Alaska: VA Investigation Finds Hundreds of Alaska Veterans Traveling to Lower 48 for Health Care Treatment - A VA investigation conducted at the request of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, found that nearly 600 Alaska veterans, during a one-year period, were required to travel to the Lower 48 to receive health care services, even though the treatment may be available privately in Alaska.

A Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General’s report examined the referral of Alaska veterans for treatment at VA facilities in the Lower 48 from October 2008 through September 2009. The good news was that 96 percent of the 15,170 Alaska veterans who actually received health care services from the Alaska VA system received all of their health care in Alaska. But  591 of Alaska’s veterans were required to travel to the Lower 48 to use their earned VA healthcare benefits for specialty care – about half on more than one occasion. Most of the referrals were to the Seattle VA Medical Center, the Puget Sound VA Medical Center or the University of Washington Medical Center.

Murkowski, a member of the Senate Appropriations VA Subcommittee, requested the Inspector General review in response to complaints from Alaska veterans and their families that the VA was requiring veterans to travel Outside for health care services that could not be provided in federal facilities, even though those services might be available from private practice physicians and community hospitals in Alaska.

The report said that 63 percent of the Alaska veterans referred for care Outside lived in Anchorage or the Mat-Su Valley, 16 percent in the Fairbanks North Star Borough and 8 percent in Fairbanks. Only 46 of the 591 veterans referred for care Outside lived in Juneau, Ketchikan or Sitka, where the VA maintained no health facilities in 2008-2009. - More...
Thursday AM - October 28, 2010

Southeast Alaska: SEARHC to help enroll veterans for VA health care - The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Alaska VA Healthcare System held the grand opening this week of the new Veterans Affairs Outreach Clinic located on the first floor of the Juneau Federal Building.

The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) will partner with the Alaska VA Healthcare System in enrolling eligible veterans in Southeast Alaska so they can have access to the new VA outreach clinic. Having a VA outreach clinic in Juneau means veterans from Southeast will be able to stay in the region when they obtain VA primary care and mental health services instead of having to travel to Anchorage or Seattle for these types of services. Veterans will be able to receive basic primary care, urgent care, screening services, mental health services and referrals for specialized care at the new clinic. Tribal veterans also can continue to receive care at SEARHC, if they choose.

Several SEARHC staff members recently went through training with the VA so they can help veterans complete their enrollment paperwork. There are nearly 7,800 eligible veterans living in Southeast Alaska, but only about 1,800 currently are enrolled in the VA system. SEARHC will work with the VA to reach out to the nearly 6,000 eligible veterans who are not enrolled. Many Alaska Natives serve their country through military service, and helping them access this clinic will honor that service. - More...
Thursday AM - October 28, 2010

Health - Fitness: The many meanings of a yawn By LEE BOWMAN - Ho-hum. Although everyone yawns, not everyone finds it easy to "catch" a yawn.

Studies have shown that only 50 to 60 percent of us will yawn when someone else yawns in our sight. Being susceptible to contagious yawning appears to be an outside window on the extent to which someone is empathetic and able to distinguish one's own mental state from that of others.

A 2007 study found that psychology students were more susceptible to contagious yawning than a group of engineering students.

Everyone -- and most higher species (vertebrates), from apes to lions to dogs -- yawns. The average human is estimated to yawn 240,000 times in a lifetime, often starting when we're still in the womb. But researchers have shown yawns are contagious only among chimpanzees and humans. - More...
Thursday AM - October 28, 2010

Personal Finance: Obama tax cuts little noticed by public By KATHLEEN PENDER - Even if Congress extends the Bush-era tax cuts, federal taxes for almost all Americans will go up next year unless Congress extends several Obama-era tax cuts that also expire at the end of this year.

Most Americans don't even realize their taxes went down since Obama became president. In a New York Times/CBS News Poll last month, only 8 percent of respondents said they thought the Obama administration has decreased taxes for most Americans.

Although most Democrats in Congress favor extending the Bush tax cuts for couples making less than $250,000 and singles earning less than $200,000, they seem less enthusiastic about preserving all of Obama's tax cuts for individuals.

The cuts were part of the 2009 federal stimulus act, which has been criticized -- mostly by Republicans -- for failing to energize the economy.

