VA cuts off Van Nuys assisted living home that reported visit to veteran who had died
Los Angeles Times
By GALE HOLLAND STAFF WRITER
AUG. 9, 2019
“I am shocked that such lax oversight of facilities providing critical care for vulnerable veterans ever occurred,” Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner said in a letter Thursday to the White House. The investigation findings were also relayed to congressional oversight committees.
Federal officials pulled veterans from a Van Nuys assisted living
The Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in West Los Angeles in 2011.(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times
Federal officials pulled veterans from a Van Nuys assisted living home after finding that the facility had reported a social worker visiting a veteran who had been dead for four days, according to a report released Thursday.
The investigation by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs also found serious medication errors at the California Villa home. A 100-year-old veteran with sepsis was denied prescribed antibiotics because they were “not covered by Medicare” and ended up hospitalized a second time, the report said.
Another veteran received a double dose of medication and a third was denied prescription drugs and charged $5 a meal because he preferred eating in his room rather than the cafeteria.
Authorities from Washington, D.C., blamed the VA’s Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System for failing to investigate and address “serious residential care concerns” at the facility, but added that program administrators had not reported the problems to upper management.
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update Vietnam War pilot whose son flew remains to Texas laid to rest: "Dad has come home"
Family members of Col. Roy Knight Jr. stand as the National Anthem is played during Knight's memorial service Saturday in Cool, just outside of Mineral Wells August 10, 2019. Knight was shot down over Laos in 1967 while serving as a U.S. Air Force pilot in the Vietnam War. In February, Knight's remains were recovered and identified, then flown home last week for burial at Holders Chapel United Methodist Church. (Photo: Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News)
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Airline pilot flies dad's remains home from Vietnam 52 years after seeing him off at same Dallas airport
USA TODAY
Doug Stanglin
Aug. 8, 2019
Proskow said the story Knight, who was subsequently promoted to colonel, and his son, Bryan, who also served in the Air Force, was announced over the airport intercom as the moving scene unfolded.
When Air Force Maj. Roy Knight, Jr., left Dallas for Vietnam 52 years ago, his 5-year-old son, Bryan, came to Dallas Love Field to see him off. On Thursday, Bryan, now a captain for Southwest Airlines, brought back his father's remains aboard a flight to the same Dallas airport.
Knight, born in Garner, Texas, was 36 when he was shot down while attacking a target on the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos on May 19,1967, according to White’s Funeral Home in Weatherford, Texas.
Jackson Proskow, Washington bureau chief for Canada's Global News, was on a layover from El Paso to Washington on Thursday when he witnessed the moving ceremony at the airport. Proskow watched as the flag-draped casket was delivered into the arms of a military honor guard.
In a series of tweets, Proskow reported that the Dallas Love Field terminal came to a standstill.
"Incredible moment to watch," Proskow wrote. "The entire airport fell silent."
Southwest Airlines Captain Bryan Knight flew his father back home to Dallas Love Field for the final time more than 50 years after he was killed in action during the Vietnam War in 1967. (Photo: Ashlee D. Smith, Southwest Airlines)
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Army veteran pleads not guilty in assault on teen who failed to remove hat during anthem
He Attacked a Teen He Felt Disrespected the National Anthem. His Lawyer Says He 'Believed He Was Doing What President Trump Wanted'
Police: Montana man assaults boy who kept hat on during anthem
ABC 13 News
by Ida Domingo
August 8th 2019
Officials say the child had blood coming from his ears, a concussion and a fractured skull...
SUPERIOR, Mont. (WSET) -- Police have charged a man with assault after a witness said he threw a 13-year-old boy to the ground because the boy didn't remove his hat during the national anthem at a rodeo.
CNN reports that Curt James Brockway, 39, was arrested and charged with felony assault on a minor, according to an affidavit filed in district court in Mineral County on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
The incident happened on Saturday, Aug. 3 at the Mineral County Fairgrounds in the town of Superior after the boy responded rudely when the man asked him to take his hat off, according to court documents.
Brockway told police the boy was wearing a hat as the National Anthem began, and he asked him to remove it because it was disrespectful to wear during the anthem, but the boy responded by saying "f*** you," according to the affidavit.
Brockway said he then grabbed the boy by his throat, lifted him into the air, before slamming the boy into the ground, the affidavit said.
Witnesses of the alleged incident confirmed most of Brockway's description of events, but one woman said she did not hear him ask the boy to take off his hat, according to records.
Officials say the child had blood coming from his ears, a concussion and a fractured skull,
The child's mother, Megan Keeler, told CNN affiliate KPAX that she received a phone call shortly after dropping off her son at the fairgrounds that he was being taken to a local hospital.
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Cuyahoga County Jail removing bed sheets from cells for mentally ill, isolated inmates to curb suicides
Cleveland.com
By Adam Ferrise
August 7, 2019
The move comes after eight inmates died in the jail in 2018, and another in 2019. Five of those inmates committed suicide, including Nicholas Colbert, who hanged himself in the military veteran’s pod in May.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Jail administrators ordered bed sheets to be removed from cells that house inmates considered to be at high risk for self-harm in an effort to curb suicide attempts in the facility.
Inmates who are mentally ill, being held in isolation or being held in a cluster of cells designated for military veterans will be given an additional blanket in lieu of bed sheets, according to the order.
Jail Administrator Rhonda Gibson ordered the change Friday, saying it is necessary to “increase safety for inmates who are of high risk of self harm," according to the order.
The move comes after eight inmates died in the jail in 2018, and another in 2019. Five of those inmates committed suicide, including Nicholas Colbert, who hanged himself in the military veteran’s pod in May.
Jail officials have struggled to curb suicide attempts, which tripled over a three-year period that included 69 suicide attempts in 2018. Cuyahoga County has refused to provide updated information on suicide attempts in 2019.
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Pierce County veterans charity marred by missing money and lies
KING 5 News
Author: Susannah Frame
August 1, 2019
A KING 5 investigation found thousands of dollars meant to support veterans went instead to casinos and a private bank account.
A review of Washington State Patrol criminal background records also shows Hibbler is an eight-time convicted felon. She’s spent time in prison for theft and forgery, stemming from cases in 2007 and 2008. Her convictions were for stealing money from the bank accounts of two Western Washington companies while working as a bookkeeper.
Thousands of dollars that were supposed to support struggling veterans in Pierce County instead was spent in local casinos, withdrawn from casino ATM machines, and transferred into someone’s personal bank account, a KING 5 investigation found.
The four-month investigation revealed financial devastation and a chaotic atmosphere at the long-standing charity, Veterans Independent Enterprises of Washington (VIEW). Veterans interviewed by KING said the conditions have left them back on the brink of homelessness, poverty and addiction.
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