Lead Story
As the Department of Veterans Affairs struggles to deal with its immense backlog of disability claims–it’s at 600,000 cases now and sure to get worse–some critics estimate that nearly a third of the veterans on the rolls are receiving lifetime compensation for common, minor, and often treatable ailments that didn’t necessarily result from their military service and don’t affect their ability to work. According to a March report by Scripps Howard, 124,000 veterans currently get monthly benefits for hemorrhoids, which alone may cost the department more than $14 million a year.
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Fine Points of the Law
While interviewing to become a Connecticut state trooper, 38-year-old Jon Van Allen opted to disclose something he’d never told anyone: seven years earlier, he said, he had on two different occasions molested a sleeping six-year-old girl without getting caught. Van Allen was soon charged with sexual assault and suspended from his job as a school janitor; according to the arrest report, he said a friend had advised him that his best chance of making the force was to be completely honest in his application.