The biggest was the Making Work Pay credit. This credit is worth 6.2 percent of earned income, up to a maximum credit of $400 per person per year ($800 for a married couple), in 2009 and 2010. The credit phases out above $150,000 in income for married couples filing jointly and above $75,000 for everyone else. - More...
Thursday AM - October 28, 2010

Viewpoints
Opinions/Letters
Basic Rules

RE: Miller Time By Laura Plenert - Mr. Hanger, why can you never be concise in your comments?? And why are you always calling names and blaming others for everything?? Your points might be taken seriously if you weren't always accusing and could keep it to a couple of paragraphs. - More...
Friday PM - October 22, 2010

Pro Joe Miller By Debbie Nance - Lisa Murkowski, I have a question. The voters made their choice known and Joe Miller won, yet here you are insisting that you know better. How many other times have you decided you knew better than those you represent??? - More...
Friday PM - October 22, 2010

Write-in Lisa Murkowski By Lyle Simpson - I am a lifetime Alaskan (over 70 years) and I have never seen a campaign as dishonest as the one launched by Joe Miller. His attacks on Lisa Murkowski misrepresented her stand on issues and then he had the audacity to lie about her financial disclosure claiming that she has investments that actually do not exist. Yet, he has not bothered to file his own disclosure statement which was due 6 months ago. what is Joe hiding? He presents himself as a fiscal conservative yet he used the very system that he rails against when he collected farm subsidies for several years. Joe denied taking subsidies but was forced to admit to them when the facts became known. Where is the transparency he promises? How can Alaskans trust Joe when he has lied so much throughout his campaign. - More...
Thursday AM - October 21, 2010

Write-in Lisa Murkowski By Olga Simpson - Alaskans need to be united against outside interest groups who are trying to buy our U.S. Senate seat. Thousands of dollars from Californians, Nevadans, Pennsylvanians and many other outsiders are being poured into Joe Miller's campaign for Alaska's Senate seat. Previous involvement from outside groups have prevented us from utilizing our State's natural resources. Once again these OUTSIDERS want to involve themselves in Alaska's business by removing our influential Senator Lisa Murkowski. As a native born Alaskan, she knows ALL of Alaska well. Every vote she has cast during her tenure has been in Alaska's best interest. - More...
Thursday AM - October 21, 2010

KGBSD vs local nonprofits By Agnes Moran The Ketchikan Gateway School District (KGBSD) has secure sources of funding from the local, state and federal governments. The KGBSD needs to rein in their spending. They need to put off implementing expensive programs such as providing Apple laptops to every high school student until the local economy improves. KGBSD should not be competing with local nonprofits for local charitable resources. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 20, 2010

The Challenge of Fixing Our Economy By Mary Lynne Dahl - As I think about my vote in the upcoming election, I cannot help but make a few comments. I am neither Democrat nor Republican. I am not impressed with or interested in blasting any candidate. I am a fiscal conservative and a social moderate, for what it's worth. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 20, 2010

Write-in LISA MURKOWSKI By Vicki Harsha - It has been a couple of weeks since I wrote my first letter to Sit News asking for answers from either Joe Miller or his supporters. I am still unable to get a response to my questions from his campaign. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 20, 2010

What’s Right For Alaska? By Connie Emmert - Remember how “Hope and Change”  turned out to be something other than what Obama’s voters bargained for?  I think about that every time I hear Lisa say she’s going to do “what’s right for Alaska”.  What does that mean?  It’s an ambiguous phrase. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 20, 2010

Write-in LISA MURKOWSKI By Jonna Cragun - This is my choice. because it's best for Alaska.. and I'm a democrat. The other candidates are too green to get what Alaska needs at the DC level. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 20, 2010

WHO’S REALLY LYING? By Andy Rauwolf - Lisa Murkowski has accused Joe Miller of lying about her record and her vote on health care, repeatedly stating that Joe said she voted for the bill.   I have searched the Web, including Senator Murkowski’s website, and nowhere can I find a video clip or recording of Joe Miller stating she voted for Obamacare.  What Joe has said is taken directly from Lisa’s statements from videos, namely:  “It’s not so much that the government run plan is in and of itself a bad thing … what we have to have is a government run plan that actually works.” This and other recorded statements she has made leave little doubt that Lisa Murkowski is supportive of some form of government run health care which will ultimately lead to the end of private sector health insurance. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 20, 2010

MILLER TIME By David G. Hanger - That short step to jackboots, brownshirts, and storm troopers has now been taken by this nut job, Joe Miller. I think now you can clearly see that what I said then is not in any sense an exaggeration of current circumstance. He has his own hired goons and thugs who now handcuff and kidnap anyone who asks questions of this man who wants to be our Senator, but refuses to answer any questions whatsoever about his past. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 20, 2010

Standing water on the roadway By Laurie Price - With monsoon rains of late I have notice more standing water on the highway. It could be an easy fix if the state would muck out the grass and dirt build up from under the guard rails allowing for proper drainage. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 20, 2010

'Personal Responsibility' By Virginia E. Atkinson - Bullying in this country is so out of control thanks to too much negative news coverage and all the copy-cats coming out of the woodworks 'cause they have that strong desire for a few minutes of fame and shame. Bullies ought to be treated like any other criminals 'cause it involves individuals harming others around them. - More...
Wednesday PM- October 20, 2010

Webmail your letter or
Email Your Letter To: editor@sitnews.us