Vets exposed to toxins from ‘burn pits’ struggle to get treatment and disability claims from the federal government

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - The global war on terror is America’s longest conflict, launched after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, 20 years ago this September. Read more at wcax.com →

A married marketing executive has been accused of secretly videotaping his young live-in assistant at his family's Manhattan apartment, and then attempting to blame his 10-year-old son for installing the recording device and the spy app on the father's cellphone. Read more at dailymail.co.uk →

A married Manhattan entrepreneur who hired a young woman as a live-in assistant allegedly outfitted her bedroom and bathroom with hidden cameras — and when he got caught, blamed his 10-year-old son, according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday. Read more at nypost.com →

Wesley Black, who sued the White River Junction VA Medical Center for failing to diagnose him with colon cancer caused by exposure to military burn pits, has died. A Hartford Fire Department Facebook post accompanying this photograph said, "The Hartford Fire Department regrets to announce the passing of Firefighter Wesley Black. Wesley passed away Sunday afternoon at his home surrounded by family and friends after a long and courageous battle with cancer." Read more at vnews.com →

Two measures introduced in Congress by lawmakers this week would overhaul the way the Department of Veterans Affairs cares for millions of former service members who were exposed to toxic substances, from atomic radiation sites in the Pacific to open-air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read more at washingtonpost.com →

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - A Vermont soldier exposed to burn pits in war zones lost his battle with cancer shortly after settling a lawsuit with the federal government. Read more at wcax.com →

An 83-year-old was fatally injured when a hay bale weighing approximately 950-pounds crushed him after falling from a skid-steer while being unloaded from a flatbed. The 83-year-old delivered several large, square hay bales to a farm in New York, which were loaded on a flatbed attached to a semi-tractor-trailer truck. A farm employee attempted to unload the hay bales with a skid-steer and, in doing so, violated numerous industry standards governing the process by which hay bales are to be loaded onto, and moved with, a skid-steer, as a result of which a hay bale fell onto, crushed and fatally injured the 83-year-old. A wrongful death claim was subsequently settled for the sum of $1.625-million.The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

A Vermont federal judge recently approved a $3-million settlement for a veteran suffering from terminal colon cancer in what has been coined a “1st-of-its-kind lawsuit.” The veteran alleged that the healthcare providers to whom he entrusted his care at the White River Junction VA Medical Center committed malpractice by failing to take into consideration his exposure to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan during his military service when assessing and evaluating his symptoms. The veteran claimed that this act of malpractice caused his colon cancer to progress and worsen from curable to terminal over the 4-years it went undiagnosed. The settlement came after the federal government sought to have the case dismissed on the basis that the administrative claim was not timely filed by the veteran. The federal government argued that the veteran should have known he was the victim of malpractice on the date he was diagnosed with advanced-stage colon cancer, which was more than 2-years before he filed his administrative claim. The veteran responded by arguing that he could not have been aware of the malpractice committed before he learned the critical fact that burn pit exposure causes cancer. A Vermont federal judge agreed with the veteran and denied the motion the dismiss, noting that the veteran’s argument was: