Jeff Miller (R-FL) wrote an OP-ED for the Wall Street Journal high-lighting the depraved indifference and arrogance which have taken hold at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald, during his senate confirmation hearing in 2014, promised to transform the VA. He would become Secretary of the agency that was entrenched in scandals of wait time manipulation and cover-ups that resulted in the death of veterans at VA medical facilities. These practices were common at VA medical facilities across the country. The American VA people were properly outraged at...

Republican lawmakers on Virginia's Senate Courts of Justice Committee defied Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) by passing a bill on January 20 to allow concealed carry in the state without a permit. Currently, Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Montana, Vermont, and Wyoming allow concealed carry without a permit. According to Fredericksburg.com, Republican lawmakers also struck down a bill supported by McAuliffe intended to "require background checks on all gun buyers at gun shows." McAuliffe has been pushing for such an expansion from the time he assumed the governor’s office.

Tommy Scott Photo courtesy of wdbj7.com In Bedford County, Virginia, Supervisor Tommy Scott has proposed a change to County administrative policy to restore County employee's ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights while at work.  Infringements such as these are common for lower levels of State and local governments.  They gradually crept into administrative codes that became popular during the "progressive" era of the last 100 years.  From wdbj7.com: At Monday's supervisor meeting, Tommy Scott proposed a change to county policy that would allow employees with a concealed carry permit to exercise their right while on the job. Scott...

<p>As the U.S. engages in a national debate over the militarization of the police, federal data shows that government agencies charged with largely administrative roles are spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to purchase SWAT and military-style equipment.</p> <p>Since FY 2006, 44 traditionally administrative agencies have spent over $71 million on items like body armor, riot helmets and shields, cannon launchers and police firearms and ammunition, according to federal spending data from watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com.</p>

Bobbie Bee can no longer contain her outrage after her husband was prescribed a drug that if taken in conjunction with his current cocktail of medications potentially could have raised his serotonin levels to dangerous heights, a risk that she says - and the FDA warns — "could've been deadly." "I can't carry them all at once," Bobbie J. Bee says over the unmistakable sound of pills individually bouncing off the sides of plastic bottling tubes as she walks in from her home's kitchen and into the dining room. She lays the containers out one-by-one. "These are for nerves, anger...

Donald Trump slammed the Republican Party of Virginia via Twitter on Sunday for its plan to require that 2016 primary voters sign a statement confirming they are Republicans. Trump and others say the requirement could discourage independent and first-time voters from casting primary ballots in Virginia, where primaries are open to all registered voters. According to some experts, the voter pledge has the potential to hurt Trump in particular, because his un-orthodox candidacy has attracted voters disenchanted with traditional party politics. -snip- David I. Ramadan (R-Loudoun) said Sunday that he supports the party requirement. He responded to Trump with an...

On Friday, the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill sailed through the House by a vote of 316-113. Ninety-five Republicans split with House GOP leadership to vote against the spending bill. Another 150 Republicans supported it, while just 18 Democrats opposed the legislation. Here is the full list of the Republicans who voted against the spending bill (see the complete roll call vote here): Abraham Amash Amodei Babin Barletta Black Blackburn Blum Brat Bridenstine Brooks (AL) Buck Byrne Clawson (FL) Crawford DeSantis DesJarlais Duncan (SC) Duncan (TN) Emmer (MN) Farenthold Fleming Forbes Fortenberry Franks (AZ) Garrett Gibbs Gohmert Goodlatte Gosar Gowdy...