Veterans Benefits

The state Court of Appeal ruled this week that California must broaden eligibility for low-cost, state-financed home loans and educational stipends to include veterans who joined the armed services while living in other states. Under California law, eligibility requirements include being a California native or having been a resident when service in the armed forces began.

SAN DIEGO - A Marine sergeant who criticized President Obama on Facebook was notified Wednesday that he is being dismissed from the service with an other-than-honorable discharge. Gary Stein, 26, a nine-year veteran who served in Iraq, will be demoted to lance corporal, and his discharge status will make him ineligible for most federal veterans benefits, after Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo accepted the unanimous recommendation of an Administrative Separation Board. The panel found that he made disparaging comments about Obama that were detrimental to good order and discipline and violated military law. Civilian lawyers for Stein said they would continue to fight in federal court to prevent Stein from being dismissed or to win his reinstatement.

The federal budget impasse claimed new victims Thursday as Congress' failure to enact emergency spending authority delayed benefit checks for 3.3 million veterans and survivors and threatened to do the same for 4.7 million needy families. Although veterans flooded congressional offices with their pleas, legislation to ensure prompt delivery of $1.4 billion in benefits by the new year remained bogged down in the Senate after clearing the House.

Facing record levels of unemployment and looming state welfare cuts, Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday finalized a plan to begin shifting responsibility for some of the most destitute residents to the federal government. County officials had set aside $7.2 million -- with the expectation of reaping twice that in savings -- to help general relief recipients apply for federal disability assistance or find work. They decided to use the funds to help recipients get into stable housing, locate medical records and obtain the detailed health assessments they need to apply for supplementary security income or veterans benefits.

The state Supreme Court, expanding state government aid to veterans, Monday struck down a 50-year-old law limiting home loan and other benefits to war veterans who were native Californians or residents when they entered the service. The justices held unanimously that the benefits available to 600,000 veterans must be offered to an estimated 300,000 additional veterans who came to California after their service.

Peping Baclig will never forget the Bataan Death March. It remains a vision as clear and cruel as the Philippine sun he and 67,000 other defeated American and Filipino troops plodded beneath in April of 1942, during the early days of World War II. "Those who couldn't make it, they were just slaughtered," said Baclig, a gentle, chubby-faced man of 73. "Those who attempted to get water were killed."

President Bush signed an emergency spending measure Monday that funds military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year, along with an expansion of veterans benefits and an extension of jobless aid. The measure:h.r.02642:, enacted at a time when the troubled economy tops many voters' concerns, provides up to 13 extra weeks of unemployment assistance for people who have lost their jobs and have exhausted their typical 26 weeks of state benefits.

In a maneuver apparently designed to place President Bush in a political bind, the Democrat-controlled House on Wednesday included $1.2 billion in military pay raises and new veterans benefits in a bill authorizing payment for Operation Desert Storm. The measure provides that the benefits will not be paid, however, unless the President agrees with the House Democratic leadership that they are emergency outlays and thus exempt from the spending caps imposed by last year's budget agreement.

The House on Thursday approved a new GI Bill, with a significant expansion of veterans' education benefits, as part of a war-spending measure that will pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year and also provide aid for the jobless.

In an indirect show of support for U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf, the House voted Wednesday to approve a 5.4% cost-of-living increase in benefits paid to disabled veterans and their survivors. The vote was 421 to 0. Several advocates said that passage of the bill would send a reassuring message to the troops participating in Operation Desert Storm that Congress will not forget them when the war with Iraq is over.

A Los Angeles-based law organization Wednesday launched a program to provide free legal assistance to veterans who hit bureaucratic roadblocks when filing claims for federal medical and mental health benefits. Public Counsel, a pro bono law firm, will offer the free service throughout Southern California and, in partnership with other volunteer attorneys, in more than 25 states. "Many veterans who return home to their families are facing a system that routinely rejects their benefit claims," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a Veterans Day news conference to announce the effort.

Scott Lowe enlisted in the infantry -- the "dirtiest job there is" in the Army, he says -- completing two Iraqi tours in which he dug up weapons caches, found improvised explosive devices and rounded up insurgents. "No better way to serve your country," said Lowe, 27. "Most of us lost friends over there, had close calls. . . . Now it's time to catch up."

Marine Cpl. James Dixon was wounded twice in Iraq -- by a roadside bomb and a land mine. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, a concussion, a dislocated hip and hearing loss. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Army Sgt. Lori Meshell shattered a hip and crushed her back and knees while diving for cover during a mortar attack in Iraq. She has undergone a hip replacement and knee reconstruction and needs at least three more surgeries.

A judge ordered former Atlantic City Mayor Robert Levy to serve three years' probation and pay a $5,000 fine for lying about his Vietnam War service to pad his benefits check. During a sentencing hearing in Camden, U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle also ordered Levy to repay the $25,000 in extra benefits he received as a result of the lies. Known as the "missing mayor" because he dropped out of sight for two weeks last fall, Levy later admitted lying about what he did in the war. He stepped down as mayor in October after admitting his two-week absence was to attend a clinic for treatment of substance abuse and mental health issues.

President Bush signed an emergency spending measure Monday that funds military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year, along with an expansion of veterans benefits and an extension of jobless aid. The measure:h.r.02642:, enacted at a time when the troubled economy tops many voters' concerns, provides up to 13 extra weeks of unemployment assistance for people who have lost their jobs and have exhausted their typical 26 weeks of state benefits.

A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Wednesday that although the Department of Veterans Affairs might have provided inadequate care or benefits to some veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, the department had not done so systematically. Veterans had sought a court order to compel the VA to improve services. U.S.

SAN DIEGO - A Marine sergeant who criticized President Obama on Facebook was notified Wednesday that he is being dismissed from the service with an other-than-honorable discharge. Gary Stein, 26, a nine-year veteran who served in Iraq, will be demoted to lance corporal, and his discharge status will make him ineligible for most federal veterans benefits, after Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo accepted the unanimous recommendation of an Administrative Separation Board. The panel found that he made disparaging comments about Obama that were detrimental to good order and discipline and violated military law. Civilian lawyers for Stein said they would continue to fight in federal court to prevent Stein from being dismissed or to win his reinstatement.

The families of U.S. soldiers killed in action or in accidents during the Iraq war are eligible for death benefits that could range from $250,000 to more than $800,000. The benefits are generally extended to the people who would have relied on the service member's income for economic security, and some can endure for the lifetime of the survivor. Dependent children are eligible for additional compensation, although many of those benefits are terminated if a surviving spouse remarries.

The House on Thursday approved a new GI Bill, with a significant expansion of veterans' education benefits, as part of a war-spending measure that will pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year and also provide aid for the jobless.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs may paint a rosy picture of improving healthcare for veterans, but the agency has systematically denied benefits to sick veterans and delayed claims so long that many of them commit suicide, a lawyer for two advocacy groups argued in federal court Monday. "The court faces an agency that is in denial and a healthcare system and an adjudication system that are broken down and in crisis," said Gordon P.